Black Cross in Asinara: «Homage to the soldiers who died of cholera on the island»

«This cross that was placed and blessed today, may be an everlasting memory for those soldiers, and every person who places his gaze on it may turn his thoughts and soul to those young broken lives. Today in a climate of consolidated peace and mutual solidarity, you, the People of Austria and we, the People of Italy, pay homage to these young people who ended their lives here on the island of Asinara and where their remains rest here." Words from the mayor of Porto Tores, Massimo Mulas on the occasion of the inauguration of the Black Cross, the monument positioned in Cala Reale in honor of the Austrian soldiers deported to Asinara where they died during the Great War, killed by the cholera epidemic.

A four meter high cross on a granite base, made of corten material by Nuova Sismet of Porto Torres, a work commissioned by the Black Cross association of Austria and by the Austrian people with the contribution of the municipal administration of Porto Torres.

The ceremony was held this morning on the island of Asinara in the presence of the civil, religious and military authorities, the mayor of Stintino, Rita Vallebella, the fighting and military associations, the Amni of Porto Torres and the Sassari Brigade, the extraordinary commissioner and the director of the Asinara park, Giancarlo Muntoni and Vittorio Gazale. After the playing of the national anthems, Austrian and Italian, the Austrian representative of the Province of Tyrol, Thomas Huter, together with the mayor of Porto Torres, Massimo Mulas, laid the laurel wreaths at the foot of the Black Cross, two others were placed in the chapel of Cala Reale. The Archbishop of Sassari, Monsignor Gianfranco Saba, gave his blessing to the fallen soldiers and the commemorative monument.

«It is a memory of members of the Austro-Hungarian army. More than a century ago the First World War began, more than 9 million people lost their lives and the terrible experiences of those years could not prevent a Second World War which cost the lives of 55 million people", concluded Thomas Huter . Of the 23 thousand young soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army who were handed over to Italy for safekeeping as prisoners interned on this island, at least 7 thousand of them died here.