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comment: LETTERS
A war hero's welcome back to Pomarico An open letter to the rector of the
University of Trieste Progress in 'Slovenian Odyssey' (but not in
Slovenian politics) |
A
war hero's welcome back to Pomarico
A
letter from Paolo Uricchio, Munich
Dear JUST
Response,
For years we have
been denouncing and reporting illegitimate, malicious acts against our family interests
to the relevant Italian State authorities which control public administrations.
The acts in question have been performed by the “Public Administration” of
Pomarico in the Matera Province of Basilicata in southern Italy to the
detriment of our property there. Unfortunately we have so far failed to achieve
any concrete results. No action whatsoever is being taken.
We have even set
up a website,
which includes self-explanatory photos and film in order to describe this
situation more fully. It can all be read in English, Italian or German. We hope
to publish much more documentation soon, including examples of the sort of
harassment we have encountered.
It is perplexing
that for years I have found myself having to use the term ‘Mafiosi’ in openly
referring to all those responsible for the injustices and harassment I have had
to endure.
Here is a short
historical background summary.
In 1958 Antonio
Uricchio, his wife and seven children were forced to leave their native
Pomarico in order to seek work in Munich, Germany as there was no work for them
in Pomarico. Ironically, Antonio had received military honours from the Italian
State for outstanding commitment against Nazi Germany.
Germany gave us
the opportunity to make an honest living and accumulate savings. Germany gave
us the sort of professional training which Italy was incapable of providing.
We decided to
invest all our German savings in Pomarico and purchased 10,000 square metres of
land in the new town centre. Despite a thousand difficulties which had to be
overcome, we eventually succeeded in building a house in order to satisfy our
overwhelming desire to return to our home town. We submitted construction plans
and offered to dedicate our “modest abilities” to contributing to the town’s
development. What actually happened was that the commercial value of our house
was reduced to zero as a direct result of the perverse, corrupt, Mafia
mentality which we found ourselves up against.
One powerful
official with a criminal record who, together with his “friends”, continues to
operate corrupt construction speculation with impunity, was at one stage
received by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on merit. Yet our complaints
continue to fall on deaf ears. There seems to be no limit to administrative
perversity in this part of Italy.
Paolo Uricchio
Munich
Germany
Note: This letter,
originally in Italian, was published by JUST Response on January 9 2006.
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