Who is in and who is out? Escapes, expulsions, and the creation of new boundaries during D’Annunzio’s rule in Fiume (1919-1920)

In the years after the Second World War, the city of Rijeka found itself caught between various migratory trajectories. The departure of locals who self-identified as Italians and who opted for Italian citizenship coexisted alongside other population movements that drained the city of inhabitants and brought new ones along too. Many locals defected and reached Italy, either as their destination or as a transit country before being resettled in another state. Furthermore, from the end of the war, workers from other Yugoslav areas started to reach the city. If the flourishing economy proved capable of attracting migrants with promises of good living standards, political reasons also motivated many to reach the Adriatic city. This was the case with the returnees, former economic migrants who decided to come back and join the new socialist homeland, but also Italian workers who sided symbolically with the socialist Yugoslavia. Rijeka was not simply a destination for many migrants – it was also a springboard to reach the Western Bloc for individuals from all over the Yugoslav Federation. This article argues that examining these entangled flows together offers new insights into the challenges that the city experienced during its postwar transition.