Page 113 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

after its abolition (1954–1962). In terms of ed- and national paradigm, and secondly from the
ucation, this second period was marked by the perspective of architectural history, i.e. by ana-
school reform, but from the political-adminis- lysing the social and spatial positioning of school
trative point of view it was the time when the buildings as representational and social spaces.
border dispute and the division of the FTT be-
tween Italy and Yugoslavia (1954) gave way to The Education System and ‘The Revival
the full integration of Zone B of the FTT into of the Slovene School in Istria’
the Slovenian republic and the state of Yugosla- During the decade following World War
via. The geopolitical restructuring was accom- II, the northern Adriatic border region between
panied by profound demographic, ethnic and Socialist Yugoslavia (now Slovenia) and Italy was
social changes, linked to strategic plans for the marked by several years of negotiations on a new
economic renewal and development of the area border between the two countries. A provision-
as the Slovenian coastal region. The two main al solution was the multicultural state of the Free 113
factors of economic restructuring, which went Territory of Trieste, or FTT (1947–1954). This
ti hand in hand with demographic and social re- was divided into Zone A in the west, includ-
structuring, were industrialisation (especial-
ing the city of Trieste and its rural surround-
ly with the TOMOS motorcycle factory, 1954–
ings and administered by the Anglo-American
ta 1959) and the establishment and accelerated Allied Administration, and Zone B in the east,
development of the Port of Koper (1957–1961).
between Koper (now Slovenia) and Novi Grad
Recent historical and especially anthro-
(now Croatia), administered by the military ad-
pological-ethnological research has highlight-
ed the core issue of the population changes af- ministration of the Yugoslav Army. In the years
after World War II, the main tasks of the peo-
di ter WWII in northern Istria, especially in the ple’s authorities in northern Istria (i.e. in the ter-
coastal, urbanised zone, and described them as
ritory of Zone B of the FTT) were reviving the
‘Slovenisation’ and/or ‘Yugoslavisation’ (Hro-
bat Virloget 2021; Čebron Lipovec 2019a; Kalc economy and renewing cultural life and the ed- the primary school in postwar koper/capodistria as a social laboratory
ucation system. The former involved satisfying
here education and school infrastructure. We want its historic centre of gravity - the city of Trieste -
2
2019). The present analysis aims to test this find-
the basic needs of the population and restructur-
ing by looking at the development of post-war
ing the economic region, which was cut off from
to highlight how the school positioned itself and
by the abolition of the FTT and the delimitation
what role it played in this dynamic series of his-
in 1954. As regards education, it was a question
torical events, what it can tell us about them, and
of restoring Slovene schools after a 20-year vio-
how the ruptures and transitions were reflected
lent fascist ban on the Slovene language and thus
in its mission and its work, on a symbolic level,
and in people’s perceptions.
studiauniversitatis
inhabitants. The aim was also to repair the cul-
We look at these issues from two perspec- providing mother-tongue education to all the
tives. Firstly through the prism of the institu- tural and national damage that the assimilation
tional and social history of schools and educa- and the fascist Italianisation policies had inflict-
ed on the Slovenian population of this ethnical-
tion as the foundations of a new social, political
ly mixed area.
2 The paper is the result of two scientific research projects Establishing and elevating Slovene educa-
and one programme, financed by the Slovene Research
Agency (ARIS): the project ‘The potential of ethnograph- tion to an adequate organisational level faced
ic methods in conservation of built heritage in contested two objective problems: a shortage of teaching
places: the case of northern Istria’ (Z6-3226) and the pro-
ject ‘Migration and social transformation in comparative staff and school premises. Many schools were
perspective: the case of Western Slovenia after WWII’ (J5- housed in makeshift buildings, some teach-
2571) as well as of the research programme ‘National and ers were recruited from the interior of Slovenia
Cultural Identity of the Slovene Emigration in the Con-
text of Migration Studies’ (Program P5-0070). and local candidates underwent training to be-