C. i Kr. ratni logori 1914.–1918.
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Antique

C. i Kr. ratni logori 1914.–1918.

Joso Defrančeski

The first comprehensive account of the suffering of Istrian civilians (mostly women, children and the elderly) in Austro-Hungarian refugee camps during World War I, based on the personal memories of the author from Ližnjan.

Josip (Jose) Defrančeski's book *C. and Kr. war camps 1914–1918. is one of the most important testimonies about the humanitarian catastrophe that befell the population of Southern Istria after Italy entered the war in 1915. The Austro-Hungarian authorities evacuated (or expelled) tens of thousands of civilians — mostly Croats from the Pula and Ližnjan areas — to camps and settlements in Hungary, Moravia, the Czech Republic and Austria. The worst was in the large refugee camp Gmünd in Lower Austria, where thousands died of hunger, typhus, dysentery and other diseases due to catastrophic conditions.

The author Joso Defrančeski (Ližnjan, 1906 – Argentina, mid-1970s) wrote the book based on his own traumatic childhood experience. As a nine-year-old, he was expelled from Ližnjan with his mother, brothers, grandmother and grandfather. In the Gmünd camp, he lost his younger brother Ivica and his grandfather. The book is therefore at the same time a personal memoir and a broader historical documentation of the fate of the Istrian "evacuees". Defrančeski emphasizes that he did not exaggerate anything, but even toned down a lot.

The book represents the first comprehensive presentation of this topic in Croatian (Yugoslav) literature. It later saw an expanded edition (Ližnjan, 2015). The style is direct, emotional and documentary, with many specific names, places and destinies. The book is not only an accusation against the Austro-Hungarian authorities for negligence and inhumane treatment, but also a valuable source for studying the First World War "in the background", the Italianization of Istria and the fate of the Istrian Croats.

Today it is considered a bibliographical rarity. Copies of the first edition from 1937 appear very rarely on the market and are sought after among collectors of Istrian themes, literature about the First World War, and regional history.

Dimensions
20 x 14 cm
Pages
200
Publisher
Štamparija Antun Rott, Osijek, 1937.
 
Latin alphabet. Paperback.
Language: Croatian.

One copy is available

Condition:Used, very good condition
Damages or inconvenience notice:
  • Slight damage to the cover
  • Traces of patina
 

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