|NOVA GORICA (Rozna Dolina)| BOOK: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish
Heritage Travel: A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1992. Pages 238 has town and photo
information for Nova Gorica. Alternate name: ROZNA DOLINA. The
Habsburg-controlled town Gorizia (north of Trieste) went to
Italian control in 1918, but after WWII, the town’s suburbs
became part of Yugoslavia. Known as Nova Gorica (New Gorizia) is
and now part of Slovenia, in 2004, a wall dividing what had
become two cities, one Italian and one Slovene, was removed
making the national border virtually invisible. Jews probably
resided in Gorizia since the 13th or 14th century as bankers and
moneylenders. The city became Austrian in 1500. In 1534,
Ferdinand I expelled the town’s Jews. The expulsion order was
ignored although repeatedly renewed since the Jewish community
was deemed so vital to Gorizia’s economic life. Local officials
finally pressured the imperial authorities to lift the ban in
1624 when Ferdinand II granted the rank o