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Foiba (plural foibe) is the name adopted to define deep natural sinkholes common in Carso, a karstic district located between Italy and Slovenia. Actually this name is used in relation to massacres of Italians committed by Slav civilian peoples and combatants during and shortly after World War II.
In 1943, after the armistice between Italy and Allies and the subsequent collapse of Italian army and administration, and in 1945, when Yugoslav partisans led by Tito occupied Venezia Giulia and Istria, thousands (6,000 to 15,000, depending on sources) of Italian-speaking inhabitants of those regions were thrown in foibe, many of them suffering this fate while they were still alive.
The killings of 1943 were mostly spontaneous and appear to be a reaction to the policy of italianization and repression of Slavs followed by fascist regime in the previous decades, while episodes of 1945 were part of an ethnic cleansing that resulted in 300,000 Italians leaving former Italian territories in Istria and Dalmatia, later assigned to Yugoslavia by peace treaty.
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