Norma Cossetto

Norma Corsetto was not the only Italian victim of the foibe. On November 4, 1943, next to the "Foiba of Terli" (near Visignana) were found the corpses of Albina Radecchi (A), Caterina Radecchi (B), Fosca Radecchi (C) and Amalia Ardossi (D)

Norma Corsetto (Visinada, 1920 – Antignana, 1943) was an Italian student. In 1943, after the German occupation of Istria, the local population took control of the region and initiated a purge of local Italians with alleged fascist sympathies: her corpse was found in October, being precedently thrown into a foiba. It has been claimed she was killed by the Yugoslavian communists.[1]

Life

Norma Corsetto was born in Visinada (western Istria) in 1920 to a family of Istrian Italians. From a young age she was associated with Italian youth organizations of Pola and in 1939 she enrolled at the University of Padova to study Italian literature. In September 1943 (after the armistice of Italy), Norma was preparing her graduate thesis (entitled "Istria Rossa"), when she was kidnapped by Yugoslavian communists and imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with them against the Italians. On 5 October 1943, after being tortured and raped repeatedly, she was thrown alive into a foiba along with three dozen other Italians. As an act of extreme contempt, Norma's executioners amputated her breasts before leaving her in the foiba.

The foiba where Norma was thrown is near Pirano, in northwestern Istria. Other foibe were found nearby, with hundreds of corpses (including those of Albina, Caterina and Fosca Radecchi, and Amalia Ardossi), both Italians and non, fascists and antifascists.[2]

After the Second World War, this death has been remembered as emblematic of Foibe massacres and Ethnic cleansing of Italians by Yugoslavs in Istria. In 1949, the University of Padova conferred to her the laurea "honorary" and in 2005 the Italian President Ciampi awarded her the "Medaglia d'oro al merito civile". In February 2010 she was commemorated during the National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe. In July 2011, the cities of Trieste and Narni (Terni) dedicated one of their streets to her memory.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Raoul Pupo, Il lungo esodo. Istria: le persecuzioni, le foibe, l'esilio. Rizzoli, 2005; ISBN 88-17-00562-2 (Italian)
  2. ↑ Arrigo Petacco. Istria, a tragedy revealed. (p. 44)

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.