The Soča Valley: Then and Now
By a serendipitous happenstance, two initiatives have come to the fore recently highlighting the human, environmental and ecological tragedy which has befallen Slovenia's picturesque Soča Valley. Amidst the natural wonders to be found between the emerald-green Soča River and the Julian Alps, lies a deadly legacy wantonly created by human intervention. From 1921, this area was the heartland of the country's asbestos-cement industry with a sucession of companies routinely exposing thousands of workers and residents to carcinogenic asbestos fibers. In recognition of the confluence of economic power and political influence enjoyed by commercial interests, the area was nicknamed Asbestos Valley.1
Grassroots campaigners, including workers, local residents, asbestos victims and others, mobilized over the asbestos issue in the Soča Valley from the early 1980s; over time, their calls for government action to recognize and support the injured and to address the widespread contamination caused by the asbestos industry had some successes. Building on the momentum achieved, they expanded the realm of their activities to include the hazard posed by harmful emissions from waste co-incineration which endangered those whose health had been adversely affected by asbestos exposures.
The creators of the new resources benefitted from the discoveries made and contacts developed by these campaigners. Drawing on decades of painstacking research, Jasmina Jerant – the author of the book entitled Case Study: Anhovo2 – and photojournalist Manca Juvan – creator of The Valley exhibition – proceeded to weave diverse threads into organic wholes to showcase the secrets and lies, political intrigue and medical neglect which for far too long had prevented the truth from emerging.
“Case Study: Anhovo,” written in the Slovenian language, was termed “a masterpiece” by award-winning foreign correspondent Boštjan Videmšek who described it as:
“a social, political, historical, economic, environmental, anthropological, journalistic and personal narrative of the most tragic story of Slovenian modern history – in a global context. There is a chronic shortage of such domestic non-fiction literature that meets the highest international criteria. The book – also due to its exceptional storytelling style – immediately envelops the reader in a cloak of reflection and does not let him go until the end. Essential reading for understanding time and space.”
His colleague journalist Bernard Nežmah concurred, saying:
“The story is shocking, the company's managers knew they were running a factory of death, but with the support of the state they made profits and still do. Rating: +++++.”
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Whilst I am disappointed that no English version of this best-seller is in the works, it is good to know that translations into other languages are currently under consideration.
Having grown up near the Soča Valley, Ms. Jerant’s interest in the asbestos scandal was deeply personal as well as political. Her 44-year-old brother died in 2017, one year after he had been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, the signature cancer associated with asbestos exposure. Drawing on research skills honed during studies in Slovenia, the US, Hungary and Finland, and political know-how developed during years of grassroots campaigning, she went about the task of accessing and classifying an enormous number of corporate documents, company newsletters, newspaper archives, photographs, personal testimonies etc. for the 360-page hardback book. The structure of the book, which had chapters focusing on successive decades from 1920 to the present, reinforced the relentlessness of the damage done by asbestos producers with an assembly line of generations sacrificed one after the other to the asbestos gods. To this day, no one has been held to account for the damage done to individuals, communities and the environment. Asbestos pollution deposited on the riverbank remains in place, despite the asbestos ban law (1996) which mandated that contamination be eradicated.
 The cancer nestled within the spectacular natural beauty of the Soča Valley. Photograph courtesy of Manca Juvan. |
The interest in Case Study: Anhovo has been almost unprecedented for a non-fiction book in recent times, with dozens of published interviews, articles and invitations and even a Woman of the Year nomination for the author.3 By a quirk of fate, Manca Juvan's documentary-art exhibition The Valley, which opened in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana on February 4, 2025, reinforced many of the issues previously highlighted in Jasmina Jerant's book.4
Like Jasmina Jerant, award-winning documentary photographer and filmmaker Manca Juvan spent years getting to know the people of the Middle Soč`a Valley. Having traveled extensively in places like Afghanistan and Iran she was perplexed to discover that in Slovenia, a country at the very heart of the European Union, people were living amidst high levels of environmental pollution with unreliable access to clean drinking water. Explaining the motivation for this work, Ms. Juvan said:
“My objective from the start was to approach the subject/theme in a multimedia format to have content that can be used to shape different forms that reach different audiences … Thus I started video recording open type interviews, asking people living in the valley one initial question: in what way has the factory influenced your life in the past and now; and making portraits of asbestos patients or relatives who lost family members, photographs & video of nature, the valley, factory, traces of the past and current activities of the activists ... one of my objectives was of course to document what's left of the past when it comes to asbestos, but also to raise awareness among different generations and other regions in Slovenia where people are not that aware of the asbestos problem…”5
Both Ms. Jerant and Ms. Juvan contextualized the asbestos disaster in the Soča Valley within a discussion of broader themes including water pollution, incineration of waste, environmental justice and human rights; what happened in the Soča Valley is living history as can be seen from Manca Juvan’s stunning portraits.
 Photograph from The Valley exhibition provided by the artist Manca Juvan. |
A great debt is owed to Jasmina Jerant and Manca Juvan who cast fresh eyes over an old scandal. Using their unique talents, they succeded in thrusting vital questions onto local, national and international agendas. The Soča Valley has now firmly joined the international dishonor roll along with Val-des-Sources (formerly called Asbestos), Canada, Rochdale, England, Libby, US, Glasgow, Scotland, Casale Monferrato, Italy, Wittenoom, Australia and other towns where lives counted for nought in calculations made by ruthless entrepreneurs, complicit governments and corrupt politicians. The consequences of those pernicious decisions are still being felt today.
March 14, 2025
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1 Kazan-Allen, L. International Asbestos Conference in Slovenia. June 10, 2003.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka_slov_conf_rep_june_03.php
2 The Slovenian title of the work published by Jasmina Jerant in 2024 is: Primer: Anhovo (Case Study: Anhovo]. Anhovo is the name of the town in the Soča Valley where the asbestos cement factory Salonit Anhovo was located; people commonly referred to the asbestos-cement tiles produced there and widely used in the valley as “salonitke.”
3 Vote for Woman of the Year 2024.
https://slovenkaleta.si/
4 Manca Juvan. Dolina. 4. 2. 2025–16. 3. 2025 [Manca Juvan. Valley. February 4, 2025- March 16, 2025].
https://mgml.si/sl/galerija-vzigalica/razstave/696/manca-juvan/
5 Email received from Naca Juvan. February 20, 2025.
