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^^ 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.
 
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"...
 
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