A Man Without a Corner of His Own. Domestic Migration, Social Inequalities and Housing in Post-Second World War Rijeka

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the city of Rijeka experienced dramatic demographic changes. A significant part of the local population left for Italy, and domestic migrants arrived from the territories of the Yugoslav Federation. Besides the need to create a new urban fabric, the local authorities had to manage the chaotic – and often unorganised – influx of labour, that ranged from unskilled workers to party cadres. One of the main challenges that the city had to tackle was to provide newcomers with decent accommodation in what was then a war-torn city without proper housing. Housing became a barometer of how integrated a person had become, or how marginalised those at the bottom of the social ladder were. As the article argues, access to decent housing not only mirrored class differentiation but also fostered boundaries of exclusion or inclusion within the social fabric. Those living in makeshift accommodation were burdened by additional stigmatisation, despite them being integrated into the labour market.