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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
As the Germans were governing the Adriatic Littoral it was subjected to
bombing by the allied forces although Gorizia/Gorica survived relatively
unscathed. Several resistance groups worked in the area during this period,
such as the Yugoslavian Partisans, a communist and antifascist group led by
Marshal Tito. It was suggested by the British foreign minister, Anthony
Eden, at the Yalta conference in February 1945 that the military
responsibility for Gorizia/Gorica and Trieste should fall to the Americans
and British and that Yugoslavian Prime Minister Joseph Tito’s forces were
given the responsibility to the east of these areas. On the 1 st of May 1945,
however, the Yugoslav army took over the majority of Trieste, soon followed
by New Zealand troops. Trieste was held under Yugoslav control
until the 12 th of June, something called the “Forty days of Trieste” in Italian
history (Sluga 2001:83–85). During this period there were many reports of
partisans seeking out former fascists and any kind of nationalist manifestation
was banned (Sluga 2001:89). Arrests and deportation of Germans
and Italian fascists were carried out but there were also reports of executions
by the Yugoslav army with some sources claiming that 6,000 people
had been arrested in Gorizia/ Gorica and Trieste of which 4,150 were
released, 1,850 were deported and 1,150 went missing. Later studies of these
claims have suggested that the number of missing people was much lower
but it is very difficult to know exactly what happened during the first
chaotic days following the area’s liberation (Sluga 2001:91).
During negotiations in May and June 1945 it was decided that the area
around Trieste would be divided into two sections Zone A, which included
the city of Trieste, which would be run by the Allies, and Zone B, including
the Istrian coast, excluding Pula, would be under Yugoslavian government.
The border between Italy and Yugoslavia that was agreed upon was to be
known as the ‘Morgan Line’, proposed by British General William Duthie
Morgan and this was the international border between Italy and Yugoslavia
from 1945 to 1947 (Bufon and Minghi 2000:122). Establishing the location
of the southern section of the Slovenian/Italian border, especially around
Trieste, was highly complex and this remained an unsettled area for several
decades. The location of the Italian-Yugoslavian border was established at a
high political level by the allies. The idea was that this section of the border
was to be established following ethnic distribution and ethnicity was mainly
decided through language. In many areas, such as around Gorizia/Gorica,
the border was therefore established between Romance (Italian) and Slavic
(Slovenian and Croatian) speaking population (Bufon and Minghi 2000:
120, for a discussion on how this division was portrayed in the media at the
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