Free Territory of Trieste | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947–1954 | |||||||||||
 Flag  Coat of arms | |||||||||||
 Zone A (the green area and a small part of purple area) andZone B (the pink and most of the purple area), indicating how the territory's control was split following its dissolution (green toItaly, pink to theSocialist Republic of Croatia, purple to theSocialist Republic of Slovenia) | |||||||||||
| Status | Independent territory underdirect responsibility of theUnited Nations Security Council | ||||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Trieste | ||||||||||
| Official languages | Italian · Slovene · Serbo-Croatian · English(only for administrative purposes) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Catholicism,Serbian Orthodox,Judaism | ||||||||||
| Demonym | Triestine | ||||||||||
| Governor (Zone A) | |||||||||||
• 1945(first) | Bernard Freyberg | ||||||||||
• 1951–1954(last) | John Winterton | ||||||||||
| Governor (Zone B) | |||||||||||
• 1945–1947(first) | Dušan Kveder | ||||||||||
• 1951–1954(last) | Miloš Stamatović | ||||||||||
| Legislature | People's Assembly | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||||
| 30 April 1945 | |||||||||||
| 10 January 1947 | |||||||||||
| 10 February 1947 | |||||||||||
| 5 October 1954 | |||||||||||
| 10 November 1975 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Italian lira(Zone A) Triestine lira(Zone B)[1] | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | Croatia Slovenia Italy | ||||||||||
TheFree Territory of Trieste[2] was an independent territory inSouthern Europe betweenItaly andYugoslavia, facing the north part of theAdriatic Sea, underdirect responsibility of theUnited Nations Security Council in theaftermath of World War II. It acted as such for a period of seven years.
The territory was established on 10 February 1947, by a protocol of theTreaty of Peace with Italy, to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade withCentral Europe. It came into existence on 15 September 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas: one being the port city ofTrieste with a narrow coastal strip to the northwest (Zone A); the other (Zone B) was formed by a small portion of the north-western part of theIstrian peninsula.
The territory wasde facto dissolved in 1954 and given to Italy (Zone A) and Yugoslavia (Zone B). This created a border dispute which was only settled twenty years later with the signing of the bilateralTreaty of Osimo in 1975, which was ratified in 1977.[3]
The city of Trieste and the territory of Zone A is today under the control of Italy and itsFriuli-Venezia Giulia region. Following thedissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the area of Zone B is today under the control ofSlovenia andCroatia.[4]
The Free Territory of Trieste comprised an area of 738 square kilometres (285 sq mi) around theGulf of Trieste in the northern Adriatic,[5] fromDuino (Devin) in the north toCittanova (Novigrad) in the south, and had approximately 330,000 inhabitants.[6][7]
It bordered post-warItaly to the north, andYugoslavia to the east and south. The rivers of the territory included theRižana/Risano, theDragonja/Dragogna, theTimavo/Timava, theVal Rosandra/Glinščica, and theMirna/Quieto. The Territory's highest point was atMonte Cocusso/Kokoš (668 metres (2,192 ft)). Its most extreme points were nearMedeazza/Medjavas at 45° 48’ in the north, atTarski Zaliv / Porto Quieto at 45° 18’ in the south,Savudrija / Punta Salvore at 13° 29’ in the west, andGročana/Grozzana at 13° 55’ in the east.
Since 1382, Trieste had been part of theHabsburg monarchy, whereas neighboringIstria had been divided for centuries between the Habsburg monarchy (its central, northern and eastern parts) and theRepublic of Venice (its western and southern parts). The population of the territory has been diverse and mixed, with different and often changing ethnic majorities in different parts of the territory.[citation needed]
Italian-speakers have been predominant in most urban settlements and along the coast, with significant ethnic Slavic minorities ofSlovenes andCroats inland – especially in the Trieste district, where Slovenes represented a third of the population by the end ofWorld War I (although most of them were recent arrivals, after 1880, from interior Slovene districts).[8][9] The countryside of the territory was mostly populated by ethnic Slovenes or Croats in the southernmost portion of the area. There were also smaller numbers ofIstro-Romanians, Greeks, Albanians, as well as a sizeableTriestine Jewish community.
The localTriestine dialect reflects this ethnic mix. Based on the RomanceVenetian language, the dialect was influenced by ancientRhaeto-Romance substrate. In addition, some Triestine vocabulary are ofGerman andSlovene origin, and there are also loanwords from other languages, such asGreek.
The variations of spoken Slovenian andSerbo-Croatian in the territory were also largely dialectal, sharing words with the Triestine and Istrian dialects. In the southernmost part of the territory, the Croatian-based dialects are of theChakavian type, while the Venetian-based Istrian is also commonly used.
At the end of World War I in 1918 and the dissolution ofAustria-Hungary, Kingdom of Italy annexed Trieste, Istria and part of modern-day westernSlovenia, establishing the border region known as theJulian March (Venezia Giulia). In 1924, Italy also annexed theFree State of Fiume (now the city ofRijeka in Croatia).
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Slavic population was subject to forcedItalianization and discrimination under theItalian Fascist regime led byBenito Mussolini. They were also exposed tostate violence by mobs incited by the ruling fascist partyPNF, which included the infamous burning of theSlovene National Hall in Trieste on 13 July 1920. Because of this, some native Slovenes and Croats emigrated to Yugoslavia, while others joined theTIGR resistance organization, whose methods included more than 100 bombings and assassinations, mostly against Italian authorities in the region, and especially in the areas around Trieste andGorizia to the north.
Beginning in 1940, Italy joinedWorld War II alongsideNazi Germany as one of theAxis powers. When the Fascist regime collapsed and Italy capitulated with theArmistice of Cassibile in September 1943, the territory in and around Trieste was occupied by the GermanWehrmacht armed forces, which made the city the capital of their regionalOperational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (OZAK).
Amid the collapse of German front line towards the end of the war,Yugoslav Partisan units (4th Army and the9th Corps) entered Trieste on 1 May 1945, after a battle in the town ofOpicina on the outskirts of Trieste.
The2nd New Zealand Division also arrived the following day, and forced the surrender of some 2,000 German troops holding out in Trieste, who warily had refused to capitulate to Yugoslav troops, fearing reprisals and executions. An uneasy truce then developed between New Zealand and Yugoslav troops occupying the area, until British GeneralWilliam Morgan proposed partition of the territory into separate military-administered zones.
Yugoslav leaderJosip Broz Tito agreed with the idea on 23 May, as the British13th Corps was moving forward to the proposed demarcation line. A formal agreement on partition was signed inDuino on 10 June, which created the so-calledMorgan Line dividing the Julian March territory. Yugoslav troops withdrew to their area on 12 June 1945.[10][11]
In January 1947, theUnited Nations Security Council approvedResolution 16 under Article 24 of its charter calling for the creation of a free state in Trieste and the region surrounding it. A permanent statute codifying its provisions was to become recognized under international law upon the appointment of an international governor approved by the Quatripartite Powers (UK, US, France, and the Soviet Union). On 15 September 1947, the peace treaty between theUnited Nations (UN) and Italy was ratified, establishing the Free Territory of Trieste.
Official languages were Italian and Slovene, possibly with the use of Serbo-Croatian in the portion of Zone B south of theDragonja River. However, local government bodies were never formed, and it continued to be run by military authorities, respecting the administrative division demarcated by the Morgan Line: Zone A, which was 222.5 square kilometres (85.9 sq mi) and had a population of 262,406 – including Trieste itself – was administered by the British and American forces; Zone B, – which was 515.5 square kilometres (199.0 sq mi) with 71,000 residents – including north-western Istria – was administered by the Yugoslav army.
Between October 1947 and March 1948, theSoviet Union rejected the candidacy of 12 successive nominees for the civilian governor of the territory, at which point the Tripartite Powers (United States, United Kingdom, and France) issued a note to the Soviet and Yugoslav governments on 20 March 1948 recommending that the territory be returned to Italian sovereignty.
Since no governor was ever appointed under the terms of UN Resolution 16, the Territory never functioned as a real independent state – although its formal status and separate sovereignty were generally respected. It operated as a separate state in theMarshall Plan (launched in April 1948) and the relatedOEEC (formed in March 1948).[12] Meanwhile, theTito-Stalin split in mid-1948 led to the deterioration of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, which resulted in a political stalemate, and the proposal to return the territory to Italy was suspended until 1954. However,postage stamps were issued, with Italian issuesoverprinted for use in Zone A, and Yugoslav ones overprinted for Zone B. Later, issues specific to each area were produced.[13]
TheAllied Military Government (AMG) thus continued to administer Zone A. The governance was split into peacekeeping and law enforcement sectors, with the local command comprising 5,000 Americans in theTrieste United States Troops (TRUST) and 5,000 British personnel in theBritish Element Trieste Forces (BETFOR).
According to the estimates published by the Allied Military Government, the population in Zone A as of 1949 was about 310,000, which included 239,200 ethnic Italians and 63,000 ethnic Slovenes.[14]
According to contemporary Italian sources,[citation needed] in Zone B, there were at the time 36,000 to 55,000 Italians and 12,000 to 17,000 Slovenes and Croats. According to the Yugoslav census of 1945 (which was considered falsified by the Quadripartite Commission set up by the UN),[15] in the part of Istria which was to become Zone B there were a total of 67,461 inhabitants – including 30,789 Slovenes, Serbs and Croats, 29,672 Italians, and 7,000 people of unidentified nationality.
Elections in the Territory were held twice, in 1949 and 1952, but only for municipal councils. The elections for what was supposed to be the People's Assembly (Free Territory of Trieste's national legislature) were never held.
On 5 October 1954, the London Memorandum was signed by ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and Yugoslavia. The memorandum did not change the de jure status of the Free Territory of Trieste,[4] and the civilian administration was in contrast with Annex VII Art. 1 of the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy.
After the withdrawal of the Allied military troops by the 24th October 1954, Zone A, including Trieste, was militarily invaded by Italy on the 25th October 1954, and the following day the Italian General de Renzi declared full control over the area at 12:00, initiating the occupation currently ongoing. Zone B remained under Yugoslavian control. In addition, Yugoslavia took control of villages of Zone A in the municipalities ofMuggia andSan Dorligo della Valle, such asPlavje,Spodnje Škofije,Elerji,Hrvatini,Kolomban,Cerej,Premančan,Barizoni, andSocerb (withits castle), according to the demarcation line defined by Annex I.
The demarcation line between the two Zones (that was not a frontier) and territorial claims from both Italy and Yugoslavia continued. These were finally put to rest with the November 1975 signing of the bilateralTreaty of Osimo between Italy and Yugoslavia, which ended any current or future claims – as the London Memorandum had only dissolved the territoryde facto, but notde jure.[16]
| Governor | In office | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Maj. Gen.Bernard Freyberg * | 2 May 1945 – July 1945 | New Zealand |
| Col.Alfred Connor Bowman * | July 1945 – July 1947 | United States |
| Col.James Jewett Carnes * | July 1947 – 15 September 1947 | |
| Maj. Gen.Sir Terence Airey | 15 September 1947 – 31 March 1951 | United Kingdom |
| Maj. Gen.Sir John Winterton | 1 April 1951 – 24 October 1954 |
| Governor | In office | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Dušan Kveder * | 1 May 1945 – September 1947 | Yugoslavia |
| Mirko Lenac | 15 September 1947 – March 1951 | |
| Miloš Stamatović | March 1951 – 25 October 1954 |
*Governors of allJulian March prior to the establishment of the Territory.[17]
The economy of the territory was based on its ports, namely theFree Port of Trieste and thePort of Koper/Capodistria. The first had a peculiarfree zone (nowadays alsooffshore) status originated in 1719[18] and confirmed by theTreaty of Peace with Italy of 1947, which allows the transportation of goods inside the area.This status is recognised by the international community and the European Union.[19][20]
An excerpt from the answer given byAlgirdas Šemeta on 7 August 2012, on behalf of theEuropean Commission about the Free Port of Trieste:[19]
Annex VIII to the Treaty of peace with Italy of 10 February 1947 stipulates in its Article 1 that the port of Trieste shall be a customs-free port. Article 5(2) of Annex VIII provides that in connection with the importation into or exportation from or transit through the Free Port,the authorities of the Free Territory shall not levy on such goods customs duties or charges other than those levied for services rendered.[19] [emphasis added]
During the late 1940s and in the years following the division of the territory, up to 40,000 people[21] (mostly Italians) chose to leave the Yugoslav Zone B and move to the Italian Zone A for various reasons: some were intimidated into leaving, and some simply preferred not to live in Yugoslavia. Within Yugoslavia, the people who left were referred to asoptanti (optants or 'choosers', per theright of option provided for other territories in the Treaty of Peace with Italy), whereas they called themselvesesuli 'exiles'. About 14,000 Italians chose to remain in the Yugoslav zone. The population of the Free Territory of Trieste was approximately 370,000 in 1949.
Media related toFree Territory of Trieste at Wikimedia Commons
45°41′N13°45′E / 45.68°N 13.75°E /45.68; 13.75
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