Anti-Slavism

Anti-Slavism, also known as Slavophobia, a form of racism or xenophobia, refers to various negative attitudes towards Slavic peoples, most common manifestation being claims of inferiority of Slavic nations with respect to other ethnic groups. Anti-Slavism was notable in Italian Fascism and Nazism prior to and during WWII.

In the 1920s, Italian fascists targeted Yugoslavs—especially Serbs—and accused Serbs of having "atavistic impulses", claimed that Yugoslavs were conspiring together on behalf of "Grand Orient masonry and its funds" and one anti-Semitic claim that Serbs were part of a "social-democratic, masonic Jewish internationalist plot". Benito Mussolini identified Yugoslavs as a threat to Italy and as competitors over the region of Dalmatia which was claimed by Italy, and claimed that this threat rallied Italians together at the end of World War I, saying: "The danger of seeing the Jugo-Slavians settle along the whole Adriatic shore had caused a bringing together in Rome of the cream of our unhappy regions. Students, professors, workmen, citizens—representative men—were entreating the ministers and the professional politicians".