Yesterday in Trieste a commemoration ceremony was held for the 81st anniversary of the martyrdom of Norma Cossetto, a student of Istrian origin who in 1943 was tortured, raped and thrown into a sinkhole by Yugoslav partisans, near Villa Surani.
On December 9, 2005, Norma Cossetto was posthumously decorated with the gold medal for civil merit. The event was organized by the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia (Anvgd) and the Municipality of Trieste.
Mayor Roberto Dipiazza participated in the traditional ceremony, held in front of the Stele dedicated to her in a street bearing her name, stating that "thanks also to the twenty-year commitment of the local administration, that oppressive silence that has characterized the tragedies of our lands for so long has finally been broken".
Seventy years since the return of Trieste to Italy
Dipiazza recalled that this year also marks the seventieth anniversary of the return of Trieste to Italy, which took place on 26 October 1954.
Regional Councillor Pierpaolo Roberti highlighted “the importance of the constant work of the associations”, underlining that without them the memory of those events would not have been preserved and that the law on remembrance would have come too late to protect the memory of the tragedies that struck Istria and Dalmatia.
Participants at the ceremony
Also present were Renzo Codarin, president of the Anvgd, together with Norma Cossetto's family, various political representatives and a large delegation from the associations of Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian exiles, as well as from the arms and combative associations.