London Memorandum of 1954
The Conference is organized on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the London Memorandum. The Conference aims to clarify the multifaceted repercussions of the end of the war in Venezia Giulia and Istria, Slovenian Littoral, Kras, and Gorizia, situating them within the broader tapestry of European history and geopolitics
The withdrawal of the Anglo-American forces from Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste in 1954, as mandated by the London Memorandum, symbolized the shifting tides of influence in the region. Similarly, the conclusion of the Allied occupation in Austria with the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955 signaled a turning point in the post-war order. However, these developments were not without their controversies and complications, as evidenced by the Soviet intervention that had suppressed the events known as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, serving as a stark reminder of the limits of the geopolitical order crated in 1945. The Yugoslav-Italian negotiations, which concluded in October 1954 resulted in the temporary London Memorandum. As the chief Yugoslav negotiator, Ambassador Vladimir Velebit stated, temporary agreements can often prove to be the most enduring.
The Conference organized on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the London Memorandum, jointly organized by the Doctoral Program in Modern and Contemporary Croatian History in European and Global Contexts, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, and the Institute for Historical Studies, Science and Research Centre Koper and Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Research and Studies on Eastern Europe (MIREES) program of the University of Bologna, aims to clarify the multifaceted repercussions of the end of the war in Venezia Giulia and Istria, Slovenian Littoral, Kras, and Gorizia, situating them within the broader tapestry of European history and geopolitics. Through a nuanced exploration of the intertwined fates of Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy, the conference aims to deepen our understanding of the enduring complexities of post-war Europe and its ongoing ramifications for the continent and beyond.
PROGRAMME:
November 14, 2024, Conference Room, Faculty Library
(Chair: Hrvoje Klasić)
10:30 Opening of the Conference (Bianchini, Jakovina, Pirjevec)
11:00 Tvrtko Jakovina, The Era of Globalism: Foreign Policy of Yugoslavia and the Trieste Question in 1954
11:20 Jože Pirjevec, Edvard Kardelj and the Trieste Question
11:40 Stefano Bianchini, Reconsidering the Pathway to the London Memorandum in the Light of Multiple Regional Interests in the Balkans
12:00 Benedetto Zaccaria, Italy and Yugoslavia from the London Memorandum to the Osimo Treaty, 1954–1975
DISCUSSION
13:15 Lunch. Both days, lunch will be held at the Lobby Restaurant, Ivana Lučića 2.
15:00 SECOND SESSION (Chair: Federico Tenca Montini)
15:00 Božo Repe, The London Memorandum and the Slovenes
15:20 Anna Graf-Steiner, The Role of Austria in Soviet Strategy on European Security: From the Austrian State Treaty to the Helsinki Final Act
15:40 Borut Klabjan, Rethinking Border Regimes in Cold War Europe: Cross-Border Mobility along the Italo-Yugoslav Border in the 1950s
16:00 Ivo Goldstein, Dilemmas, Plans, Achievements – Josip Broz Tito in the Mid-1950s
16:20 Hrvoje Klasić, The Yugoslav-Italian Border Issue in the Croatian Emigrant Press
DISCUSSION
November 15, 2024, Conference Room, Faculty Library
SECOND DAY, THIRD SESSION (Chair: Ana Graf-Steiner)
10:30 Darko Dukovski, Istria: Historical Turning Points 1945–1954
10:50 Stefano Bottoni, Hungary and Romania after Stalin’s Death
11:10 Marko Medved, The Catholic Church in Relation to the London Memorandum of 1954
11:30 Gorazd Bajc, The Issue of the Slovenian Bank in Trieste, 1945–1954
11:50 Federico Tenca Montini, The Solution to the Trieste Crisis: Why 1954?
DISCUSSION
INFO:
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (Croatia)
