Lead Beneficiary: Fixmedia, Institute for development of film creativity (Fixmedia)

We plan to produce a 30 min documentary film. At six divisive collective memories from the borderland regions will be included: the Italians, who migrated from Yugoslavia after WWII, the Italians who remained in Yugoslavia after WWII, the immigrants from former Yugoslavian republics in the emptied towns of Istria, the Slovenian minority in Italy who experienced fascist violence, the Slovenian minority in Austria who experienced Nazi violence, the germanized Slovenians from Austria.

Not to let the memories encourage further conflicts and divisions, a professional frame will be given with the interpretations of historians, anthropologists, psychotherapists, and pedagogic university teachers. The aim is to raise public awareness about different and conflicting perceptions and narratives of the past. These are often completely different perceptions of history by people who live in the same areas as neighbours. Addressing the different narratives in an attractive documentary film format, can contribute to a mutual and empathic understanding that leads to the restoration, reconciliation and healing of societies wounded by a difficult past. The film will be screened at multiple film festivals in Slovenia and abroad and on individual projections in Slovenia, Italy and Austria as well as in bordering countries.

Discussions, led by experts, will be organized after each screening to deepen understanding of the topic and give the viewers the possibility to contribute with their own thoughts. All speakers in the film will have the opportunity to voice themselves in their own native languages (i.e. Slovenian, Italian, German) and besides English the subtitles will be provided in all the involved languages in order to show the multi linguistic aspect of borderland communities. Due to the lack of money to translate the subtitles into so many languages, the costs for the subtitles in the film will be covered by the complementary research ongoing project Ethnography of silence(s) of the project leader. There will be no double financing and both financial sources will be indicated and distinguished clearly in the text of the film production.

Lead Beneficiary: Pädagogische Hochschule Kärnten

Website: https://www.phk.ac.at/

Event description sheet (PDF)

This workshop was held partly as open conference, partly as workshop for invited participatants at the PHK, University of Teacher Education Carinthia, Klagenfurt/Celovec. It was dedicated to the thematic area of cultures of remembrance, dealing with social diversity – multilingualism, linguistic and ethnic minorities, minority languages, hybrid identities – as well as the concealment of traumatic experiences in the Alps-Adriatic region and beyond. It also addressed the social opportunities offered by coming to terms with the burdensome past and revitalising historical diversity, with a particular focus on the role of education, art and culture.

The past century was marked by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, the First and Second World Wars and a multitude of inter-ethnic conflicts. Changes in borders, attempts at assimilation or even the eradication of minorities, ‘forced monolingualism’, flight and migration, and other upheavals have left deep scars in our border regions today. It was not uncommon for former neighbours to become enemies. History and stories were written by the victors, whose views of the past were publicly disseminated. While some memories were openly discussed or even romanticised, others were concealed or denied. During this conference, experts gave interdisciplinary lectures and provided a variety of examples of how successfully coming to terms with the past can lead to the acceptance of social diversity. Discussions after the lectures were an integral and important past.

Important programme parts were e.g. on the 10th of May 2025 :

Katja Hrobat Virloget, Univerza na Primorskem, Koper, Slovenia: Ethnography of Silence. Traumatic Memories, Memory Conflicts, Hybrid Identities on the Former Yugoslav-Italian Border

Franco Finco, Carinthia University of Education: Language minorities in Italy: from the nation state to Sergio Salvi’s ‘Le Lingue tagliate’ (1975) and beyond

Bartłomiej Chromik, PhD, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland: Revitalisation of Wymysiöeryś. The return of memory through the return of language

Danijel Grafenauer, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia: Efforts to preserve and revitalise the German-speaking ethnic population in Slovenia after 1991

Musical and Literary Accompaniment: Nikolaj Efendi & Stefan Feinig as artists, they also discussed their artistical content (award-winning lyrics and composed music) with Daniel Wutti from PHK.

The second day, 11th of May 2025, continued with deeped discussion:

Moderated panel discussion: Štefan Čok, Associazione Quarantasettezeroquattro, Trieste, Ilse Geson-Gombos, teacher at WiMo Klagenfurt/Celovec, Gerti Malle, curator of Remembrance Year 2025 Leto spominjanja, Mateja Mesner, Director of VS Bleiburg/Lš Pliberk, Manfred Morokutti, Mauthausen Committee Association Carinthia/Koroška: Inclusive, transnational and contemporary culture of remembrance in school and extracurricular education – opportunities and challenges

Short presentations with panel discussion: Rudolf Winkler, specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapist, Silvia Jelinek, psychotherapist, Aspis Association, Brigitte Opetnik, psychologist and psychotherapist, Aspis Association, and Manca Švara, psychotherapist, Epiona Association. Moderator: Daniel Wutti, Carinthia University of Education: Assimilation – transgenerational trauma – integration. Psychological and psychotherapeutic aspects of traumatic silence, minority languages, discrimination and ‘healing’ or integration

Martina Tonet, Univerza na Primorskem, Koper, Slovenia: Anthropological studies of silence in minority realities: From the indigenous Diné (Navajo) and Runakuna (Quechua) peoples in North and South America to the Slovenes in Trieste

Marko Galič, Univerza na Primorskem, Koper, Slovenia: From historical trauma to the right to self-determination: The case of the Māori in New Zealand

The event finished with a special psychological workshop: Manca Švara, Epiona Association & Daniel Wutti, Carinthia University of Education: Borders within us – collective memory and identity. Creative storytelling and therapeutic workshop

The workshops were led by Manca Švara, Jungian psychoanalyst and director of Zavod Epiona. In addition to the originally scheduled program, two additional sessions were organized: the first on April 8 at UNI3, University of the Third Age in Koper; the second on April 14, 2025, at the Koper–Capodistria Gymnasium, as part of the regional NGO presentations within the ethics curriculum (subject of ethics); and the third on April 18, 2025, at the Igo Gruden Cultural Society in Nabrežina–Aurisina. The remaining workshops are listed below.

All workshops were titled “Meje v nas, kreativni dialog s preteklostjo” (“Borders Within Us, a Creative Dialogue with the Past”). The focus of this Arts-based psychotherapeutic workshops shifted toward creative storytelling, allowing participants to express themselves through visual, written, or spoken narratives while reflecting on their personal and family histories. Each storytelling session was followed by a group discussion, which often evolved into deeply meaningful conversations.

Participants were asked to bring their own “memory” or “linking” object to the workshop—either a photograph or an item that held personal significance. We also contributed our own projective photographs, drawn from various archives documenting this tumultuous history.

The workshops were held on the following dates:

• Koper – Capodistria: 08.04.2025
• Gymnasium in Koper–Capodistria: 14.04.2025
• Nabrežina – Aurisina: 18.04.2025
• Klagenfurt – Celovec: 10.05.2025
• Nova Gorica: 02.06.2025
• Opčine – Opicina: 08.09.2025

A particularly enriching aspect of the workshops was the exchange of perspectives among participants from different, and sometimes even opposing, regions. Their stories created space for dialogue on identity, history, and inherited trauma. Central to the workshops was the practice of listening to “the other”—whether someone came from another country, a different historical context, or a distinct cultural identity.

The stories collected during the workshops were later published on www.zavodepiona.si (work in progress, to be published by the end of the 2025).

Photos of the workshops: https://fhs.upr.si/psihoterapevtske-delavnice-meje-v-nas-kreativni-dialog-s-preteklostjo/

MEDIA LINKS:

1. Invitation – ZAVOD EPIONA website:

https://www.zavodepiona.si/novice/delavnice-meje-v-nas-kolektivni-spomin-in-identiteta-2/

2. Podcast (1h long interview ) – “Iskra speaks: About the Epiona Institute, also a presentation of the Re4Healing project and workshops.”

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ARerFZjnL3R9QNDwv2TvD?fbclid=IwY2xjawLUY2VleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBrWDFEZDRaNm82ZGJqdHp0AR4UqxuaOctssztr9hCsSNg0xnMcagNCtqS-e3BsZgZ7Y0pZdciJkg_73oIY6Q_aem_k_YfBTFwK9Zn4R1Fb1vZ4Q

3. Media news – local website Slovenski tednik za Koroško:

https://www.novice.at/kultura/kultura-spominjanja/mednarodna-konferenca-kulture-spominjanja-kulture-prikrivanja-najvecja-manjsina-tukaj-smo-asimilirani-koroski-slovenci/

4. Invitation – Lifelong Learning Weeks:

https://tvu.acs.si/sl/prireditev/?1786

5. ZAVOD EPIONA – FACEBOOK POST – WORKSHOP Celovec/Klagenfurt (10. 05. 2025):

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=990701163051666&set=pcb.990701399718309

6. ZAVOD EPIONA – FACEBOOK POST – WORKSHOP Nova Gorica (02. 06. 2025):

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1006329418155507&set=pcb.1006329474822168

7. ZAVOD EPIONA – FACEBOOK POST – WORKSHOP Opčine/Opicina (08. 09. 2025):

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1078355417619573&set=pcb.1078355457619569

Website: https://fhs.upr.si/okrogla-miza-ko-spregovorijo-obmejni-spomini-prisluhniti-drug-drugemu/

Event description sheet (PDF)

On May 8, 2025, the leading partner of the RE4Healing project organised a public roundtable based on deep discussion with eyewitnesses of tragic events on the Italian-Slovenian-Austrian borderland. Invited speakers – eyewitnesses who have experienced fascism, Istrian exodus and Nazism – provided testimonies that opened up the conversation about both intergenerational trauma and reconciliation that is needed for ethnically diverse communities to flourish. Speakers came from various affected groups: (a) Italian migrants of the exodus (Istrian Italians who migrated to Italy, esuli), (b) Italians who stayed in Yugoslavia after exodus and became a national minority, (c) people who migrated to emptied towns in Istria from various parts of Yugoslavia, and (d) members of Slovenian minority in Italy who have experienced various layers of fascism and violence. The latter included testimonies of multiple generations of people who experienced the violence of border fascism and Nazism. Affected groups publicly confronted their different memories in order to encourage mutual comprehension, empathy and self-reflection, challenging dominant national narratives of the past and present. Acknowledging both systemic processes of exclusion and personal stories of pain, invited experts (such as ex. dr. Paolo Fonda, an established psychoanalyst from Trieste and member of the International Psychoanalytic Association; and Daniel Wutti, educational scientist and psychotherapist from Klagenfurt) provided their analyses of what they heard from testimonies in order to frame conflicting memories toward reconciliation and peace. The roundtable – that was organised in one of the affected environments – in the bilingual town of Koper/Capodistria in Istria, Slovenia, was recorded by the film production team and served as one of the starting points of the upcoming documentary film.

MEDIA LINKS:

1. Invitation – UP FHŠ website: https://fhs.upr.si/okrogla-miza-ko-spregovorijo-obmejni-spomini-prisluhniti-drug-drugemu/

2. Media news – local newspaper Primorske novice (a larger article about the project with the announcement of the round-table): https://primorske.svet24.si/plus/na-valovih-znanja/preseganje-mej-s-poslusanjem-bolecine-drugega

3. Media news – local newspaper Regional Obala: https://regionalobala.si/novica/dogodek-s-stevilnim-obcinstvom-ko-spregovorijo-obmejni-spomini-prisluhniti-drug-drugemu

4. Media news – STA – Slovenian national agency: https://o-sta.si/37064/okrogla-miza-ko-spregovorijo-obmejni-spomini-prisluhniti-drug-drugemu

5. Media news – Radio Koper (a one-hour long interview about the project and the borderland problems): https://radiokoper.rtvslo.si/podkast/odprto-za-srecanja/106615882/175140430?fbclid=IwY2xjawLGFMxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETB5aFJTVDdrS2NZbklRb0ZvAR4psg5ZeFCOSv1FPoPytSsX3Xj4llGdDGxlqaAFpOh-5fbu3egqovaaHQDluQ_aem_8ZrvzI_RMUgUSmP6-GIx5w

6. Media news – Radio Capodistria: https://radiocapodistria.rtvslo.si/podcasts/calle-degli-orti-grandi/173250859/175128173 

Lead Beneficiary: Pädagogische Hochschule Kärnten

The advantage of this WP is to make an encounter of students of both universities, the University of Primorska (UP) and the University of Teacher Education Carinthia (PHK), from different border areas. Student groups from the participating partners will carry out excursions as part of selected courses on so-called “Paths of Remembrance” in the three border areas. Local partners will also be involved so that buried and concealed parts of contemporary history can be addressed.

Excursions lasting several days will be carried out in the current border areas of Slovenia, Italy and Austria in order to familiarize young people (students) with the topics of the project in more detail. Reflections of the students (research diaries) will be prepared as project results in order to be able to analyse how young generations deal with these sometimes stressful topics (considering also the differences in perception of conflicts by men and women). Groups of students from Austria and Slovenia will not only learn about the shared history of the Alps-Adriatic region, but will also gain a better understanding of today’s border region. After the end of the excursions the students will be encouraged to present their reflections on the contested border memories and the ways to construct reconciliation, peace bringing narratives.

Lead Beneficiary: Quarantasettezeroquattro (47-04)

A two day Forum-open talk will be held in the cities of Trieste and Gorizia, in Italy, with the objective to create a moment of dialogue between the results of the historical researches, the different memories of traumatic events and periods and the wider public opinion: the aim is to reflect on the topic of the meaning of the historical remembrance of events that are becoming more and more far in the past and how to transmit this remembrance to the young generations as a factor of intercultural dialogue and not conflict. Through the Forum more material for the final result of the project, the documentary, will be collected. Project partners will be invited.

Lead Beneficiary: Quarantasettezeroquattro (47-04)

The documentary realized in the first half of the project will be a tool of further discussion about the topics of the project. The main target group will be the young population, especially the secondary school students. The objective is to encourage the students to deal with the different traumatic memories of the past, to understand that the different communities share some common aspects of how to remember the tragedies of the 20th century but they have also deep differences, sometimes also conflictual differences in the remembrance.

The workshops will take place in Italian and Slovenian speaking schools. Because of the linguistic barrier (only few Italian students speak or understand Slovenian and the Slovenian language is not present at all in the Italian speaking schools) and of the necessity to give to all the students the possibility to interact in their mother language – the equal status of both languages is a really important issue in terms of human rights- two parallel series of workshops will be developed, the first in Italian, the second in Slovenian. The second objective is to promote a deeper understanding of the tragedies of the past through a public screening of the documentary during one of the summer festivals organized by Quarantasettezeroquattro in the border area.

Lead Beneficiary: University of Primorska

The younger generation, pupils and students, play an important role in the project. As part of this project, specially organized school workshops in Slovenia, Austria and Italy will be held in cooperation with selected schools and universities in the defined border areas to familiarize pupils with historical positions and current aberrations of the topic. Minority schools are also important here, e.g. secondary schools of the Slovenian minorities in Austria and Italy, but also schools of the so-called “majority population” of the participating partner countries and others with similar problems (e.g. Croatia). The project team will show the specially produced documentary film and the topic will be prepared in advance with selected teachers. After the screening of the documentary, the topics will be dealt with in a sensitive and differentiated manner in workshops based on the anthropological, historical and psychotherapeutic approach. We will also broadcast the film and the discussion to a wider audience if the opportunity arises, also in the university and school environments workshops will be open to a wider interested public. The discussions will be performed in universities and schools in Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Croatia (or other). The Cultural Heritage Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, Slovenia will help disseminate the message through its wide networks.

Lead Beneficiary: Institute Epiona

Music, when written and composed sensitively and with meaning, can be widely accepted and offer profound collective healing experiences, helping to dissolve divisions within communities and can provide a significant catharsis. In the second year of our project, this work package aims to disseminate the documentary and our research findings through a concert. We believe it is essential to address personal stories with compassion and advocate for a transborder perspective, free from hate and nationalism. To this end, we have decided to create this disseminating event, where we will show the documentary and make a cross-border concert. The lead musician at the moment is Toni Bruna, a singer and songwriter from Trieste whose songs (in Trieste’s dialect) reflect on border traumas through his family’s personal experiences, where his family settled in the outskirts of Trieste after WWII as esuli (migrants of the Istrian exodus). We will add other musicians and artists to the concept, further developing the idea of representing all minorities in the region, this will help us to address the topic from the perspective of art and collaboration.

Lead Beneficiary: University of Primorska

As the final evaluation point a two-day international conference will be organized to reflect on what has been achieved during the project, to identify the problems and progress and to reflect on how to proceed forward. The conference will be the result of the two ongoing and complementary projects, on one side the anthropological project of the partner leader Ethnography of Silence, financed by the Slovenian National Agency for Research and Innovation (ARIS) and the CERV project. The first one is focused on the anthropological research of silenced societies (from the borderland to other minoritarian, post-colonial, post-industrial frames), while the second presents the applied results of the research focus on the borderland silences. In the two-day conference focused on the ethnography of silence(s) a panel will be dedicated to the CERV project topic: borderland silences memories.

There won’t be double financing, and the costs of the partners invited by ARIS projects will not be counted as participants from the CERV project (even if the knowledge will be disseminated to them too). In the frame of the CERV project anthropologists researching silenced memories of the Borderland areas or/and various minority groups will be invited from 7 to 9 different countries, partner speakers will be invited. The conference will be interdisciplinary, reaching out from anthropology to educational sciences, social psychology, history and psychotherapeutic sciences at least. The documentary film will be shown and the proper model of healing silenced societies will be discussed between project partners and experts from Europe and beyond. To conclude the borderland path of conferences (with the two initial conferences in Austria and Italy) the final conference will be placed in Slovenia, Koper/Capodistria.