Page 321 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

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result of their tumultuous expulsion, without any material and organisational support. They
had to adjust to hitherto unknown living conditions pulling them into economic and social
dependency. The story of refugees became a story of social differences and relations and, by
transplanting them into a foreign environment, also a story of national, cultural and linguistic
differences. Refugees lived in constant uncertainty about what had happened and what still
lay ahead; they were overwhelmed by anxiety, hope and constant thought about the times
before the war and about what might lie in store afterwards. They had to grow accustomed
to a new environment, confront a “new” life strewn with suffering, sacrifice and courage,
embrace harsh living conditions and struggle to survive.
During the first days of the occupation the Italian administration focused primarily on
security considerations, including the expatriation, arrest and internment of Slovene (and
Friulian) officials and priests whose positions and influence might prove detrimental to the
authorities and shift the population’s loyalty away from the occupying forces. The obvious
suspects were usually men aged between 18 and 50. In the initial stage of the occupation
the Italian army therefore arrested and interned 18 Slovene priests for security and political
reasons on charges of “Faiduttianism”, “Austriacantism” and Slavophilism. the priests
5
6
were taken to Cremona in Lombardy, from where they were deported to Italian towns and
islands in September. The remaining suspects were driven to internment camps in Sardinia;
by the end of 1917 2,226 Austro-Hungarian citizens were interned in Sardinia.
The Italian army was diligently executing the orders of its Supreme Commander that all
violations be punished with exemplary severity. They took especially severe measures against
the population living at the foot of Mt. Krn, where bitter fighting took place in late May and
early June 1915. On 4 June 1915, in (unjust) retaliation for its military failures and perhaps
also as a warning against collaboration with the enemy, it decimated the civilian population
from the Slovene villages under Mt. Krn. Therefore on 4 June 1915 the carabinieri searched
all local houses from top to bottom and drove all 61 men from their homes. The farmers were
then taken across the Soča, where the Italian soldiers had them placed in line and shot every
tenth man. The remaining population was deported to Italy. On the Italian-Austrian Front, the
Italian army also decimated the civilian population as early as 29 May 1915 at the Friulian
village of Vilesse.
Church affairs on the occupied territories were taken over by Italian army curates ap-
pointed by the Italian authorities. Some Slovene priests were allowed to remain in their
parishes, but their work was carefully supervised.
The Italian authorities were very active in the sphere of social care. The Italian govern-
ment adopted a decree by which it decided to continue payment support to families of Aus-
tro-Hungarian soldiers who lived on the occupied territory, as well as the families of those
interned by the Austrian authorities, which also applied for refugee families. Support was
also continued to the families of Austro-Hungarian soldiers who, because of invalidity and
military incapacity, had been sent home to the Italian occupation zone, and the families of
fallen or missing Austro-Hungarian soldiers. Thus, Italian occupational authorities pursued

5 The term derives from a pejorative name for a member or sympathiser of the Friuli Catholic People’s Party
led by Mgr. Luigi Faidutti (1861 – 1931).
6 The term derives from a pejorative name for the loyalty of the Habsburg crown.