Page 93 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

ily with people who were born in the inter-war eloquent. The journey to Yugoslavia was one
period, but in the end most of them were born of many undertaken by the narrator. Howev-
after the war. Thus, different generations were er, on this specific occasion, crossing the border
involved in the research: there were those who affected her deeply. As her border pass (in Ital-
witnessed the post-war demarcation processes, ian Lasciapassare, in Slovenian prepustnica) was
but most interviewees were of the generation that damaged, the border guard stopped the car. Af-
experienced the post-war reality and that of the ter a moment of tension and fear, the officer ad-
border as children and adolescents (and through vised her to get a new pass and let them go. The
their parents’ narratives). Interviewing mem- episode itself did not have a negative outcome,
bers of different generations is a methodologi- however, crossing the border was always a tense
cal approach that allows a broader understand- moment.
ing of post-war life in a border region and reveals Given the treaties and the improved rela-
different perspectives. People who lived on the tions between the two countries, one would have
‘east side’ of the border were my main interloc- expected a more ‘relaxed’ border crossing, but in 93
ti utors, and I questioned them about their expe- the case of the above account, as well as in the
riences living close to the border. As the Slovene
conversations with my interlocutors, this was
anthropologist Polona Sitar has already written,
not necessarily the case. This narrative shows a
ta such an approach allows us to see ‘through a gen- multilayered and diverse experience of the bor-
der and the experience of crossing it.
erational perspective, which, on the one hand,
illuminates possible generational discontinui-
Bordering, Agreements and Treaties
ties, and on the other hand, also common under-
di standings’ (Sitar 2021, 146). I was particularly in- Before we consider the impact of the new bor-
der and the resulting discontinuity on a terri-
terested in the personal experiences of everyday
tory, which was politically, economically and
life at the border, people’s feelings when cross-
ing the border, and their encounters and impres-
socially interconnected for more than one hun-
sions when visiting Italy (especially Trieste) and dred years, we need to briefly explain the cir-
here goods meant to them and above all how they re- Northern Istria) existed for a long historical pe- everyday life in the borderland area between yugoslavia and italy after wwii ...
returning home. What visiting a city in anoth-
cumstances that led to this reality. The border
er country meant to them, what the purchased
‘question’ in the studied region (wider than just
riod (Marušič 2004; Panjek 2015) during which
member border controls and surveillance.
The website of the project ‘My Story from
different political actors (especially the Repub-
Silence’ (Moja zgodba iz tišine 2022) published a
lic of Venice and the Habsburg Monarchy) man-
story that meaningfully recounts and recalls the
ifested their interests in the territory. After the
moments of crossing the Yugoslav-Italian bor-
tory period of Austrian and French governance,
der. The story tells of a visit to relatives in Rijeka
studiauniversitatis
(now Croatia), where the narrator’s family from collapse of the Republic of Venice and the transi-
the territory was assigned to the Habsburgs in
2
Trieste often went (Moja zgodba iz tišine 2022). 1814. The Austrian crown land named the Aus-
3
It recounts the traumatic experience of a female trian Littoral, which included the Margraviate
traveller in the 1980s, a time when the war had of Istria, Gorizia and Gradisca and the Imperi-
been or was supposed to have been long forgot- al Free City of Trieste was established (Kavrečič
ten; a time that followed the conclusion of inter- 2017; Marušič 2004, 59). The name Littoral was
national and bilateral agreements between Yu- a ‘strategic’ decision made by Vienna to empha-
goslavia and Italy. Even if the story is very short size Trieste’s role as a port city. In reality, only
and represents only a brief encounter it is very a small part of the crown land was on the coast
2 The project’s aim was to collect ‘stories from silence’ about 3 The name also had other variants: Österreichisch-illyr-
the experiences of people in the post-war period in Istria, ische Küstenland / Litorale austro-illirico / Avstrijsko-il-
the Karst and Trieste. irsko primorje