Reconstruction

Of the total 6,620 buildings in the Koper district, 1,499 were destroyed during the war. Reconstruction took place slowly owing to a lack of a technical cadre, workforce, material, means of transport and, above all, money. In the first post-war period the problem of reconstruction was addressed by the technical base – an expert team of individuals engaged in resolving the most urgent problems in the field. Beginning in early 1946, reconstruction cooperatives were formed in villages, bringing together those whose homes had been burnt down and others. In 1952 they joined the agricultural cooperatives as their construction sections. The first construction enterprises began to be founded after 1947.

Reconstruction work in villages began with clearing away rubble, the provision of winter shelter for those whose homes had been destroyed, and repairs to public buildings and communications infrastructure. To begin with, they concentrated on repairing damaged structures. Later on, they began building new communications infrastructure, commercial buildings and schools. In 1948 “houses of the cooperative” began appearing in villages. These buildings were future centres of local economic and cultural life.

Reconstruction was carried out by means of large-scale mobilisation of the workforce, who took part in work campaigns through voluntary work, as it was known. The Slovene-Italian Antifascist Union organised “shock work campaigns” by work battalions and youth work brigades, encouraging them by means of competitions. The members of youth work brigades also built roads and railway lines throughout Yugoslavia.