Free Territory of Trieste

The Free Territory of Trieste comprises an area of 738 km² around the Bay of Trieste from Duino/Devin in the north to Novigrad/Cittanova in the south, and has approximately 330,000 inhabitants. It borders Italy to the north, Croatia to the south and Slovenia to the east. The rivers of the territory include the Rižana/Risano, the Dragonja/Dragogna, the Timavo/Timava, the Val Rosandra/Glinščica and the Mirna/Quieto. The Territory's highest point is at Monte Cocusso/Kokoš (668 m). Its most extreme points are near Medeazza/Medjavas at 45° 48’ in the north, at Tarski/Porto Quieto at 45° 18’ in the south, Savudrija/Punta Salvore at 13° 29’ in the west and Gročana/Grozzana at 13° 55’ in the east.

Since 1382, Trieste had been part of the Habsburg monarchy, whilst Istria had been for centuries had been divided for centuries between the Habsburg Monarchy (its central, northern and eastern parts) and the Republic of Venice (its western and southern parts). The population of the FTT has historically been diverse and mixed, with different and often changing ethnic majorities in different parts of the territory. Italians-speaking have so been predominant in most urban settlements and in the coast with strong minorities of Slovenes or Croats, especially in Trieste/Trst district where Slovenes represented a third of the population by the end of World War I. The countryside of the territory was mostly Slovene or Croatian in the southernmost portion of the area. However there was also a smaller number of Istro-Romanians, greeks, albanians and a strong Triestine Jewish community. A example of this mix of ethnies is the the Triestine dialect (Dialetto triestino ).It is a form of Venetian, strongly influenced by a Friulian substrate,mainly due to the existence of the now defunct Tergestine dialect, which was closely related to Friulian. Many of the words are of German and Slovene origin and also came from other languages, such as Greek and Serbian.

In 1921, after World War I, Italy formally annexed Trieste, Istria and part of modern-day western Slovenia, establishing the border region known as the Julian March (Venezia Giulia). In 1924, Italy further annexed the Free State of Fiume, now the city of Rijeka in Croatia.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Slavic population was subjected to forced Italianization and discrimination under the Italian fascist regime. They were also exposed to state sponsored violence by fascist party mobs, including the burning of the Slovene National Hall in Trieste on July 13, 1920, and also in other towns and villages. Many Slovenes and Croats consequentially emigrated to Yugoslavia, while some joined the TIGR resistance organization, whose methods included more than 100 violent actions mostly against the exponents of the regime in the region (especially in the Provinces of Trieste and Gorizia), considered as acts of terrorism by the Italian state.

Italy fought with the Axis powers in World War II. When the Fascist regime collapsed in 1943 and Italy capitulated, the territory was occupied by German forces, Italian Social Republic authority in this zone being largely theoretical. The Yugoslav 4th Army together with the Slovenian 9th Corps entered Trieste on May 1, 1945, after a battle in the town of Opicina. The 2nd Division (New Zealand) of the British 8th Army arrived on the next day and forced the surrender of 2,000 German Army troops holding out in Trieste which warily had refused to capitulate to partisan troops. An uneasy truce developed between Allied and Yugoslav troops occupying the area until British Gen. Sir William Morgan proposed a partition of the territory and the removal of Yugoslav troops from the area occupied by the Allies. Josip Broz Tito agreed in principle on May 23 as the British XIII Corps was moving forward to the proposed demarcation line. An agreement was signed in Duino on June 10, creating the Morgan Line. Yugoslav soldiers withdrew by June 12, 1945.^[2][3]

In January 1947, the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 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. On September 15, 1947, the peace treaty between the United Nations and Italy was ratified, establishing the Free Territory of Trieste. Official languages were, and still are, Italian, Slovene and, in certain areas, Croatian. However, the territory didn't receive its planned self-government and it was maintained under military occupation respecting the administrative division into two zones as decided by the Morgan Line: Zone A, which is 222.5 km² and has 262,406 residents including Trieste, was administered by British and American forces, while Zone B, which was 515.5 km² with 71,000 residents including north-western Istria, was administered by the Yugoslav National Army.

Between October 1947 and March 1948, the Soviet Union rejected the candidacy of 12 nominations for governor, at which point the Tripartite Powers (United States, United Kingdom, and France) issued a note to Moscow and Belgrade on March 20, 1948 recommending that the territory be returned to Italian sovereignty. No governor was ever appointed under the terms of the UN Resolution. The Territory thus never functioned as a fully independent state. Even so, its formal status was generally respected and it issued its own postage stamps. The break between the Tito government and the USSR in mid-1948 resulted in the proposal to return the territory to Italy being suspended until 1954.

The Allied Military Government administered Zone A, which was divided into peacekeeping and law enforcement sectors protected by a command of 5,000 Americans ("TRUST", the TRieste United States Troops) and 5,000 British in "BETFOR" (British Element Trieste FORce), each comprising a brigade-sized infantry force and complete support units (Signals, Engineers, Military Police, etc.).

The major TRUST unit was the 351st Infantry regiment composed of:

Headquarters and headquarters company,

Service company,

Heavy mortar company,

Tank company,

Three infantry battalions each with three rifle companies and one heavy weapons company.

TRUST support units included:

88th Reconnaissance company,

12th Field Artillery battery,

517th Combat Engineer company,

281st Military Police Service company,

7106th Engineer Service company,

23rd Ordnance Maintenance company,

508th Signal company,

23rd Quartermaster company,

9th Transportation Truck company,

7th Station Hospital,

98th Army Band, and

7101st General Depot Headquarters company.^[4]

According to the estimates published by the Allied Military Government, as of 1949 in the A zone there were about 310,000 inhabitants, including 239,200 Italians and 63,000 Slovenes. The last Austrian census of 1910/1911 registered around 72,000 Slovene and 2,000 Croatian speakers in the area, and around 126,000 Italian speakers. According to contemporary Italian sources, in zone B there were 36,000-55,000 Italians and 12,000-17,000 Slovenes and Croats. According to the Yugoslav census of 1945, which was considered falsified by the Quadripatite Commission set up by the United Nations,^[5] in the part of Istria which was to become Zone B there were 67,461 inhabitants, including 30,789 Slovenes and Croats, 29,672 Italians and 7,000 people of unidentified nationality.^{[clarification needed]}

On 5 October 1954, the London Memorandum was signed in the British capital by ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and Yugoslavia. It gave former Zone A with Trieste to Italy for an ordinary civil administration, and Zone B, which had already incorporated a communist government since 1947, to Yugoslavia. In addition, Yugoslavia was given several villages in the Muggia municipality that had been part of Zone A: Plavje, Spodnje Škofije, Jelarji, Hrvatini, Kolomban, Cerej, Premančan and Barizoni. The castle and village of Socerb above San Dorligo della Valle was also ceded to Yugoslavian administration.^{[clarification needed]}

In 1975 the bilateral Treaty of Osimo was signed in Osimo, in attempt to definitively stop respective claims over former Free Territory of Trieste by Italy and Yugoslavia. The Treaty has never been accepted or ratified by the UN Security Council or by the International community, and it therefore represents only a bilateral agreement between the two states that does not modify the dispositions of the Peace Treaty. ^[6] .^{[clarification needed]}

The temporary administrative area "Zone A" corresponds to the provisional Italian Province of Trieste, and the administrative area "Zone B" is now divided between the Slovenian Littoral (Slovenian administration) and Croatian Istria (Croatian administration).

May 1, 1945 - July 4, 1945 Maj. Gen. Bernard Cyril Freyberg (New Zealand) *

July 4, 1945 - July 4, 1947 Col. Alfred Bowman (United States)*

July 4, 1947 - September 16, 1947 Col. James Carnes (United States)*

September 16, 1947 - May 31, 1951 Maj. Gen. Terence Sydney Airey (United Kingdom)

May 31, 1951 - October 26, 1954 Maj. Gen. Thomas Winterton (United Kingdom)

May 1, 1945 - September 15, 1947 Dušan Kveder (Yugoslavia) *

September 15, 1947 - March 15, 1951 Mirko Lenac (Yugoslavia)

March 15, 1951 - October 26, 1954 Miloš Stamatović (Yugoslavia)

*Governors of all Julian March prior to the establishment of the Territory.

Source:Worldstatesmen / Italy / Trieste by Ben Cahoon

The nomination of the Governor of the Free Territory of Trieste is still pending, as the initiative of any member state of the United Nations can make this issue re-enter the Security Council's agenda, still at present times^[7]. The Treaty of Peace with Italy remains, therefore, fully in force, even today.

The economy of the Territory is based on its ports namely the Free Port of Trieste and the Port of Koper/Capodistria. The first has a peculiar Free Zone (nowadays also Offshore) status originated in 1719^[8] and confirmed by the Treaty of Peace with Italy of 1947 which allows the transformation of goods inside the area. This status is recognised by the international community and the EU^[9] and somehow applied by the Italian administration ^[10] although without a linear process.

The port economy is currently suffering from absence of a pratical giurisdiction and from poor railroad connections due to high tariffs and lack of updated infrastructure^[11]. The "Galleria di cintura" railway between the South (new) and the Northern (old) parts of the Port of Trieste has been renovated and enlarged in 2010 ^[12], yet it remains largely unused.

During the late 1940s and in the years following the division of the Territory, up to 40,000 people^[13] (mostly Italians) chose to leave the Yugoslav B zone and move to the A zone or Italy for various reasons - some were intimidated into leaving and some simply preferred not to live in Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, the people who left were called optanti which translates as choosing, while they call themselves esuli or exiles. About 14,000 Italians chose to remain in the Yugoslav zone, currently administered by Slovenia and Croatia.

From 1954 to 1961, some 20,000 Triestini (or more), or 10 per cent of the population, left their city and the majority (more than 90 per cent) headed to Australia, mainly Melbourne and Sydney. This mass migration was also enforced by the new Italian administration: for years anyone who was not considered Italian "enough" was at risk of persecution.^[14]. Even today, some Triestine citizens claim there's an ongoing persecution by the Italian administration ^[15].

• Treaty of peace with Italy (1947)
• Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 16
• Julian March
• Istrian exodus
• Morgan Line
• Slovene Littoral
• Province of Trieste
• Slovenian Istria
• Istria County

• Free Triest Movement, an organization of triestine citizens demanding the integral application of the Treaty of Peace with Italy.
• Committee for the Free Port of Trieste, original treaties and recent developments about the Territory.
• Template:It icon Organization of the Citizens of the Free Territory of Trieste
• Vintage Life Magazine Photos of Trieste at Google Images.

45°41′N 13°45′E / 45.68°N 13.75°E / 45.68; 13.75

Category:20th century in Italy Category:History of Croatia by region or territory Category:History of Yugoslavia Category:Political history of Slovenia Category:Italy–Yugoslavia relations Category:Historical subdivisions of the Slovene ethnic territory Category:Free Territory of Trieste