Evening star., 1949-07-02
Trieste, Like Berlin,
Divided as Result Of
International Pact
u. S. und British Armies
Don't Know How They're
Going to Leove
By Dorothy Thompson


By Dorothy Thompson
TRIESTE.-(By Airmail, De-
layed Trieste Is a city. and
usually after the name of a city
you put the name of the country
it is in. AS result Of an ILL
considered peace treaty, Trieste.
the Pearl Of the Adriatic," is
neither in Italy nor Yugoslavia,
nor under international control.
1t Is governed by British and
American armies, who, though
they know how they got in don't
know how or when they will get
out.
The peace treaty International
lied an indubitably Italian city
(and Central European port;
Yugoslav developments and de-
monstrative Italian reactions
quickly proved that this was not
q good idea. The British and
American Governments then de-
cided their own treaty as it af-
fected Trieste wasn't very sound.
But they had signed it, and so
had the Russians, who would not,
despite Tito's defections. agree to
make it Italian. In such dubious
legal situation, the Anglo-Amer-
leans fear to march out, lest Tito'S
wildly nationalist Slavs seize the
city, precipitating clash with
Italians under uncertain Ito say
the least) international conditions.
Once Chief Port.
Trieste had its great industrial
and commercial heyday in the
days of the ustro-Hungarian
empire, when the city was the
chief port of Austria, Hungary.
Czecho-S -Slovakia, and the West
ern Slavs. The peace treaties gave
it to Italy following World War I.
Trieste, like Berlin, is divided.
The Yugoslavs, who marched in
with the Italian collapse, finally
were persuaded to withdraw to a
dividing line. and since Tito has
never relinquished his claim to the
whole city, there they are and will
remain until history in these re-
gions shifts again.
The division has precisely the
effect that it has in Berlin. All
Italians in the Yugoslav sector
who went through a hideous reign
of terror while the Yugoslavs held
the city, and are suffering from a
cold terror to this day-try to
move into the Anglo-American
sector. There are, thus, refugees
within the city limits of their own
town.
Tito's break with the Cominform
has not made him a kinder man.
He is following strictly the party
line in persecution of the Catholic
Church, for instance, and not be-
cause it is an italian institution.
The Yugoslav population is Slo-
vene and for the most part Cath
olic. Slovene priests have been
arrested and mistreated on the
usual trumped-up legal" grounds,
no less here than elsewhere.
The local Communists have
jumped through several hoops in
the course of the Tito affair. Orig
inally, they were au-Slovene and
italian - for giving the city
to Yugoslavia. Tito's defections
changed that. After the Italian
elections dealt a sharp blow to
their hopes of communizing Italy,
the Trieste Communists-who had
been Observation-Disclosures over
to its characterization" in
strict conformity with the peace
treaty, and would welcome a Swiss
governor. But, as Signor Vadali,
local Communist boss, told me
with charming candor, purely as
q temporary measure"
Might Jump Again.
I gathered that if Yugoslavia
should abandon its heresies and
return to the orthodox Commu-
mist fold, or If communism should
pick up in Italy, they might jump
again. Much the stronger of
the two Communist branches in
Trieste is the Italian. In the
Anglo-American sector, at least,
everything Communist is Comm
form-you would think Tito was
dead.
And its propaganda to "inter-
nationalize" the city-without. of
course. explaining that such would
only be "temporary"-gets more
support for entirely other than
Communist reasons) than one
would think, among the Trieste
bourgeoisie, who saw the city de-
cline as a great port under Italian
sovereignty.
Despite the fact that the mid
June elections showed a good ma
jority to favor union with Italy,
the idea is not 100 per cent popu-
lar.
The frontiers everywhere in
Europe have curious psychology.
tending. as the result of shifts and
uncertainties, to be little realms
OF their own. The citizen of Trieste
thinks of himself as a '"Triestiner"
rather than as an Italian.
(Released BY the Bell Syndicate, 1nc)
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