Following World War I and the fall of the Habsburg monarchy, Görz became Italian and was renamed Gorizia. The Slovenian inhabitants were forced to assimilate, ending the city's cultural diversity.
Things changed once again after the end of World War II. Most of the city remained Italian, but Josip Broz Tito, the prime minister of Yugoslavia, of which Slovenia was a part, didn't want to relinquish the historical location. He founded the city of Nova Gorica, or "new Gorizia," in the neighboring meadows. It was a planned city, modern and functional.
This cemented the border between Slovenian Nova Gorica and Italian Gorizia. Families were separated, land was redistributed and mistrust grew on both sides. The Cold War between East and West played out in a small city, with each side alleging the other was fascist or communist.
The border persisted for 16 years after Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia. It was only after Slovenia joined the European Union in 2004 and the Schengen zone of free movement in 2007 that the two municipalities could work together to create a shared history. In 2025, the cities will serve as a joint European Capital of Culture.
In 2025, the European Capitals of Culture program will celebrate places that have overcome division and tumultuous times of transition. The cities are unique, innovative, diverse — worth a visit, in other words. And that is precisely the aim of the European Capitals of Culture program: supporting diversity but also the unity shared by cultures, thereby fostering a sense of European belonging.
The program was founded in 1985 in a push from Greek Culture Minister Melina Mercouri.
https://amp.dw.com/en/from-division-to-unity-european-capitals-of-culture-2025/a...A lesson there for the Palestinians.
Alas, a lesson they will never learn.