Migracijske i etničke teme (Dec 2002)
Žumberačka Gora – Transformation from a Refuge to an Exodus Zone
Abstract
This article provides an analysis of the problem of immigration from Žumberačka gora, a highland region that lies on the border between Croatia and Slovenia. Due consideration is given to its border-zone character, basic features and later colonization during the mid-sixteenth century. A dual social organization and even social relations emerged in the region, reflecting the contrast between the Military Frontier and the civilian portion. The consequences of long settlement and secondary colonization led to agrarian overpopulation and difficult living conditions. Social and overriding economic changes throughout the country by the mid-nineteenth century compelled the population of Žumberačka gora to begin departing from the region. Intense immigration gradually caused negative natural growth, i.e. a natural decline in the population. Natural decline (number of deaths exceeding the number of live births) and emigration were gradually reflected in the lower numbers and advanced age of the population. These processes were particularly marked in the military frontier portion of the region – in Žumberak – which accounts for almost three fourths of this highland region’s territory. In this part of the region the population has been numerically declining since 1931, but particularly since 1971. Today only one fifth of the population recorded in 1953 (just after World War II) lives in Žumberak. This drop is a result of both natural decline and immigration. The age structure of the region’s remaining population is dominated by the elderly, which is shown by demographic aging indicators. Such a population is not a sound prerequisite for the region’s economic revival. The basic features of Žumberak’s landscape are deserted or devastated villages with many abandoned tracts of once arable land. A formerly densely populated region that could not feed its own residents has become a zone marked by a population exodus, an area lacking a labor force to work even those small cultivable fields that Žumberačka gora still has. The region is becoming a nature park.
