The Vajont disaster (1963): from the oblivion to the enhancement of a collective memory
On October 9, 1963, a great landslide detached from Mount Toc poured into the artificial reservoir of the Vajont dam (northern Italy) that had just been tested, causing a big shock wave that completely swept away the villages of the valley’s floor, especially the town of Longarone, causing 1,910 victims. The huge tragedy radically upset the local area, which lived on traditional agriculture, forestry, and handicraft.
The reconstruction started four years later, and thanks to the facilitations of the so-called “Vajont Law” and the favorable period due to the economic boom, new economic activities were established, which transformed these communities from peasant to industrial / tertiary in one stroke, much faster than in other mountain areas. The tragic event fell into oblivion and only after thirty years, thanks to a theatre show broadcast on the national television network, Vajont came back to the centre of the attention, soliciting answers to some unresolved issues: political responsibilities and civil compensations, as well as collective memories to be processed and recovered.
Much has been written and said about the Vajont tragedy, but not enough about the rebirth of the local collective memory. This contribution intends to fill this gap by focusing attention on the dynamics of this rebirth: why so much silence for so long? Who have been the key actors in the recovery of the local memory? What kind of relationships, obstacles and conflicts have accompanied the reconstruction of the local memory? What economic, social and territorial changes have resulted? After retracing the main facts of the Vajont disaster, the presentation intends to answer the aforementioned questions, using official data, archival documentation, and interviews with local stakeholders.
Mots clés : Vajont|man-made disasters|territorial change|collective memory|disaster remembering
A103340TB