Il Territorio Libero di Trieste 

The Peace Treaty signed in Paris by the Italian government on 10 February 1947 officially sanctioned the new borderline and a division of the two zones within the Free Territory of Trieste, a new political-administrative unit which extended from Duino to Cittanova in Istria and which encompassed 330 000 inhabitants in 741 km2.

Quarterly reports were submitted by the Anglo-American Allied Military Government to the United Nations,
detailing the recovery and evolution of that part of the Territory in their "Zone A".

Provisions were made in the Treaty for the three nations to provide a garrison of 5,000 troops each in
support of the emerging government, to be withdrawn at a point after the Governor had taken control of
the Territory. Relations between the American and British governments on the one hand, and the Yugoslav
government and communist bloc on the other hand, were such that the area of the Territory was divided
into two zones. Zone A, administered by Allied Forces Trieste - the American and British contingents -
was primarily the metropolitan area, while Zone B, administered by the Yugoslavs, was primarily the hinterland.

The Governor was never appointed. Although several well-qualified candidates had been proposed,
the East and West Blocs could not come to agreement on political and strategic issues.

"Waiting for a Governor" , the FTT kept also divided into two zones.

The truth was that nobody knew how to sweep off Tito's Army from the B zone.

Zone A, was 222 km2 and  had 262.000 inh. (232.000 Italians, 25.000 Slavics, 4.000 Germans)

Was comprising the northern part, administered by the Allied Military Government (AMG) including the cities of Trieste  (211.000 Italians and 11.000 Slovenes) and Muggia (13.000 Italians and 500 Slovenes), and the  rural villages on the highlands (22.500 Slovenes and 2.000 Italians).

Zone B, was 529 km2 and 68.000 inh. (54.000 Italians, 14.000 Slavics)

Yet occupied by the Yugoslavian Army since May 1945. 

This zone continued to be administered by Yugoslavian Military Government (STT-VUJA) and was comprising the southern part of FTT, including  urban (overwhelming Italian) areas ( Capodistria, Isola, Pirano, Buie, Cittanova, Umago and others, with 43.000 Italians and 1.900 Slovenes) and the rural areas in the north-west of the Istrian Peninsular ( 12.000 Slovenes or Croats, and 9.000 Italians).

The G.M.A in the A Zone

The AMG in Zone A was protected by two separate contingents of Allied servicemen, 5,000 Americans in TRUST (TRieste United States Troops) and 5,000 British in BETFOR (British Element Trieste FORce), each comprising crack infantry battalions complete with separate American and British command support units (Signals, Engineers, Military Police, etc) 

 In 1954, the FTT was disbanded, Zone A being handed over to Italy and Zone B was incorporated into Yugoslavia. 

The STT-Vuja in the B Zone

 The political life of the years of the Allied Military Government was lived out according to the book in the A Zone, whereas the B Zone immediately suffered the Yugoslavian action of violent coercion against the Italian communities (80% of population of the zone) .Italians were  the overwhelming majority,  particularly along the  coast ( up to 99 %). 

Capodistria, Isola and Pirano were assigned to Slovenes, the southern areas with Buie, Umago and Cittanova to Croats.

The Yugoslavs, since the first day, made use of intimidation through nightly summary arrests, popular kangaroo court trials, and the fast elimination of Italian professionals and workers.

Yugoslavs immediately took over all shops and enterprises, while the majority of fishermen and farmers were forced to work for the Authority.

In April 1946 the Slavic language was introduced  in the schools and in the administration of the rural and coastal areas, where 97% of  the population were Italian and didn't normally know even a single word of Slavic language.

During the nights Slovene soldiers used to introduce themselves in the homes and frighten the Italian autochthonous.

Who had his job in the A zone of FTT was the first to be  invited to leave definitively the B zone.

1900 Capodistria (now Koper ), la via Callegarìa.

Later the  Slovenian and Croatian military authorities, in order to yugoslavize the towns began taking over "for administrative reasons" the  italian private homes.To  the displaced Italian families the Slovene Authority normally proposed a  rural house in an area where the Italian language was completely banned from schools and administration. People preferred to move to Italy, Australia and America.

In the area under the Slovenian military authority, i.e. in Capodistria, Isola and Pirano, the job was very good done, and practically every single Italian  inhabitant (27.000 of 30.000) had to move away . 

 The Yugoslavs tried by all means to obstacle the circulation of people and merchandises between the two zones of FTT, and simple workers spent  sometimes until 10 hours to cross the border between the two zone of the so-called "Free" territory, while the farmers and fishermen could no more sell their product in the great town of Trieste.

Even if  it was formally prohibited by the Peace's Treaty , the Yugoslavian Authority introduced in 1948 a new worthless currency : the Yugolira.

Yugoliras had practically no worth (the Economy in the B zone was practically reduced to zero), but at the border everyone was entering the yugoslav zone  (poor workers coming back to their homes in the B zone included) , had its money obligatory changed by Yug. military authorities with an absurd ratio Lira 1:1 Yugolira.

The Yugoslavs were inciting the little (but steadily increasing with new forced yugoslavian immigration) Slovene minorities hatred of Italians, all depicted as 'bourgeois Fascist Imperialists and collaborators'.

The majority of the Italians,  without job and without home, terrified by Slovenes , preferred to leave the B zone and emigrated to Italy, Canada or Australia.

Their houses were given to Slavic and Moslem peasants called from the South of Yugoslavia. 

Still today  historical centers are partially unoccupied.

 ( Central Pirano center had 7.000 inh. in 1945, but has only 700 now)

It was something which was ongoing not only in the Ftt but in  the whole of urban centers of the former Italian territories of the eastern part of Adriatic.

Since 1920 on the Dalmatian coast, and since 1944 in Istria, Fiume and Quarnero Islands.

Though the exodus was not as sudden as that of the Albanians in Kosovo, about 300,000 ethnic Italians fled socialist Yugoslavia in the decade following World War II. Violence, deportations, religious persecution and physical and psychological terrorizing made many ethnic Italians believe they had no choice but to leave their homes on the Istrian Peninsula.

Finally all Italian, including farmers and fishermen had to emigrate from the B zone.

In the following years up to 40.000 Italians, from workers and fishermen to professionals, were forced to mass migration or 'ethnic cleansing' from zone B in a forerunner of the horrors that have swept the Balkans since the collapse of the Yugoslav federation.

Only 2.700 (of 20.000) Italians remain in the area under slovenian control, and 8.500 (of 30.000) in the croate area.

So ended the complex events of the eastern border, which nonetheless left open wounds, with a human cost – the foibe and the exodus – which can not easily be erased.  The situation of the Italians who remained across the border was a cause for controversy, owing to the difficulties that the Italian communities face still today  in openly expressing their own cultural identity.