EXODUS FROM POLA

Evening Star, Issue 26028, 17 February 1947, Page 8

EXODUS FROM POLA

ITALIANS EVACUATING CITY UNWILLING TO LIVE UNDER YUGOSLAVS LONDON, February 15. ‘ The Times ’ special correspondent in Pola says that more than 11,000 of the city’s Italian inhabitants have already shifted to the Italian mainland, and by the time the Yugoslav authorities arrive to take over their new possession it is expected that altogether 25.000 people, who prefer not to live within Marshal Tito’s republic, will have departed. The earnestness of some of them is exemplified by their exhumation of their dead from the local cemetery and the shipment of coffins to Italy for reburial. Almost. all the shops have closed, and many are without signs and nameless, and all goods and fittings have been removed. Owners of private houses and factories are also hastily packing, up everything movable ready for shipment. .Hardly a motor car is seen in the streets, but a steady stream of lorries, carts,, and hand barrows converges on the harbour. Small schooners line the quays, their holds and decks crammed to overflowing with the refugees’ possessions.. Many professional men, including doctors, are likewise leaving .the city. The question occupying many minds is how many people and how much movable . property will the Yugoslav authorities fine! when they arrive. It is believed that not more than 8,000 persons will be there to greet them. Leaders of the Italo-Slav AntiFascist Union, a Communist-backed organisation, candidly confess that the departure of so many citizens necessary for the proper functioning of the city’s life may present a serious problem. Even pro-Italian circles express apprehension that as the time for handing over the city approaches essential services will have to be abandoned, and the city may become the scene of mass looting.