Narodni Dom (National House), also known among the Italians as the Hotel Balkan, is a building in Piazza Oberdan constructed in 1904 to a design by architect Max Fabiani.Now it hosts the Scuola Superiore per Interpreti e Traduttori di Trieste. In the past it has hosted a theatre, a hotel, a bank, a restaurant, a cafè and it used to be the cultural centre of Triestine Slovenians.
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.
On July 13 1920, the fascist squads burnt down the building and prevented the fire brigade from putting the fire out, while the people inside the building were jumping out of the windows to flee from the blaze.
3 comments:
I like the old postcard if not the story behind it!
E l'Americani pensano che le torri gemelle erano la prima volta che succedesse un tale atto mostruoso. Sapessero...
It's horrible what happened in this part of the world between 1914 and 1945. We shall never forget those who died because of nationalism, fascism and communism regardless what nationality they were, Italian, Slovenian, German, Croatian... Too many died.
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