European Network Remembrance and Solidarity

'In Between?' 2022: Sound of Division

Episode Summary

'Sound of Division' is a podcast from the 'In Between?' 2022 series, created by an international group of European students that took part in workshops and study visit in the Italian-Slovenian borderland region in July 2022. When we look at a border, we usually see two separate sides, each of them with the markers of individuality, distinctiveness and difference. But the case of Gorizia and Nova Gorica is an exceptional one, as cultures, traditions and histories cannot be unanimously narrated, explained and passed down onto newer generations. Throughout the podcast a broad range of interconnected topics is covered, from historical contexts and different perceptions within the borderland, through contemporary issues and politics of separation, to the grand joint project – becoming the European Capital of Culture in 2025, and the concerns that come along with it. Produced by: Federico Cormaci, Anela Dumonjić, Lena Fuhrmann, Nina Glavan, Benjamin Hoffmann, Roberta Ida Immenschuh, Urban Makorič, Jadwiga Mik and Anna Wachowiak (ENRS) with the support of Bartosz Panek, FreeRange Productions. With the contribution of Lucia Pillon, Mara Cernic, team of GO! 2025 – European Capital of Culture, Nova Gorica. Project "In Between?" 2022 is co-funded by European Union. The series of study visits 'In Between?', initiated in April 2016 by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, draws on from the methodology of oral history. So far, more than 130 young people (under 26 years of age) have participated in seven editions of the project and visited a total of 22 multicultural regions of Europe. Read more: https://enrs.eu/inbetween

Episode Transcription

[Sound of crushed pinecones]

00:08 Benjamin: Our dream, a transnational European city, a place where people and ideas are treasured and respected regardless of their cultural, national, linguistic or any other background today. It seems like an even bigger dream than illusion than a year ago…

[Sound of a train] 

00:34 Anela: Gorizia – a city directly divided in two parts during the Cold War now becomes the European Capital of Culture of 2025. But which historical background lies behind the city? Join us on our journey for the rich history and culture of this place.

[A woman's voice: “It’s a constant collaboration, basically. We don’t have any borders in that”]

01:03 Lena: At first it seems like there is nothing special about Gorizia and its Slovenian twin city Nova Gorica. But if you’ll take a closer look you’ll see it is quite distinctive compared to other Italian cities. A history full of inner conflicts and problems, but also full of stories about friendship and collaboration.

Till the end of the first world war Gorizia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its citizens speaking Italian, Slovenian, and German. The city was trilingual.

After the First World War the former Goertz got its current name – Gorizia, and became Italian.

[sound of radio waves] 

01:43 Lena: During the Second World War Gorizia was under fascist occupation. Even though the history of Nova Gorica is much shorter, it is as interesting as the story of its Italian twin city. It started with the end of the Second World War and the emergence of the Iron Curtain.

[Sound of a vehicle]

02:11 Benjamin: The main stage of action is the Transalpina Square, also called Trg Evropy. A place that not only incorporates two different countries, but also two completely different worldviews. The fence that stood here till 1991, marked the separation between East and West.

02:36 Anela: We are right now at the Trg Evropy / Piazza della Transalpina, and this is a place of a great historical significance to the Italian and the Slovenian community, as it marks the border which used to be physical and currently it is a place upon which we can see tiny bits of history, given the photographs which are displayed here, but also given the artistic intervention, which is now marking the space. There is a different materiality which resembles the border, which was quite literally a fence until 2004, where people from Gorizia and people from Nova Gorica were separated and they were not allowed to pass. We nowadays see a huge circle within an artistic intervention inscribed in it, we see a commemoration plate and right now it is very empty, as it is six in the evening  it is scorching hot and it is very uncomfortable to be in the sunlight, but it is exceptional to look at the space, to look at the void but yet see a place full of memory.

03:51 Benjamin: The separation of the cities happened overnight. Barbed wires parted not only the city, but also people: families, friends and lovers couldn’t see each other anymore and got torn apart.

04:10 Anela: In former Yugoslavia women found themselves lacking one of the essential products to keep their houses neat and clean – THE BROOMSTICK. In Yugoslavia, there were very few of them and they were of the wrong type. Slovenian housewives were used to the best and no army or border patrol was going to stop them. So on some summer day in 1954 they marched to the border checkpoint against the border patrol and barbed wire, and simply brought back what separated them from the cleaning instruments of choice.

[A child crying]

04:55 Lena: In Gorizia a cry of a new-born is very rarely heard, as the hospital on the Italian side has no maternity ward. Yet still some Italian women prefer to drive a long distance to Monfalcone or to Trieste.

[sound of a gate]

05:14 Lena: In the 20th century there was little opportunity to cross the border between Gorizia and Nova Gorica. Newlyweds, parents and children hat to go to the border to see each other through a metallic fence. The emotional trauma caused by the fact that politics can intervene within family relations on such a level has not left the people of the region. For someone in the political centre, thousands of miles away this might have seemed to be a fair trade for border security.

[Voice announcing a train] 

[Sound of crickets]

05:53 Benjamin: Yugoslavia came to an end in early 1990s and soon after that a new, much less restrictive border control was put in place. The period before was marked by smuggling. Times like these were by then long gone since people could transporter the goods over the border in a free manner. Lastly, the border changed once more after 2004, when Slovenia became a member of the European Union.

[A woman's voice: “It was wonderful, because you could feel free. Free to move everywhere in every direction without any documents, because of the European Union"]

[sound of radio waves]

06:39 Anela: The truth is that the border between Gorizia and Nova Goriza hasn't disappeared at all. It has just become invisible. The inhabitants of the borderland seem to live in two different worlds. Italian believe that learning the Slovenian language is not worth all the effort, whereas Slovenes don't want to spend time in the aging city on the other side of the border crossing. People living here go to different schools, have different favourite places, buses and shops.

07:08[Voice of a man talking in Italian]

[sound of a radio]

07:22 Lena: They do not have any joint administrative body. The municipalities operate separately. One in a post-socialist building, the other in a historical pace that once belonged to one of the noble families from the city. They rarely work on common projects, preferring to act in their own country rather than internationally. Promises and possibilities of cooperation remain promises and possibilities, deepening the ongoing status quo. 

07:50 Benjamin: Left to their own devises, the inhabitants of both cities have one thing in common: food. Restaurants and cafes allow languages to mix and people to meet. Even if it is only for a while... 

[Voices of people sitting in a café]

08:14 Benjamin: 2020, the pandemic is taking over the world. Shops are closing, people have to isolate. The lockdown situation does not only show how fragile our system is, but also makes the almost forgotten borders visible again. The joint square becomes once again separated by a fence. What appears as a normal fence wakes up memories from the past. Memories of families torn apart, young adults that cannot see their families quickly take away their freedom.

[08:52 A female voice talking in Italian]

09:01 Anela:We have discovered that the partially empty character of the city doesn't entirely stem from the pandemic, but instead of a more nuanced nature of Gorizia. The suffered ultimate blow is directly connected to what we now cherish: the removal of the border, as Gorizia as the city which has always lived off it, having things that aren't available on the other side. 

[Voices of people talking in Italian]

09:41 Lena: In the meantime there is the process of the application for the European Capital of Culture 2025, with lots of cities applying. The award goes surprisingly to Nova Gorica and Gorizia. Will they find a way to speak the same language? And maybe create a sound of unity instead of the sound of division? 

[sound of crickets]

[sound of crushed pinecones]

[sound of humming]

 

Narrated by Anela Dumonjić, Lena Fuhrman and Benjamin Leon Hoffmann.

Written and recorded by Federico Cormaci, Nina Glavan, Roberta Ida Immenschuh, Urban Makorič and Jadwiga Mik.

Supervised by Bartosz Panek from Free Range Productions.

Supported by Anna Wachowiak from ENRS.

Excerpts from interviews with Lucia Pillon, Mara Cernic and Gorizia 2025 team.

 

John Beauchamp: This was the "Sound of Division" podcast from the "In Between?" 2022 series. A podcast by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. ENRS is funded by the Ministries of Culture of Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. The project "In Between?" 2022 is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.