The exhibition marks the 71st anniversary of the creation of the Western Slovenian border. It is devoted to the outline of life in the area of Julian Krajina before the creation of the border in 1947 and uses the memories of the inhabitants to reveal the complex relations in the province during the allied military administration (ZVU).
During the two-year period of the existence of Zone A, the ideological struggle for victory over nazifascism was followed by a national struggle for territory. The antagonism between the two nations involved became more and more acute and condensed the question of Venezia Giulia into two opposing poles – whether the territory would be Italian or Yugoslav (Slovenian). In the memories of this period, both the ideological divide and the way in which witnesses value individual events are clear. In the context of recalling the same events, memories are formed within the already established national discourses, formed on different interpretations of post-war events. On a collective level, these post-war interpretations are embedded in the constructs of equating Italians with fascists and Slovenes with "slavotitins", stereotypical views that persist in the border area. The hatred, which was kept on the old historical foundations and caused new waves of violence against dissenters, persisted long after the border was established.
"Era dura. C'era molto odio. E dopo c'angul voluto molto tempo per farlo sparire ... o meglio per attenuarlo."/"She was bad, you know. There was a lot of hate. And then a lot of time had to pass for this hatred to disappear, or rather, to alleviate."(I. C., Italian witness)
The ZVU period marked, in collective memory, the transition from deprivation to well-being, the exit from poverty and the beginning of a new, post-war life. At the same time, the new provisional allied authority brought new insecurity, national tensions and violence into the territory, which made it seem that the end of the war did not bring final peace.
Razstava obeležuje 71-letnico nastanka zahodne slovenske meje. Posveča se orisu življenja na območju Julijske krajine pred nastankom meje leta 1947 in s spomini prebivalcev odstira kompleksne odnose v pokrajini v času zavezniške vojaške uprave (ZVU).
V dveletnem obdobju obstoja cone A je ideološkemu boju za zmago nad nacifašizmom sledil nacionalni boj za ozemlje. Antagonizem med obema vpletenima nacijama je postajal vedno ostrejši in je vprašanje Julijske krajine strnil v dva nasprotujoča si pola – ali bo ozemlje italijansko ali jugoslovansko (slovensko). V spominih na to obdobje je jasen tako ideološki razkorak kot način, kako pričevalci vrednotijo posamezne dogodke. V kontekstu obujanja istih dogodkov se spomini oblikujejo znotraj že vzpostavljenih nacionalnih diskurzov, oblikovanih na različnih tolmačenjih povojnih dogodkov. Na kolektivni ravni so te povojne interpretacije vpete v konstrukte enačenja Italijanov s fašisti in Slovencev s »slavotitini«, stereotipnimi pogledi, ki na obmejnem območju vztrajajo. Sovraštvo, ki se je hranilo na starih historičnih temeljih in je povzročalo nove vale nasilja nad drugače mislečimi, se je namreč ohranilo še dolgo po postavitvi meje.
»Era dura. C’era molto odio. E dopo c’è voluto molto tempo per farlo sparire … o meglio per attenuarlo.« / »Huda je bila, veste. Bilo je veliko sovraštva. In potem je moralo preteči veliko časa, da je to sovraštvo izginilo, ali bolje, ublažilo.« (I. C., italijanski pričevalec)
Obdobje ZVU je v kolektivnem spominu pomenilo prehod iz pomanjkanja v blagostanje, izhod iz revščine in začetek novega, povojnega življenja. Obenem pa je nova začasna zavezniška oblast na ozemlje vnašala novo negotovost, nacionalne napetosti ter nasilje, ki je še kako dalo misliti, da konec vojne ni prinesel dokončnega miru.