Nadezhda Pilko

Immediately after the end of the First World War, the question of the territorial division of the Austro-Hungarian heritage was raised acutely. In October 1918, the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs of Austria-Hungary formed the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The new state immediately declared its loyalty to the Entente, which, however, was not in a hurry to recognize it, and certainly did not consider it an ally. The situation of the self-proclaimed and unrecognized state formation was unenviable. The actions of Italy, which sought to obtain the territories promised to it by the Treaty of London, were very aggressive. The Slovenian side tried to resist this in every possible way, creating the People's Councils, whose task, among other things, was to preserve the territorial integrity of the Slovenian lands. The Italian authorities promised the Slovenian national minority their support and respect for national traditions and culture. But in practice everything turned out differently. There was no unity among the Slovenes of Italy, which undoubtedly prevented them from fighting for their rights. With the coming to power of the fascists, the situation of the Slovenes in Italy deteriorated considerably. National schools were banned, teachers were dismissed or retired. All this led to the creation of the Slovenian terrorist organization TIGR. It consisted of representatives of the Union of educational societies of Gorica, the society "Adria", and the Trieste Union of youth societies. The organization adopted the slogan of the Irish liberation movement to respond with violence to violence. They set themselves the task of terrorist actions to attract the public, to intimidate the organizers of denationalization. They encouraged Slovenes to resist and gave them hope for possible reunification. Their main actions were arson of fascist kindergartens, schools, armed attacks on the fascist police stations. Through secret channels on the border, TIGR was in touch with Yugoslavia, transported refugees including Italian anti-fascists, received Slovenian literature and weapons.