Feb. 10 marked the commemoration of one of Europe’s darkest chapters: the Foibe massacres. This day, recognized in Italy as Giorno del Ricordo, honors the victims of communist-led mass killings that targeted ethnic Italians in central Europe after World War II.

Thousands were murdered or exiled from their homes along the Istrian peninsula by the communists of Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslav partisans between 1943 and 1947, most of whom were cast into the foibe, a “narrow ravine on the Carso plateau, behind Trieste and Istria.” Historical accounts suggest that the women were raped first and often tossed into the foibe while still alive. It was a horrific period in Italy’s history that many have tried to cover up, hide, and deny.