The Italian administration of Dalmatia--economically, politically,
scholastically, ecclesiastically and financially (as we will show)--was
thoroughly mistaken. Wherever one goes one is overwhelmed with evidence;
it is impossible to print more than a tithe of it. But the mention of
Knin recalls the case of Dr. Bogi['c], who was deported to Sardinia for
political reasons. On January 1 he was arrested, together with a
Franciscan monk, a schoolmaster and others, transported to [vS]ibenik
and put into a cell devoid of bed, light or a window. Thence, with
nothing to eat, although the weather was wintry, he was taken on to the
S.S. _Almissa_, bound for Ancona. Near [vS]ibenik the boat collided with
the isle of Zlarin; he and the other prisoners attempted to get out of
their cabin, but carabinieri kept them there by flourishing revolvers in
their faces. At Ancona, Spoleto, Perugia, Florence and Leghorn the
doctor was always lodged in prisons, had his finger-prints taken, had to
stand up to salute the warders, had to look on while his things were
stolen--at Ancona, for instance, they despoiled him of eighty cigars.
His wrists were always bound; he was attached not only to his
fellow-travellers but to Italians who were under life-sentences. The
carabinieri cut up their bread, put it on their knees and then, without
unbinding the ropes, left them to eat it as best they could. The journey
was very slow; thus from Perugia to Florence--being all the time
attached to one another--it took sixteen hours. Dr. Conti, the prison
doctor at Florence, said that Dr. Bogi['c] was ill, but as he declined
to give him a certificate the journey was resumed. From Florence to
Leghorn he was bound so tightly that his wrists were very much swollen.
From Leghorn in the S.S. _Derna_ he was shipped to Sardinia, where he
had experience of several prisons, including that of Terranuova-Pausania,
where water flows down the walls and vermin are everywhere. He received
2.75 lire a day with which to buy his food, and although he is a doctor
they refused to let him read any medical books. When I asked him of what
he had been guilty, he began by recounting his war work. Over 6000
Italian prisoners were at Knin, and he was there as military doctor for
more than two years. These Italians were employed on the railway line
and--as is clear from the letters they wrote to him after their
release--letters some of which I read--they had very friendly
recollections of the doctor. Once in the summer of 1918 a group of
Italians arrived who had been, in the doctor's words, "bestially
maltreated at Zala-Egerseg by the Magyars." Dozens died on the way to
Knin, others while they were being got out of the station, others on
the way to the hospital. They were nothing but skeletons, dressed almost
exclusively in paper clothes. General Wucherer happened to be at Knin
and to him the doctor reported that the Italians had been treated in an
absolutely criminal fashion. Wucherer, who was a decent fellow, ordered
the doctor to dictate the whole affair and said that if nothing else
could be done he would go direct to His Majesty. Then standing up he
struck the table, in the presence of his staff, of Dr. Grgin of Split
and of the railway commandant Captain Bergmann, and "Wir sind doch die
groessten Schuften!" he exclaimed ("After all, it is we who are the
biggest scoundrels!").... When the Yugoslavs overthrew the Austrian
Government at Knin, the doctor, a kindly-looking, little, bald man, made
a speech to the prisoners from the balcony of the town hall. He armed
two of the Italians and ten French prisoners, whom he told off to guard
the magazine. The two Italians (Cirillo Tomba and Mario Favelli)
vanished after a couple of days; the French remained for a week, and
when a French destroyer arrived at Split they were taken there, not as
prisoners but as soldiers, bearing arms. Dr. Bogi['c] was a member of
the National Committee at Knin, and as such he wrote to a colleague at
Drni[vs] to ask him whether the Italian troops were coming up from
[vS]ibenik. This letter was his undoing. The reason he wrote it was
because the population at Knin was extremely agitated by the prospective
occupation and begged him to ascertain the latest news. He should have
remembered, no doubt, that the Italians regarded this as enemy country
and that to make inquiries with regard to the movement of troops was a
crime. An officer came and asked him, in the General's name, if he would
kindly take part in a conference; on reaching the place which was
indicated he found himself surrounded by carabinieri. Their captain, a
certain Albano, said that he and two or three others must go to
[vS]ibenik to undergo a short interrogatory, and that as he would return
in two days at the latest it was unnecessary for him to take any money,
clothes or linen. As a matter of fact the doctor had, on the previous
day, been warned from Split that the Italians meant to intern him; but
he laughed--he had done so much for them and he felt so innocent that
it seemed absurd to run away. He could have gone, because he had a
written permit issued to him on January 10 by the 144th Italian infantry
regiment at Knin, which stated that he and his wife might go, whenever
they wished, to Split.