My dad used to tell me about how people from former Yugoslavia used to travel to Trieste, Italy in thousands every year. Slovenian border to Italy and Austria is largely made up of mountains and it´s not easy to watch over.
I was wondering how it was in the "old" days? I would imagine that people would be hiking in the mountains and without noticing cross the border. How was border control back then, did people who lived in the area close to the border travel often to Italy or Austria? I find it very interesting that in the past one could change from "east to west" quite easily? Was there ever some sort of illegal trade with necesities from Italy and Austria that were missing in Yug?
A lot of questions, I know...it´s very interesting.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Man, we used border-crossings, and travelled to Trieste by cars and buses, not hiking in the mountains, so no-one could see us.:lol: It's true though that it was illegal to buy too much without declaring it, so if you bought clothes, you wore them all.:D :D :D

Umm, well, there was smuggling, yup, like we smuggled our VCR over the border in the late 80s, cuz we couldn't bring it in.. :D

But people also brought in stuff legally, however, it was very discouraged, customs officers treated you almost like criminals, basically. Yes, travelling was normal, and the border in the mountains was arranged with the Treaty of Osimo. Basically you could step over the border, but you had to return to the country you came from, if I understand correctly.

I hope someone who is a bit older can give you more detailed answers.. :)

As far back as I can remember we never had any problems buying stuff in Italy. But then again I understood very little back then (I'm not that old either) Tho I do remember we used to smugle whiskey around a lot :D from Italy, other than that - clothes and all... no problem. Maybe it's because we used those local border crossings since we practically live on the border anyway...

I think that can be the case with Romania suring the era of Ceaucescu. He was the one that never allowed anyone out. Yugoslavs were fine in that time. But I think you still asked a good question. Also was Trieste part of Yugoslavia. I Think it was but, Italians stole it.

^ Trieste is far more Italian than Slovenian. ;)

I see that you can look back on that time in the past with a sense of humor about it. Was it possible to work legally in Italy or Austria and commute every day?

^ Absolutely, and you could commute as frequently as you wanted to. We didn't need visas for many countries, in the world, as well as in Europe. :tongue2:

Well maybe in the 80's and 90's... but the border only trully opened somewhere in the early 70's if I'm not mistaken.. and even then the number of passings trough were limited... I'll ask my grandparents when i get the chance

They worked in Canada and the us. I met one Croation dude in Toronto. He used to paint some houses in 1987-1989. He told me the airplanes were packed.

We didn't need visas for many countries, in the world, as well as in Europe. :tongue2:

Exactly. Since when did people from the former Yugoslav republics become criminals overnight :ohno:

^^ Since they started to slaughter each other (again).

I was looking local political representation in Trieste area, there are few parties that represent slovenians in that part of Italy. There are also schools that teach in slovenian.
I thought that Yug got a smaller part of the cake in 1945 when it comes to drawing land borders, I think even Tito wanted to get to Trieste before allied troops.

Exactly. Since when did people from the former Yugoslav republics become criminals overnight :ohno:

One thing we can all agree on, the Western World made us all look like savages during the 1990s, now I am not going into politics of the time, but the decadent and "civilized" West such as what we have in Canada asks citizens of most countries in the area if they are war criminals or not, and their where abouts from 1990-1995 before giving them a visa :puke:

One thing we can all agree on, the Western World made us all look like savages during the 1990s, now I am not going into politics of the time, but the decadent and "civilized" West such as what we have in Canada asks citizens of most countries in the area if they are war criminals or not, and their where abouts from 1990-1995 before giving them a visa :puke:

That is part 1. Part 2 is Romania and Bg joining EU.

^^ It's not their fault, if parts of ex-Yu are having hard times. And a country doesn't have to be rich to enter EU; the economic criteria, which a candidate country has to fulfill, only require you to be a market economy. If that's what you were having in mind.

^^Yes, that is true. Nowhere does it say you have to be wealthy to join the EU. You can be as wealthy as you want and still not meet the requirements (for example were the UAE (Dubai!) be a European country, they would fail miserabely).

All you said is true but, with Balkan states that is not the case. Keep in mind that some of Balkan states can't wait to run away in EU.

^^ It's not their fault, if parts of ex-Yu are having hard times. And a country doesn't have to be rich to enter EU; the economic criteria, which a candidate country has to fulfill, only require you to be a market economy. If that's what you were having in mind.


Can you elaborate a few details on Slovenian and Croatian border.

rECENTLY I always find that kind of topic in Cro forums:

http://forum.net.hr/thread.jspa?threadID=375267&tstart=0

Basically it's just that parts of the border weren't set clearly because it was just a provincial border at the time. So we got problems today. That's all there is.

The thing is that the Yugoslav part of the Adriatic Sea was common - Yugoslav; no republican borders within. Now you'll excuse me, but that's where I end. ;)

^^ Thats irrelevant. Yugoslavia ceased to exist in 1990 and so did this common border u speak of. The socialist republics became independent states .... and borders of the sea and the laws that define them (by the UN) applied to each of the newly independent states.

This thread is becoming too political, im suprised it was allowed in the first place.

I think he is talking about Cro <> Slovene border. But I find that forum funny to read.

Most 'westerns' think that Yugoslavia was on the other side of the iron curtain…well, I am alpinist and mountaineer but never had problems in mountains »in the time of Yugoslavia« at least Slovenia/Italy or Slovenia/Austria. It was quite open border, much more as an example France/Spain border in 80-ies. There was only restriction that you needed to 'check in' on the police or army checkpoint, but truly I never did it and had no problems at all. When I was 16 and 17 years old, I had taken interrail ticket and traveled all over the West Europe during the summer holidays. That was quite common among Slovenian teenagers in the beginning of 80-ies. I didn’t feel any pressure or idea to not be a free person. When I had to obligatory serve YU army in Macedonia - I was in Stip, the same distance from Ljubljana as to Paris – then it was completely different story, although the same country. There was no chance to freely move in the mountains in the border area, we had even a, how to say “first shot then ask” guardians… as I was 18 years boy in that time, the military service was my first contact with the “Yugoslavia” and a cultural shock, as big that I spent my first three month of military service in the school learning “Serbo-Croatian” language, all I understood was only the intuition and the Slavic similarity of languages…

Well maybe in the 80's and 90's... but the border only trully opened somewhere in the early 70's if I'm not mistaken.. and even then the number of passings trough were limited... I'll ask my grandparents when i get the chance

Borders were normally opened till World war2. Then it was hard to cross from 1945-1949. In 50s borders were normally opened, and people didnt need visas.

A lot of people worked and commuted normally during 60s since incomes were much higher in Italy and especially Austria.

I remember that until 1996 we went often to supermarkets in Austria (it was 2km from me) because prices were lower.
I also remember we smuggled cheaper home appliances:lol:

Now Lander that didnt look like you see in movies where people smuggle stuff on a horse and where they pass mountains:lol:
We just put lets say TV in the back of our car and didnt pay import tax when we crossed border.

Now (unfortunately) borders are gone and charm of smuggling is also gone:lol:

in the 60's the number of times u could cross the border was rationed, but grandparents told me the guards even weighed meat and other products and didn't let u back into Yugoslavia if u had even a few grams too much, same with eggs (so my grampa got pissed and threw some on the floor in front of the guard.. he could pass normally then :D)

Now (unfortunately) borders are gone and charm of smuggling is also gone:lol:

:lol: ...the smuggling... that was the "noble" act. I smuggled my first, khm... computer - it was ZX81. No other way to get it in that time...it was one of the first samples and smuggling was not really "smuggling" as the policeman saw that small black brick and had no really idea what was that... is seems funny, but the real smuggling was with first series Amiga with motorolla 68000 which was forbidden to be exported from US to Yugoslavia. That was "export" smuggling, not "import"...