14.05.2024 – 09.00 – Testimonials fromexodus he was born in climate of terror brought by Yugoslavia communist in Istria at the end of Second World War. A still lucid witness to a childhood marked by conflict and the massacres of the Foibe. The National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, present with a book stand at Turin International Book Fair set up together with Multimedia Documentation Center to carry out La Bancarella – Eastern Adriatic Book Fair, has entered the heart of the history of the Adriatic border.
In an event organized at stand of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia protagonist was Erminia Dionis Bernobitoday a successful seamstress but with a life of exile behind her marked by a nocturnal escape from Istria when she was little more than a child, a difficult reintegration from a stateless person in Trieste waiting for the rest of the family who remained blocked by the restrictions that communist Yugoslavia was beginning to place on Istrians who opted for Italian citizenship and therefore for the exodus. We are talking about a little girl kicked out of school because she refused to write in her notebook “I love Tito” in Italian and Croatian: unable to continue her studies, she went to work in the tailoring shop of Visinada until the day a partisan showed up who declared he wanted throw into the foiba all Norma Cossetto’s relatives who remained alive. The Dionis family was related to the Cossettos and during the summer holidays Norma helped Erminia with her homework: «I don’t know where I found the courage, but I punched that man in the chest and answered him in kind, then ran away to house in tears – said Erminia Dionis –. I locked myself in my room, my mother didn’t understand what I might have done until the tailor I worked for arrived and told her what had happened. A couple of hours later I was already in escape towards Trieste, where I arrived without documents and lived as a stateless person without being able to go to school and without being able to work. Only 6 years later I was joined by my family”
His story was told in the book A life hanging by a threadpublished by ANVGD edited by Rossana Mondoni (Istituto Studi Politici Giorgio Galli), who explained that it is a text intended above all for young people, in which «Erminia’s story is accompanied by essays by historical in-depth analysis and from testimonies of people who knew her, worked with her and can demonstrate the courage she had in facing life, committing herself to profession until reaching the highest levels, then dedicating a lot of time to volunteering and helping people in difficulty. We want to convey to young people, who find themselves living in an era of crisis, the ideals, values and love of Homeland that Erminia represents.” Donatella Schürzeldeputy national vice-president of the ANVGD, underlined that «Erminia is too modest: hers is one of the most brilliant success stories that have characterized the reintegration and redemption of Julian-Dalmatian exiles. Many have not endured the suffering of exile, but the cases in which a social position has been regained with tenacity, effort and honesty are much more numerous. This book tells not only her life, but also takes us into the history of the Adriatic border from a female perspective, intimately connected with the tragedy of Norma Cossetto and with her sister’s work of testimony Lycia carried on for many years”
