25 / 2007

Marina Lukšič-Hacin

Normative aspects and work conditions for migrants in the Federal Republic of German

ABSTRACT
In Europe, the normative regulation of migration circumstances and protection of (foreign) labour force on national and international levels is not an invention from the period after World War II or even modernity, it has been known through the entire 20th century. Already before World War II, employment abroad was regulated by bilateral agreements between states. Yugoslavia as well concluded several such agreements, among other with Germany where a large number of Slovenes worked and lived in the period between the two world wars. After World War II, the European states had to dig out from under the ruins the relations and cooperation in different fields; one of them was definitely the regulation of (migration) circumstances and protection for the workers who left for work to other countries.

The purpose of the article is to answer the questions regarding the status and protection of workers (Slovenes) that included themselves after World War II as Yugoslavs in the international labour market, more precisely of those that went to work in the Federal Republic of Germany (in continuation FRG). What were the circumstances Slovenes were entering by going for the so-called temporary work to the FRG? What were the normative conditions the FRG set for foreign workers? Were our people as Yugoslavs protected in any way whatsoever from the side of their own state? What was the relation between Yugoslavia and the FRG on inter-state, bilateral levels in regard of regulation of conditions and protection of citizens at work in the FRG? What was the position of workers abroad regarding the position workers on domestic labour market had? Have the syndicates, as organizations, of which mission was the very protection of workers’ rights, performed their work on international level as well? Were workers, coming to work in the FRG, treated as people with all dimensions of everyday life or were they reduced by the FRG migration policy to merely workers – as well on the normative level as in everyday life? How were the normative agreements carried out in practice? A review of the international conventions and inter-state agreements Yugoslavia signed, indicates that the state was intensively engaged in care for the protection if its citizens that were entering the international labour market. In the past, syndicalistic efforts and their connections on international level gave a significant contribution in this field. The FRG as well took care on normative level (bilaterally) for the rights of foreign workers employed on its grounds. Besides the state’s engagement, German syndicates, humanitarian organisations, regional or commune structures were as well involved in the protection and advocacy rights, whereat we should not forget that with the implementation of legislation into practice, significant differences occurred between individual federal provinces of the FRG. An analysis of concrete relations into which our workers were entering, indicates that their position was connected with the interstate relations. In accordance with the regulation of those was their position in the socially/culturally stratified German society. According to the perceptions Slovenes living in the FRG express, they are esteemed and do not experience discrimination. We cannot affirm the same for numerous populations of immigrants that came to the FRG from “more undesired environments”. Especially in the time of economic crises, for example in the eighties, foreign workers were subjected to heavy conditions, exploitation, insecurity, of which the work Čisto na dnu (1985) is about. The most exposed population were the (unemployed) non-qualified workers from states that did not have contracts with the FRG on protection of their workers. An analysis of circumstances in the FRG compared to the situation in other European states in which foreign workers found themselves exhibits their ambivalence. On the one hand, they had the benefit of a regulated work situation, the FRG was all along considered a state where it was from the aspect of work conditions and rights relatively well taken care of foreign workers. On the other hand, they found themselves in a space without rights, for they were treated merely as workers at temporary work abroad and as workers only. In a way, the individual was reduced from the human being to a worker who will work until the system needs him/her and after that return to where he came from. Thus, the FRG is on the other hand placed among states where little was done for the integration of the immigrants or that was even being systematically obviated. Just think of the years-lasting law on naturalisation, which the FRG changed only under “pressures” of changes in the EU policy. Similar is valid for other factors that were to establish multicultural conditions for the immigrants who are at present day set in the forefront of the EU integration policy.

25 / 2007

Marina Lukšič-Hacin

Normative aspects and work conditions for migrants in the Federal Republic of German

ABSTRACT
In Europe, the normative regulation of migration circumstances and protection of (foreign) labour force on national and international levels is not an invention from the period after World War II or even modernity, it has been known through the entire 20th century. Already before World War II, employment abroad was regulated by bilateral agreements between states. Yugoslavia as well concluded several such agreements, among other with Germany where a large number of Slovenes worked and lived in the period between the two world wars. After World War II, the European states had to dig out from under the ruins the relations and cooperation in different fields; one of them was definitely the regulation of (migration) circumstances and protection for the workers who left for work to other countries.

The purpose of the article is to answer the questions regarding the status and protection of workers (Slovenes) that included themselves after World War II as Yugoslavs in the international labour market, more precisely of those that went to work in the Federal Republic of Germany (in continuation FRG). What were the circumstances Slovenes were entering by going for the so-called temporary work to the FRG? What were the normative conditions the FRG set for foreign workers? Were our people as Yugoslavs protected in any way whatsoever from the side of their own state? What was the relation between Yugoslavia and the FRG on inter-state, bilateral levels in regard of regulation of conditions and protection of citizens at work in the FRG? What was the position of workers abroad regarding the position workers on domestic labour market had? Have the syndicates, as organizations, of which mission was the very protection of workers’ rights, performed their work on international level as well? Were workers, coming to work in the FRG, treated as people with all dimensions of everyday life or were they reduced by the FRG migration policy to merely workers – as well on the normative level as in everyday life? How were the normative agreements carried out in practice? A review of the international conventions and inter-state agreements Yugoslavia signed, indicates that the state was intensively engaged in care for the protection if its citizens that were entering the international labour market. In the past, syndicalistic efforts and their connections on international level gave a significant contribution in this field. The FRG as well took care on normative level (bilaterally) for the rights of foreign workers employed on its grounds. Besides the state’s engagement, German syndicates, humanitarian organisations, regional or commune structures were as well involved in the protection and advocacy rights, whereat we should not forget that with the implementation of legislation into practice, significant differences occurred between individual federal provinces of the FRG. An analysis of concrete relations into which our workers were entering, indicates that their position was connected with the interstate relations. In accordance with the regulation of those was their position in the socially/culturally stratified German society. According to the perceptions Slovenes living in the FRG express, they are esteemed and do not experience discrimination. We cannot affirm the same for numerous populations of immigrants that came to the FRG from “more undesired environments”. Especially in the time of economic crises, for example in the eighties, foreign workers were subjected to heavy conditions, exploitation, insecurity, of which the work Čisto na dnu (1985) is about. The most exposed population were the (unemployed) non-qualified workers from states that did not have contracts with the FRG on protection of their workers. An analysis of circumstances in the FRG compared to the situation in other European states in which foreign workers found themselves exhibits their ambivalence. On the one hand, they had the benefit of a regulated work situation, the FRG was all along considered a state where it was from the aspect of work conditions and rights relatively well taken care of foreign workers. On the other hand, they found themselves in a space without rights, for they were treated merely as workers at temporary work abroad and as workers only. In a way, the individual was reduced from the human being to a worker who will work until the system needs him/her and after that return to where he came from. Thus, the FRG is on the other hand placed among states where little was done for the integration of the immigrants or that was even being systematically obviated. Just think of the years-lasting law on naturalisation, which the FRG changed only under “pressures” of changes in the EU policy. Similar is valid for other factors that were to establish multicultural conditions for the immigrants who are at present day set in the forefront of the EU integration policy.

25 / 2007

Marjan Drnovšek

Krek’s Westphalian letters: social-economic views and emigration

ABSTRACT
Janez Evangelist Krek (1865-1917), a Catholic priest, politician, sociologist and journalist, was at the turn of the 19th century significantly present in the then Austrian and Slovene public. His activity was torn between Ljubljana, the then informal capital of Slovenes and of the province of Carniola, and Vienna. Krek had a strong social sense for peasants and workers and was opposer of the capitalist system. As a Catholic, he was adverse to liberalism and social democracy, and was himself the founder of Christian socialism on Slovene ground. He was the propagator of cooperative societies on Slovene territory. In 1899, when Krek was already member of the Vienna parliament, he went as a Catholic missionary to visit Slovene immigrants in Porurje (river Ruhr basin) and Westphalia in Germany. He sent in a good month time 20 letters about his contacts, experiences and deliberations in Germany, which were published in the Catholic newspaper Slovenec in Ljubljana. The letters became known as Westphalian letters and presented a sort of discovery of Slovene emigration to Germany, which was in the shadow of the then mass emigration of Slovenes to the United States of America. The letters reveal Krek’s deliberations on the role of migrations on Slovene territory; he compares economic, social, religious, cultural and other relations, that is, similarities and differences between the Slovene space and Germany. Krek rebuked the underdevelopment in the field of modernisation of work and life on Slovene ground, which was according to Krek a consequence of the Viennese politics. He was an ingenious penman and orator. People liked to read his texts and to listen to him. Krek was among the first to deal with migration problematic from theoretical and practical aspects. In the Austrian parliament, he advocated for the acceptance of the migration law (1905) that would regulate the sphere, particularly in view of protection of Austrian emigrants travelling and in new environments. The act was not adopted until the disintegration of the Habsburg monarchy (1918). Krek considered migration issues social ones. He set out the image of Slovene emigrants who were not desperate, weary, spiritless, but young full of hope for a better living, ready for hard yet well-paid work. Krek points out their education that was not merely elementary, which was a consequence of quality Austrian schools. In the spirit of that time, Krek as a Catholic priest reconciled himself with the fact that emigration was a permanent phenomenon that could not be stopped; however, the departure to new environments could be alleviated. The Rafaelova družba (Rafael’s society) in Ljubljana (*1907) established by the German model, was more or less successful in doing that. I can conclude that the Catholic Church in Slovenia was most aware of the emigration problematic and that it was active in the meaning of improvement of the conditions for emigrants on their way and abroad. Less interest for the emigrants was expressed by the liberals, even less by the socialists. The first were concerned in capital, to the second, in spirit of internationalism, the entire world was the homeland.

25 / 2007

Marjan Drnovšek

Krek’s Westphalian letters: social-economic views and emigration

ABSTRACT
Janez Evangelist Krek (1865-1917), a Catholic priest, politician, sociologist and journalist, was at the turn of the 19th century significantly present in the then Austrian and Slovene public. His activity was torn between Ljubljana, the then informal capital of Slovenes and of the province of Carniola, and Vienna. Krek had a strong social sense for peasants and workers and was opposer of the capitalist system. As a Catholic, he was adverse to liberalism and social democracy, and was himself the founder of Christian socialism on Slovene ground. He was the propagator of cooperative societies on Slovene territory. In 1899, when Krek was already member of the Vienna parliament, he went as a Catholic missionary to visit Slovene immigrants in Porurje (river Ruhr basin) and Westphalia in Germany. He sent in a good month time 20 letters about his contacts, experiences and deliberations in Germany, which were published in the Catholic newspaper Slovenec in Ljubljana. The letters became known as Westphalian letters and presented a sort of discovery of Slovene emigration to Germany, which was in the shadow of the then mass emigration of Slovenes to the United States of America. The letters reveal Krek’s deliberations on the role of migrations on Slovene territory; he compares economic, social, religious, cultural and other relations, that is, similarities and differences between the Slovene space and Germany. Krek rebuked the underdevelopment in the field of modernisation of work and life on Slovene ground, which was according to Krek a consequence of the Viennese politics. He was an ingenious penman and orator. People liked to read his texts and to listen to him. Krek was among the first to deal with migration problematic from theoretical and practical aspects. In the Austrian parliament, he advocated for the acceptance of the migration law (1905) that would regulate the sphere, particularly in view of protection of Austrian emigrants travelling and in new environments. The act was not adopted until the disintegration of the Habsburg monarchy (1918). Krek considered migration issues social ones. He set out the image of Slovene emigrants who were not desperate, weary, spiritless, but young full of hope for a better living, ready for hard yet well-paid work. Krek points out their education that was not merely elementary, which was a consequence of quality Austrian schools. In the spirit of that time, Krek as a Catholic priest reconciled himself with the fact that emigration was a permanent phenomenon that could not be stopped; however, the departure to new environments could be alleviated. The Rafaelova družba (Rafael’s society) in Ljubljana (*1907) established by the German model, was more or less successful in doing that. I can conclude that the Catholic Church in Slovenia was most aware of the emigration problematic and that it was active in the meaning of improvement of the conditions for emigrants on their way and abroad. Less interest for the emigrants was expressed by the liberals, even less by the socialists. The first were concerned in capital, to the second, in spirit of internationalism, the entire world was the homeland.

25 / 2007

Irena Rožman

Marriage strategies of parishioners of Velike Brusnice beneath Gorjanci near Novo mesto

ABSTRACT
The essay deals with the relationship between marriage and other survival strategies based on the micro ethnologic-demographic study of the way of life of parishioners of Velike Brusnice (Slovenia), located under the hilly Gorjanci between 1840 and 1945. The research of social and cultural characteristics of a self-sufficient family-farming economy, which determine the marriage rules – why, when, and whom to marry - cannot neglect the parishioners’ mainly economic contacts with the inhabitants of neighbouring Žumberk. The author tries to explain the reasons for their prominent endogamy, which is hypothetically the main reason for not marrying with the people of Žumberk in Croatia. The author explains the endogamic rules by the marriage pattern. In this regard she discusses on the one hand the natural conditions for farming, and on the other, the effects of accelerated growth of the population of Brusnice – their emigration and creation of class differences due to the agrarian overpopulation. The emigration process was closely connected to the limited possibilities for income. The Brusnice parishioners did not balance the essential resources and population growth with marriages only; preventing emigration and dividing estates into smaller units would be unsuccessful during the spurs of population growth. The effects of industrialization enabled the socially weakest classes to get married, as well. This can be explained with the mechanism of the so-called “economic nische”, the interpretational model of Hajnal’s thesis about the ‘European marriage pattern’ in the continental agricultural Europe. By this concept, the author seeks to explain those marriages that deviated from the established rules; among them are rear married couples between people from Podgorje and Žumberk. The latter is also confirmed by the archives of the parish Radatovići (Žumberk region in Croatia), where only 8 marriages were registered between 1843 and 2004 with the locals from Podgorje. Most marriages occurred during the years of accelerated population growth. Yet despite busy economic contacts the locals from both parishes did not get married frequently. Oral tradition leads the author to conclude that the lack of marriages between the locals from Podgorje and Žumberk can be ascribed to other perceived cultural differences, particularly of the ‘collective character’ of both economies. Namely, the informants from Podgorje believed that their economies were not compatible but complimentary, which was not in accordance with their endogamic rules that support the marriages among the people from economically, socially and culturally similarly oriented groups. However, it seems that the endogamic rules of people from Podgorje were also a means of maintaining the ethnic and religious boundaries between the locals. It seems that endogamic rules also support the prejudices against people from Žumberk despite many similarities (hard work on poor land, low quality of life, emigration because of agrarian overpopulation, etc.). And finally, the perceived differences between the ways of life of both locals stem from their perceptions of otherness. In this respect, the study of values related to the selection of marriage partners in the context of family structure and family economy, would be of great importance.

25 / 2007

Irena Rožman

Marriage strategies of parishioners of Velike Brusnice beneath Gorjanci near Novo mesto

ABSTRACT
The essay deals with the relationship between marriage and other survival strategies based on the micro ethnologic-demographic study of the way of life of parishioners of Velike Brusnice (Slovenia), located under the hilly Gorjanci between 1840 and 1945. The research of social and cultural characteristics of a self-sufficient family-farming economy, which determine the marriage rules – why, when, and whom to marry - cannot neglect the parishioners’ mainly economic contacts with the inhabitants of neighbouring Žumberk. The author tries to explain the reasons for their prominent endogamy, which is hypothetically the main reason for not marrying with the people of Žumberk in Croatia. The author explains the endogamic rules by the marriage pattern. In this regard she discusses on the one hand the natural conditions for farming, and on the other, the effects of accelerated growth of the population of Brusnice – their emigration and creation of class differences due to the agrarian overpopulation. The emigration process was closely connected to the limited possibilities for income. The Brusnice parishioners did not balance the essential resources and population growth with marriages only; preventing emigration and dividing estates into smaller units would be unsuccessful during the spurs of population growth. The effects of industrialization enabled the socially weakest classes to get married, as well. This can be explained with the mechanism of the so-called “economic nische”, the interpretational model of Hajnal’s thesis about the ‘European marriage pattern’ in the continental agricultural Europe. By this concept, the author seeks to explain those marriages that deviated from the established rules; among them are rear married couples between people from Podgorje and Žumberk. The latter is also confirmed by the archives of the parish Radatovići (Žumberk region in Croatia), where only 8 marriages were registered between 1843 and 2004 with the locals from Podgorje. Most marriages occurred during the years of accelerated population growth. Yet despite busy economic contacts the locals from both parishes did not get married frequently. Oral tradition leads the author to conclude that the lack of marriages between the locals from Podgorje and Žumberk can be ascribed to other perceived cultural differences, particularly of the ‘collective character’ of both economies. Namely, the informants from Podgorje believed that their economies were not compatible but complimentary, which was not in accordance with their endogamic rules that support the marriages among the people from economically, socially and culturally similarly oriented groups. However, it seems that the endogamic rules of people from Podgorje were also a means of maintaining the ethnic and religious boundaries between the locals. It seems that endogamic rules also support the prejudices against people from Žumberk despite many similarities (hard work on poor land, low quality of life, emigration because of agrarian overpopulation, etc.). And finally, the perceived differences between the ways of life of both locals stem from their perceptions of otherness. In this respect, the study of values related to the selection of marriage partners in the context of family structure and family economy, would be of great importance.

25 / 2007

Duška Knežević Hočevar

Do the Žumberak people predominantly intermarry? The case of the Radatovići parish

ABSTRACT
In the essay, the author holds that intermarrying among Žumberčani (the locals from the Žumberak region in Croatia) has been common practice at least during the past century and a half. The reasons for such in-group marrying strategies are significantly connected to the past ways of life of Žumberčani of the Greek-Catholic religious affiliation, particularly to the ancestors who settled the then Military Border Zone as uskoki. Considered were the informants’ narratives from the most ancient Greek-Catholic parish in Radatovići; the westernmost Žumberak parish situated at the Croat-Slovenian state border. In conclusion, the paper seeks to determine whether Žumberčani have been marrying also cross the present border with Slovenia, with whom, and to what extent. During the first fieldwork in 2003, the informants’ narratives about the past and present ways of life in the Radatovići parish were collected. During the second fieldwork in 2005, the main topic of the interviews was marriage practices among Žumberčani, and relevant archival material on the topic was collected. By means of uni- and bi-variat statistical methods, the data on the parishioners’ marriages in the period from 1858 to 2004 were analyzed.The specific collective identity of Žumberčani of Greek-Catholic affiliation, life in the zadruga households with the common, indivisible property, and the specific past ways of life in the region are significantly connected to the marrying strategies. In 2005, the informants ascribed the marrying within the parish to the specific way of life in the times before WWII. After the war, better employment opportunities arose in factories outside the Žumberak region, in the near urban centres in Croatia and Slovenia. As a consequence, »mixed marriages« are said to have increased. However, descriptive statistical analysis shows that even on the Slovenian side of the state border, Žumberčani have predominantly married among themselves since WWII, mostly within the Greek-Catholic community in the Slovenian town Metlika. To sum up, the statistical analysis shows that during the past 150 years, the majority of bridegrooms and brides (app. 70% and 82% respectively) were born, and have before marriage lived in the Radatovići parish. In this sense, their marrying strategies were endogamous, occurring within their own group. Yet the analysis of the much smaller percentages of non-endogamous partners (app. 30% bridegrooms and 18% brides) shows that they were in most cases born, or have until marriage lived, in the nearby Greek-Catholic parishes either in Žumberak or in Slovenia, and only in a few cases in the Roman-Catholic parishes. Demonstrably then, Žumberčani remained predominantly endogamous even after WWII, in Žumberak as well as in Slovenia.

25 / 2007

Duška Knežević Hočevar

Do the Žumberak people predominantly intermarry? The case of the Radatovići parish

ABSTRACT
In the essay, the author holds that intermarrying among Žumberčani (the locals from the Žumberak region in Croatia) has been common practice at least during the past century and a half. The reasons for such in-group marrying strategies are significantly connected to the past ways of life of Žumberčani of the Greek-Catholic religious affiliation, particularly to the ancestors who settled the then Military Border Zone as uskoki. Considered were the informants’ narratives from the most ancient Greek-Catholic parish in Radatovići; the westernmost Žumberak parish situated at the Croat-Slovenian state border. In conclusion, the paper seeks to determine whether Žumberčani have been marrying also cross the present border with Slovenia, with whom, and to what extent. During the first fieldwork in 2003, the informants’ narratives about the past and present ways of life in the Radatovići parish were collected. During the second fieldwork in 2005, the main topic of the interviews was marriage practices among Žumberčani, and relevant archival material on the topic was collected. By means of uni- and bi-variat statistical methods, the data on the parishioners’ marriages in the period from 1858 to 2004 were analyzed.The specific collective identity of Žumberčani of Greek-Catholic affiliation, life in the zadruga households with the common, indivisible property, and the specific past ways of life in the region are significantly connected to the marrying strategies. In 2005, the informants ascribed the marrying within the parish to the specific way of life in the times before WWII. After the war, better employment opportunities arose in factories outside the Žumberak region, in the near urban centres in Croatia and Slovenia. As a consequence, »mixed marriages« are said to have increased. However, descriptive statistical analysis shows that even on the Slovenian side of the state border, Žumberčani have predominantly married among themselves since WWII, mostly within the Greek-Catholic community in the Slovenian town Metlika. To sum up, the statistical analysis shows that during the past 150 years, the majority of bridegrooms and brides (app. 70% and 82% respectively) were born, and have before marriage lived in the Radatovići parish. In this sense, their marrying strategies were endogamous, occurring within their own group. Yet the analysis of the much smaller percentages of non-endogamous partners (app. 30% bridegrooms and 18% brides) shows that they were in most cases born, or have until marriage lived, in the nearby Greek-Catholic parishes either in Žumberak or in Slovenia, and only in a few cases in the Roman-Catholic parishes. Demonstrably then, Žumberčani remained predominantly endogamous even after WWII, in Žumberak as well as in Slovenia.

25 / 2007

Jasna Čapo Žmegač

Return to the Border: Migration Experiences in the Croatia-GermanySlovenia Triangle

ABSTRACT
The article analyses the experience of Croatian migrant-returnees who have come back from abroad to the south-western Žumberak region. The research into the returnees' experiences in this area is intertwined with research into the consequences of the raising of the international Croatian-Slovenian border. It has been established that the characteristics of the region of origin, combined with the phase in the life cycle in which the repatriation from external migration took place, influenced the choice of the place of settlement after return. For young people, the return coincides with internal migration from the economically undeveloped hill settlements, which are isolated in the sense of communications, to the well-connected and economically more developed settlements in the environs. At the same time, returnees who are in the older age group prefer to resettle in their immediate native place. Further, the author compares the life experience of four migrants after their return. It is obvious that, in order to understand such experiences, it is necessary to take into account the juncture in the personal and family life cycle in which they are returning (individual and family time), along with the juncture in the social and political development of the region and of the state of return (historical time). In the case of returnees in the younger age group, a twofold historical time is necessary for comprehending their current experiences: it comprises the period in which they returned (socialist Yugoslavia) and the current period (the separate States of Croatia and Slovenia). Therefore, both the experiences and current problems of migrants who returned thirty years ago differ to an extent from those of migrants who came back after the emergence of the Croatian and the Slovenian states. The returnee experiences of those who came back during socialism were formed on the former intrastate (republican) borders, while the changes brought into their lives by the transformation of republican into international borders are exceptionally negatively evaluated. For their part, the returnee migrants who have come back more recently, subsequent to the state and political changes, do not focus their complaints exclusively on the new border regime. Such issues are even completely absent or are somewhat overshadowed by general social criticism. The author concludes that those who have come back from external migration as returnees to the south-western Žumberak region can be described as pragmatic border inhabitants and/or as disenchanted Croatian citizens. They testify to the frustrating position of an economically, geographically and demographically marginal region of Croatia, where the state finds it economically unfeasible to invest in infrastructure and the economy, while, at the same time, wanting to retain it inside the existing borders, lead by the logic of the territorial national state.

25 / 2007

Jasna Čapo Žmegač

Return to the Border: Migration Experiences in the Croatia-GermanySlovenia Triangle

ABSTRACT
The article analyses the experience of Croatian migrant-returnees who have come back from abroad to the south-western Žumberak region. The research into the returnees' experiences in this area is intertwined with research into the consequences of the raising of the international Croatian-Slovenian border. It has been established that the characteristics of the region of origin, combined with the phase in the life cycle in which the repatriation from external migration took place, influenced the choice of the place of settlement after return. For young people, the return coincides with internal migration from the economically undeveloped hill settlements, which are isolated in the sense of communications, to the well-connected and economically more developed settlements in the environs. At the same time, returnees who are in the older age group prefer to resettle in their immediate native place. Further, the author compares the life experience of four migrants after their return. It is obvious that, in order to understand such experiences, it is necessary to take into account the juncture in the personal and family life cycle in which they are returning (individual and family time), along with the juncture in the social and political development of the region and of the state of return (historical time). In the case of returnees in the younger age group, a twofold historical time is necessary for comprehending their current experiences: it comprises the period in which they returned (socialist Yugoslavia) and the current period (the separate States of Croatia and Slovenia). Therefore, both the experiences and current problems of migrants who returned thirty years ago differ to an extent from those of migrants who came back after the emergence of the Croatian and the Slovenian states. The returnee experiences of those who came back during socialism were formed on the former intrastate (republican) borders, while the changes brought into their lives by the transformation of republican into international borders are exceptionally negatively evaluated. For their part, the returnee migrants who have come back more recently, subsequent to the state and political changes, do not focus their complaints exclusively on the new border regime. Such issues are even completely absent or are somewhat overshadowed by general social criticism. The author concludes that those who have come back from external migration as returnees to the south-western Žumberak region can be described as pragmatic border inhabitants and/or as disenchanted Croatian citizens. They testify to the frustrating position of an economically, geographically and demographically marginal region of Croatia, where the state finds it economically unfeasible to invest in infrastructure and the economy, while, at the same time, wanting to retain it inside the existing borders, lead by the logic of the territorial national state.