Basovizza Heroes monument granted cultural significance status
Trieste, 13 January - A memorial site in Italy's Basovizza dedicated to four Slovenian victims of Fascism executed in September 1930, known as the Basovizza Heroes, has been granted a status of cultural importance by Italian regional authorities, the Trieste-based Primorski Dnevnik reported on Wednesday.
Basovizza, Italy
A memorial marking the execution of anti-Fascist Slovenian youths known as Basovizza Heroes.
Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA
File photo
The decision has been endorsed by the Friuli Venezia Giulia authorities on Monday, Simonetta Bonomi, the head of the region's Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, confirmed for the Slovenian minority's paper.
The institute launched a procedure to grant the memorial site the status in August last year. By going through with this, the region has laid the groundwork for the memorial to become a monument of national importance in Italy in the future.
This is also the aim of the Basovizza Heroes committee at the Slovenian National and Study Library in Trieste. Moreover, together with the two umbrella minority organisations, the committee is striving to rehabilitate the four victims, who are still officially considered terrorists in Italy.
Since the Basovizza Heroes were convicted by a fast-track court, the rehabilitation procedure will be lengthy. The case falls under the purview of a military court, where a retrial and rehabilitation are difficult to achieve, the committee said.
The Basovizza Heroes are regarded as symbols of opposition and resistance to the fascist regime and ideology, and as heroes of a free Europe built on the foundations of anti-fascism. The four members of the secret anti-fascist organisation Borba (Fight), Ferdo Bidovec, Zvonimir Miloš, Franjo Marušič and Alojz Valenčič were shot dead on 6 September 1930 near the village of Basovizza not far off from today's border between Italy and Slovenia.