Video narrative about a concentration camp for civilians on the Croatian island Rab is APIS institute latest contribution to the remembrance of victims of internment in Italian Facist camps during WW2. It is available through QR codes at the memorial complex. Visitors can easily access it in five languages using their mobile phone and a QR code reader app.
The premier happened during the highest state level visit at the memorial site and the first joint visit of Slovene and Croatian president. They payed their respect to the victims of the internment on the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp Rab.
On this occasion our exhibition Last Witnesses was opened at the Town Library Rab and Slovene and Croatian president were taken on a guided tour.
At the end one of the co-authors, Saša Petejan, gifted them a photo book Guardians of the spoon, serving the same goal: preserving the memory on the existence of Italian fascist concentration camps and the internment of Slovenes, Croats and Jews. The book is winner of 2017 International PhotoBook Award in Los Angeles and received and award on 32. Slovenian bookfair (2016) for best design among monographic and bibliophilic books.
The video narration was made with the support of a German EVZ Fundation and in collaboration with Documenta. The hosting of the exhibition on Rab was realised with the support of the Slovene Embassy in Croatia.
Watch an English narration
Crating a remembrance platform
During the past seven years the authors, journalist Saša Petejan, photographer Manca Juvan and historian Urška Strle PhD, listened to individuals who experienced deprivation, hunger, illness, repression and witnessed death of children and adults – facts and testimonies omitted from Slovene and Italian study books – with an aim to create a platform where voices on internment will be heard by a wider audience. During this period they created a large collection of oral history and art work. You can access it through a documentary exhibition, radio and TV documentary, a photo book , educational materials with a focus on experiential learning and latest through a video narrative in five languages.
This work is an act of remembrance and a way to pay respect to the victims of Italian fascist camps. It is an attempt to make known the politically induced loss of European historic memory.
On the other hand the body of work we are creating over the extended period of time contributes to Slovene oral history records. In an active way we are part of the emergence of the “new” WW2 history, developing an area of research that is developing.
Credits
Photographs of witnesses, objects, and other photographs from the Rab Island: Manca Juvan
Photographs of the Rab concentration camp, Benito Mussolini, and Janez Lajevec’s linocuts: reproductions are kept in the National Museum of Contemporary History.
Photograph of Risiera di San Sabba: National Monument Risiera di San Sabba, City of Trieste
Screenplay and text: Saša Petejan, Urška Strle PhD
Translation: Manca Gašperšič
Video realization: Manca Juvan/Zavod APIS
Music: Ali R. Taha
Production: APIS Institute, Slovenia, August 2020
The video narrative is part of the project “Memory of the Forgotten Victims of the Kamporand Slana Concentration Camps”, supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future – Stiftung “Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft” (EVZ). Partners: Documenta (HR), Zavod APIS (SLO)
Want to explore further? Access the website Guardians of the Spoon.