MARIJA'S STORY

The true story of Marija is an emblematic story of many families in the EUFREE project area during the whole last century. Marija Kocjančič was born in 1905 under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in a little village of the Brda/Collio hills and died in independent Slovenia 103 years later. She, like the village where she was born, changed 4 States (5 if we consider also almost 2 years of Nazi occupation), changed nationality 4 times, learned 4 different languages and survived 3 wars with courage and tenacity.

This story is replicable in other cross-border contexts as a synthesis of the uncertain nature of borders' creation and citizens' division, whether they be nationalistic, political, linguistic, geographical or cultural. Through the true story of those who have travelled all their lives without ever crossing the threshold of their home, it is easier to be stimulated to reflect on our roots, borders and identities using theatrical and narrative tools to deal with the Other, with the Different, with the Stranger.