Society and language in Italian fascist concentration camps for Yugoslav civilians

Abstract

The article presents a doctoral dissertation written in Italian and discussed at the University of Udine in 2023. The topic of the work are Italian concentration camps for Yugoslav civilians, which functioned be twenn 1941 and 1943. The main focus is placed on the sociolinguistic frame work and on the society within the camps. Historical research of Italian fascist concentration camps in most cases is based solely on military reports and archive materials. For a deeper understanding of the social and linguistic picture inside the camp, an analysis of written and oral memories of former internees is needed. The primary sources are in Italian, Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian; they are written and oral memories of former prisoners, as well as texts created within the concentration camps, reports and internal documents by the Italian army and reports written by high-ranking members of the Catholic Church (from the Vatican Archives). The internees were civilians and they came primarily from Slovenia, Gorski Kotar, Dalmatia and Montenegro. The inmates lived under harsh conditions, especially in terms of food and hygiene, and divided themselves according to geographical origin, nationality, religion, political ideas, social classes, etc. In the camps, a jargon influenced by Italian and harsh living conditions emerged, the “Lageržargon”, whose characteristics provide even more elements for an analysis of the social picture. This work is a further contribution to a higher awareness of the crimes committed by Italian fascism during the occupation of Yugoslavia.