Trieste in the 1700s experienced exceptional development due to the Habsburgs’ decision to create their main port there; in addition to the development of port infrastructure, the city, economy and population grew in that period. Trade firms, representations of foreign firms, shipping companies, etc. grew, and diplomatic representations also grew, the first consulate being opened in Trieste in 1732. The merchants formed, according to the nation of origin, small, ethnic-religious communities, which needed guarantees, protection, and representation in order to trade safely.
The commercial significance of Trieste and its port, which increased after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, caused the number of consulates to grow, and Romania, which became a sovereign state in 1861 needed to create an economic and diplomatic structure for itself abroad as well.
In 1866 he was designated Prince of the Union of Principalities Charles Hohenzollner Sigmaringen, who was to become the first Sovereign of the Kingdom of Romania in 1881. Two years earlier, in 1879, he signed the decree establishing an honorary consulate in Trieste entrusted to Jean (John) of Demetrius.
Demetrio’s family already had economic interests in Romania (forestry concessions, sawmills, grain trade) in addition to other business activities in Trieste ed. also played an important role in the influential Greek community in Trieste of which Demetrio’s uncle and nephew Constantine and Antonio were to be Presidents of the Community, the former in the years 1887, 1888, 1889 and the latter in 1971 and 1972.
The first Consul was Jean (John) of Demetrius and in 1892 his brother Constantine was made Vice Consul while in 1920, Jean’s son Antonio was appointed Vice Consul.
Previously, in 1919, the Consulate reopened after being interrupted since 1916 due to Romania’s entry into the war against Austria-Hungary, and had been transformed into an Honorary Consulate General and thus had hired a secretary thanks in part to the annual contribution Romania had allocated to this structure. The Consulate’s constituencies extended to the provinces of Trieste, Istria, Gorizia, Rijeka, Udine and Belluno. The Consulate’s headquarters was in the same building where the offices of Demetrio’s family firms were located, at 14 San Nicolo Street.
In 1927 Jean di Demetrio died at age 90, and his son Antonio became first Consul and then Honorary Consul General.
In 1943, Antonio’s son Alessandro, born on July 27, 1926, was appointed, on January 4, 1944, Registrar of the Consulate. A drama, however, is about to befall Demetrio’s family. Young Alessandro dies, before he turns 18, under the Trieste bombing raids of June 10, 1944, while serving as a volunteer for UNPA, a civil defense organization at the time. An article in IL PICCOLO of June 15, 1944, reads: ….Facing a shelter in an attempt to rescue some people who had not yet reached the safety zone, 18-year-old Alessandro di Demetrio, son of the Consul General of Romania, fell. A flourishing life spent in a moment of pure altruism….
From 1943 the situation of the Consulate is also affected by the confusion that exists in the final phase of the war and after the war. In fact Trieste from September 10, 1943 becomes part of the Adriatic Littoral which is directly annexed to the Third Reich. On May 1, 1945 Trieste is occupied by the partisan troops of the titin Yugoslavia. On June 9, 1945, Yugoslavia accepts the Morgan Boundary Line dividing Zone A (Allied administration) from Zone B (Yugoslav administration). From June 12, 1945, with the withdrawal of the Titine troops, the city is placed under Allied occupation, which becomes the Free Territory of Trieste (Zone A) from September 16, 1947 with a UN-appointed governor.
At the same time in Romania since August 23, 1944, King Michael had deposed dictator Antonescu and the Romanian army had, ceased fighting with the Nazis and begun its advance westward along with the Red Army. In 1945 a Communist-led coalition government of Petru Groza was formed in Bucharest. In 1947 King Michael abdicated and left for exile while the communist-led Romanian People’s Republic was formed.
Below is the report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania certifying the termination of the Consulate in Trieste:
ROMANIA
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Personnel Division
Bucharest, November 20, 1946
REPORT
SITUATION OF THE HONORARY CONSULATE IN TRIESTE
The Honorary Consulate General of Trieste, headed by Honorary Consul General Antonio di Demetrio, in its consular district the provinces of Trieste, Pula, Zadar, Gorizia, Udine and Belluno.
Mr. Minister Mihail Camarasescu, Chargé d’Affaires of Romania in Rome, in a telegram and a report, transmitted to the Ministry, informed that the Allied military authorities invited the Honorary Consul General of Romania to suspend the Consulate’s activities in the Trieste territory. On September 13, 1946, the Consulate ceased operations.
Similarly, the consulates of Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Holland, which were present in Trieste, ceased operations. Only the consulate of Switzerland, which had dealt with Anglo-American and French interests during wartime, remained in operation.
The Honorary Consul General of Demetrius, reports in a report forwarded to our Legation in Rome that the real cause of the decision taken by the Allied Command was to be able to oppose more easily, with this precedent, the requests of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia to open Consulates in Trieste.
Mr. Minister Carasescu is of the opinion to open an Honorary Consulate in Udine, “necessary to defend Romania’s interests in Northeastern Italy.”
The Exequator of the Honorary Consul General of Demetrius is valid for the provinces of Trieste, Pola, Zara Gorizia that are part of Venezia Giulia that are now under Allied administration, and for the provinces of Udine and Belluno that are part of Italy.
In view of the situation that exists today, and based on the report sent from Rome, the Personnel Division proposes the establishment of an Honorary Consulate in Udine, under the direction of Honorary Consul General Antonio di Demetrio.
THE HEAD OF THE PERSONNEL DIVISION
Em. Popescu
Consul General
Deputy Director
Antonio di Demetrio’s concern, which is made explicit in a letter dated September 25, 1946, to the Minister Plenipotentiary of Romania in Rome, Camarescu, is that of refugees from Romania arriving in Trieste, which have reached, in those recent times, considerable numbers of up to 65 people per day.
But the situation in Romania has changed profoundly and the Romanian communist government tries to stop this exodus which it considers to be made by fascists and capitalists and also by a series of agreements with the Yugoslav communist government implements control and repression measures, especially at the Banat border. These measures will be further strengthened with the exit of Yugoslavia from the Cominform, June 28, 1948, which, however, do not have an effect of tolerance of the Yugoslav state towards refugees who try to pass beyond the Iron Curtain, so defined by Winston Churchill in the famous Fulton speech on March 5, 1946 where he states that the Iron Curtain extends from Szczecin to Trieste, thus certifying the beginning of the Cold War between East and West Europe.
The great problem of refugees or displaced persons affects millions of people in Europe and there are various international organizations dealing with this both in general terms (IRO, International Refugee Organization, funded directly by the U.S., which later becomes UNHCR, High Commissioner for Refugees under the UN) and in more particular terms according to the nationalities of the refugees. Regarding Romania in the U.S. a powerful worldwide Catholic organization for all refugees the NCWC (National Catholic Welfare Conference) strongly supports the Romanian refugees thanks to the interest of the former secretary of the Apostolic Nuncio in Romania Bishop Kirk, in Trieste this humanitarian organization is represented by Fr. Alfredo Bottizer.
In Trieste, Antonio di Demetrio established a Romanian Assistance Committee, which later became the headquarters of ROMANIAN WELFARE INC., New York, N.Y., 18 East 60th St. NEW YORK 22, N.Y. Tel. Plaza 9-5540, which has branches in 12 states around the world. Virtually seamlessly, Demetrio’s offices at 14 San Nicolo St., are involved in assisting Romanians first as a Consulate, then as a Committee finally as a Romanian Welfare organization.
Romanian refugees who manage to get through the tough Romanian-Yugoslav and then the no less difficult Yugoslav-Triestean borders unscathed are taken in refugee camps in Trieste essentially in the large San Sabba complex.
The offices on St. Nicholas Street distribute clothing, do various assistance and information, and try in every way to help these people, who have lost everything, try to find a way in some country in the world to start a new life.
Our research ends in the late 1950s when the massive flow of refugees from Romania begins to die out, although it continues for several more years in a more subdued manner.
Other chapters will discuss in more detail the stories of refugees in Trieste.
The Romanian Consulate General in Trieste will reopen in 2009 with Consul Dr. Radu Octavian Dobre then with Consul Dr. Cosmin Dumitrescu and now with Consul Victor Cosmin Lotreanu.
The information in this section was derived from the numerous correspondence found in the folders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, which Dr. Ervino Curtis was able to consult thanks to the interest of the Consul in Trieste Dr. Radu Dobre.
