Page 104 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

References to goods that could not be found Border Controls and Experiences
in Yugoslavia were common in my interviews. Due to restrictions, only limited amounts of
Sometimes articles that were not essential for life products were allowed to be brought to Ita-
but simply improved people’s lifestyles were also ly, like ‘half a kilogramme of meat, half a litre
mentioned, for example table tennis (Interlocu- of schnapps, cigarettes…some clothes, slippers,
tor 15), Christmas lights (Interlocutor 6), watch- coffee’ (Interlocutor 15). In order for the trip to
es (Interlocutor 15) or purses (Interlocutor 10). Italy to be worth the effort, people had to hide
Later, during the seventies and eighties, it was what they were bringing back in different ways,
common to buy technical ecquipment and con- as they usually took more than was allowed:
struction material: So, what did you take there... because they

We were working on this house, which was checked you... down there [probably meant
104 an old ruin, nothing, old stones, there was at the border crossing, note PK] there was
nothing to buy then under Yugoslavia, all one customs officer [woman]... she even
these building materials, everything, for looked under [the skirt, dress, note PK] ...
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
everything you had to go to Trieste, there the men were different, she was evil [‘žleht’]... ti
was a lot of smuggling, even the politicians and they asked us ‘what else have you hid-
were smuggling, all citizens were smuggling. den’... if they didn’t get anything, just what
was legal, they were very disappointed... be-
Then, with these passes, we transported cause if they uncovered something, they im- ta
everything from cement to bricks, tiles, ra- mediately got a stripe on their sleeve, like
diators. [Interlocutor 10]
they were real customs officers. [Interlocu-
When I went to buy a rotovator, the one I tor 14]
have now, I hid 3 million lire and put them Butter, cigarettes… Cigarettes no problem, di
in the first aid [kit]. I had a fičo [car – Zasta- but butter that all melted… and there was
va 750] and I took my mother with me. And one from Sveti Anton [village near Kop-
we got to the border and then the customs er, note P.K.] … she always had her trench
officer: ‘Good afternoon, where are you go- coat buttoned up... even in the summer... it
ing’? To Milje [Muggia, Italy], to the mar- smelled so bad... of course, she had meat [in
ketplace. And it was Thursday [the day of her trench coat]... she brought a whole cow...
the market, note PK] … ‘What do you have they made packages. I don’t know what the here
to declare? What do you have in your first meat was like, but within a week she brought
aid kit’? My mother blushed immediately. a whole cow or a calf… and nobody ap-
‘Show me what you have in your fičo’ … and proached her because of the smell. [Interloc-
then three others came up behind, I think utor 6]
they were some mates. ‘Go on, go on’. [Inter- After the war, crossing the border was made
locutor 6] easier for the residents of border areas. In 1949,
the first agreement between Yugoslavia and It-
We crossed the border in cars, fičos and stoen- aly, known as the First Udine Agreement, was
kas [cars made by the Yugoslav automobile signed. It covered the territory north of Trieste
company Zastava, note PK]. We borrowed and referred only to people who owned land on
passes, five or six people went. It was doable, both sides of the border, allowing them to cul-
but it wasn’t easy… Iron on the roof of the tivate land on the other side of the border. The studiauniversitatis
car. That car barely started, but little by little London Memorandum of 1954 obliged Italy and
it was possible, one pass, two or three... [In- Yugoslavia to conclude an agreement on small-
terlocutor 8] scale border traffic as soon as possible. The agree-