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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
together with its immediately surroundings by the road Kidričeva Ulica; the
first high rise blocks built in the 1960s to the south of the original cluster; and
the recent suburbs expanding along the edges of the city all represent parts of
the towns short history. I do not get lost in Nova Gorica but in Gorizia I lose
my way all the time, taking a shortcut that leads somewhere completely
different. The different stories of these two towns are apparent in their
composition and their differences are the consequence of the border imposed
on the area in 1947.
Figure 20: Picture of the area soon to become Nova Gorica photographed in 1947. The crossing in
the picture is today the corner between the streets of Erjavčeva ulica and Škabrijelova ulica.
Property of Goriški Muzej, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
A border in constant change
“A soldier is a soldier, fear is fear and life is life”
(Velušček and Medved 2002)
Between 1946 and 1948 security was at its highest with Yugoslavian authorities
establishing a 5 km security zone along the border. The border was
patrolled and soldiers had orders to shoot at anyone trying to cross. Mines
and signals were placed by the border in the evenings and were removed in
the mornings. Often both the people trying to cross illegally and the guards
patrolling the border were armed which created a major insecurity on both
parties and a risk of being shot or shooting someone yourself. Often just the
insecurity itself led to shootings. It was not unusual for gunfire to be heard
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