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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
Another example of where the new border had almost ridiculous consequences
is the village of Merna/Miren, located approximately 2.5 km south of
Gorizia. The village was to fall within the Yugoslavian territory but its
cemetery, which lay right on the edge of the village, was to be divided. After
the new border had been determined a line of barbed wire stretched across
the cemetery (Figure 52). One of the stories told here is about a man who
lived and eventually died on the Italian side of the border. As he was buried in
the cemetery his daughter, who lived over the border in Yugoslavia was
allowed to attend the funeral but only if she stayed on the Yugoslavian side
(Andrej Malnič, Ingela Brezigar and Jacob Marušič pers. comm. 2008). The
border has since been changed here and the whole cemetery now belongs to
Slovenian territory but the angle of the former border line is still clear when
looking at the markings outside the cemetery. After a period the barbed wire
was removed and a system of visiting hours were worked out so that people
from Italy could visit during certain times and people from Slovenia during
others. One time of year, during All Saints’, people could be let in at the same
time and these occasions turned into reunions where family and friends met.
People also took the opportunity to buy and sell goods (Andrej Malnič, Ingela
Brezigar and Jacob Marušič, 2008, pers. comm. 2 nd September). Even though
the border zone during these times was much more regulated and controlled
than it is today it was also, at least at times, a meeting point and a place for
people to react against this control. This resulted in there being more activity
in the border area than there is today, not just by the military but also by
other actors that had an interest here. Wherever you have a border, or any
area of control, there will always be people trying to defy that control and
push the boundaries. In the study area the new border in 1947 severed a
previously homogenous society and caused major difficulties to the people
within that society with many trade routes, markets, family ties, and areas cut
off. Many people did not let this development happen without pushing the
boundaries, sometimes literally, and constantly working towards a more
easily manoeuvred border landscape. Sometimes living by a border could be
an advantage. When it became easier for locals to cross the border after 1955
people could cross to buy products that may not be available in their own
country. Also differences in prices might mean it was cheaper to buy on the
other side of the border or to cross it to sell something. For farmers in
Yugoslavia, for example, it was more profitable to cross the border and sell
their produce in Italy where prices were higher (Janez, 2008, pers. comm. 6 th
September).
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