The aftermath of WW I brought about a new geopolitical configuration, perceived as detrimental by most of the ethnic minorities that had made up the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the cosmopolitan port city of Trieste, the ethnic Slovenes became the target of discrimination. With the advent of Fascism, those who resisted Italian efforts at assimilation were imprisoned, shot, or sent to concentration camps.

In 1941 Boris Pahor, who later became one of the most prominent Slovene authors, was drafted into Mussolini’s army. He returned to Trieste, a city occupied by the Nazis, after the armistice in 1943. He joined the Yugoslav resistance forces and was arrested in 1944 and sent to Dachau, Struthof, Harzungen and Bergen-Belsen. His memoir of his camp experiences, Necropolis, recently published in English by Dalkey Archive Press, will be the centerpiece of this event.

Jože Pirjevec, University of Primorska, Slovenia; Uri Cohen, Columbia University, Annie Cohen-Solal, NYU and Michael Biggins, University of Washington Libraries and Pahor’s translator - will join to explore Trieste's cultural diversity then and now, and how one of Europe's most multicultural cities became an epicenter of racist violence a full decade before the Nazi seizure of power in 1933.

This program is part of PURELY ITALIAN: Racial Policies and the Persecution of Minorities in Fascist Italy, a series of programs and an exhibition offering a new reading of the Fascist mindset and policies on race and minorities. For the full schedule of programs, please visit www.primolevicenter.org.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust presents Beyond the Racial Laws: Fascist Anti-Semitism Revisited on Wednesday, November 3 at 6:30 pm.

Boris Pahor, Trieste and its rich literary heritage will be prominently featured in the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival.

Ticket Info: $15 general, $10 Center for Jewish History, CPL, PEN American Center members, affiliates of the Consulate General of Slovenia