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Abstract

This dissertation investigates how the contemporary Italian-speaking community of Rijeka/Fiume interprets and transmits its collective past in the wake of the profound political and demographic transformations following the Second World War. The transition from Italian fascism to Yugoslav socialism dismantled the Italian populations’ prior economic and cultural prominence. While many Italian speakers departed amid fears of marginalization—the esuli—, those who remained—the rimasti—underwent a disorienting process of minoritization within the new socialist framework. Drawing on oral history interviews with members of the “Comunità degli Italiani di Fiume” (Italian community in Rijeka) alongside archival and press sources, the study examines how this borderland minority reconfigured its identity across shifting ideological regimes. It argues that the mnemonic practices of the Fiumani diverge from both Italian and (post-)Yugoslav historiographies, which often overlook locally rooted narratives of attachment. In a city marked by layered multicultural and plurilingual traditions, these practices give rise to a complex, non-linear sense of belonging.