Fiume Autonomists purge
The Fiume Autonomists purge, or the purge of the Autonomist elements of the city of Fiume, was a series of well orchestrated killings of the most prominent politicians and intellectuals of the Autonomist Party of Fiume or Rijeka (then still known with its historical name of Fiume).
Historic overview
In the days leading to 3 May 1945 and the liberation of Rijeka from the
In total, 650 people were killed after the entry of Yugoslav Army units into the city without any due trial.[1] The first Autonomist personality to be killed was Giovanni Rubini (also known as Rubinich) killed on 21 April 1945 in front of the home threshold by a Yugoslav commando, being also one of the most active personalities in lobbying for the reactivation of Fiume's independence. The chief man of the autonomist movement in the city, Mario Blasich was strangled by a pillow. Seven people dressed in partisan uniforms went into the apartment and locked family members into the bathroom, and after the murder they searched the apartment and stole things in the amount of 30,000 liras. Giuseppe Sincich, a former member of the Constitutional Assembly of the Free State of Fiume, was arrested on the same night and killed in the morning. Nevio Skull disappeared, and after a few days he was found floating at the last bridge on the river Rječina and shot.[2]
Apart from the elimination of the most exposed personalities of the movement, also between 1500 and 2000 sympathisers of the Autonomist cause were victim of politically motivated arrest.[3]
Despite the enormous pressures, pro-autonomist candidates won in the first post-war elections for the suburban boards of the city. This motivated the occupational communist authorities, aware of the endeavour it would require to subjugate the local population to its totalitarian goals, to act swiftly and orchestrate a series of targeted actions and reprisals aimed at alienating the Italian-speaking population and pushing it into taking part in the larger
Major personalities killed in the purge
- Giovanni Rubinich
- Mario Blasich
- Giuseppe Sincich
- Nevio Skull
- Mario De Hajnal
- Radoslav Baucer
- Angelo Adam
References
- ISBN 88-7125-239-X, p. 597.
- ^ "70 godina od likvidacije riječkih autonomista Blasicha, Sincicha, Rubinicha i drugih – Rijeka Danas – riječki internetski dnevnik".
- ISBN 953230064-3], pages 18-19",
- ^ "Filipović traži od HRT-a da sa svojih stranica makne serijal 'Fiume crno-crveno Rijeka'". tportal.hr. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
- ^ "Župan Komadina o serijalu "Fiume crveno – crno Rijeka": 'U pitanju je selektivno čitanje i falsificiranje povijesti grada!'". Novi list. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.