Italian early plans with annexed part of Slovenia - question?

[SloveneLiberal]

Can maybe an Italian historian explain more in detail what were early Italian plans with annexed part of occupied Slovenia or so called Ljubljanska Pokrajina, Provincia di Lubiana?

In Slovenian sources i found a note from the diary of count Ciano from 29.4.1941 where he wrote that he is preparing political statute for Ljubljanska Pokrajina which would be ''very liberal'' and will help Italy to gain support from Slovenians which are living under German occupation where ''the darkest crimes are happening''. Statute gave autonomy to Slovenians in annexed region.

Usually it is considered in Slovenia that this was just a propaganda tool to make Slovenes more open for soft way of Italianization. This is based on the fact that in Primorska which came under Italian rule after first world war at the beginning also autonomy was promised, but later fascist regime carried on policy of strict Italianization, basically destroying Slovene language and culture.

Count Ciano apparently thought that Italy would be maybe able to gain some new territory from Germans if Slovenes would support them. In this connections Slovene writer Edvard Kocbek wrote how at the beginning in 1941 certain mr. Salvini from Italian culture institute was making promises how Slovenes would be able to come back in Koroška ( Carinzia ) with Italian help. Some Slovenes like former ban Marko Natlačen even tried to make an alliance with Italians based on this policy to achieve the goal that whole Slovenia will come under Italian rule.

However later in 1942 when it was clear that Slovenes did not accept annexation and that many are also involved in partisan resistance movement we can read from Italian documents that they should forget about autonomy for Ljubljanska Pokrajina because this was just propaganda tool and there were even plans to remove whole population or part of it from Ljubljanska Pokrajina to Italy and replace it with Italians.

[Futurist]

and there were even plans to remove whole population or part of it from Ljubljanska Pokrajina to Italy

Do we know to where exactly in Italy?

[SloveneLiberal]

Hello Futurist. Well the issue was not solved in fact. Professor Angelo Scocchi from Trst ( Trieste ) wrote in July 1942 a memorandum to fascist government in which he advocated Slovenes from Ljubljanska Pokrajina should be expelled to Italian islands and to Russia which he thought would be under German rule.

In the connection with this at the end of July 1942 Mussolini at the meeting in Gorizia said that Italian repression should show no weakness and that he is not against the ideas that whole population of Ljubljanska Pokrajina should be expelled. Because of this at the meeting of military commanders in Kočevje on 2.8.1942 it was decided that all people and specially all men capable of fighting should be deported from areas which would be regained by Italian army in their offensive ( Roška Offensive ).

On 2.6.1942 general Mario Roatta wrote to general Robotti that inside Italy concentration camps for 20.000 Slovenes should be prepared and that they should be replaced with families of fallen or wounded Italian soldiers, specially on the borders and near important transportation routes, so that Italy will have strong local support in Ljubljanska Pokrajina ( Provincia di Lubiana ). Robotti agreed with this plan, but the answer from Rome at that time was that there is not enough place in Italy for so many people. In September 1942 Robotti wrote to Roatta that very large scale deportations are still not possible.

Fašisti brez krinke, written by dr. Tone Ferenc, published in Maribor in 1987. Documents 79, 93, 94. Book is based on Italian documents which were captured by Germans and finally Americans got them. After years they sent them back to Italy, but also made copies and sold them to interested historians.

Slovenski razkol, written by dr. Jože Možina, Ljubljana, 2019, page 141.