German-Slovene Relations in the Slovene Lands from the Mid-19Th Century Until Today Matjaž Klemenčič University of Maribor [email protected]
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ONOMÀSTICA 3 (2017): 127–160 | REBUT 27.4.2017 | ACCEPTAT 4.7.2017 German-Slovene relations in the Slovene lands from the mid-19th century until today Matjaž Klemenčič University of Maribor [email protected] Abstract: This paper traces the development of Slovene-German inter-ethnic relations in the Slovene ethnic territory from the 19th century onwards. After the March Revolu- tion of 1848, the Slovenes in Carinthia and Styria, as minority groups in the Habsburg Empire, clashed with the dominant German-speaking groups and were exposed to a progressive process of Germanization and assimilation. After the 1920 plebiscite, Ca- rinthian Slovenes were exposed to accelerated processes of Germanization, while dur- ing the Second World War the Nazis sought to resolve the Carinthian question once and for all by instigating forced migrations. In the post-war, bilingual schooling was introduced in southern Carinthia, where it was used as tool for defining the bilingual territory. Further, the Austrian State Treaty appeared to offer guarantees of certain minority rights; however, these have been largely unforthcoming. Recent years have been marked by the Ortstafelsturm – a battle against erecting bilingual village signs – and reforms to the Law on Ethnic Groups. Key words: Slovenes, Germans, Styria, Carinthia, Germanization, Slovenisation, Nation- al minorities, Bilingual village signs. Les relacions germanoeslovenes en territoris eslovens des de mitjan segle xix fins avui Resum: En aquest article s’examinen les relacions entre eslovens i alemanys des de mitjan segle XIX fins al moment actual. La primera part abraça fins al final de la Primera Guer- ra Mundial, i planteja com els eslovens −un dels grups ètnics de l’Imperi dels Habsburg, on els parlants alemanys eren el grup dominant− van quedar exposats, especialment després de la revolució de 1848, a un procés progressiu d’assimilació i germanització. Com es considera a la segona part, aquest procés s’accentua a les dècades posteriors, i especialment en el període d’entreguerres i durant la Segona Guerra Mundial (sobre- tot en relació amb la població eslovena de Caríntia i sota el règim nazi). La tercera part analitza la introducció del sistema escolar bilingüe al sud de Caríntia, amb especial èmfasi en aquesta mesura com a eina de definició del territori bilingüe a la Caríntia meridional. L’última part de l’article e la “no implementació” de l’article 7 del Tractat de l’Estat austríac per part dels governs austríacs. Aquí, es fa un èmfasi especial en la 127 Matjaž Klemenčič qüestió de la senyalització pública de localitats bilingües, des de l’anomenada Ortsta- felsturm de 1972 fins a la llei reguladora de l’estatut dels grups ètnics de 2011. Paraules clau: Eslovens, alemanys, Estíria, Caríntia, germanització, eslovenització, mi- nories nacionals, senyalització bilingüe de pobles. 1 INTRODUCTION According to Slovene scholars, Slovene ethnic territory comprises those lands in which Slovenes lived as an autochthonous/indigenous popula- tion before the onset of the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century. This territory lies at the intersection of four major European natural ge- ographical units (the Mediterranean, the Alps, the Pannonian Plain and the Dinaric Mountains) and at the junction of four linguistic groups (Ger- manic, Romance, Slavic and Finno-Ugric). It is located at the cross-sec- tion of important European traffic routes that connect Northern and Western Europe to Southeast Europe, and the Middle East and the Me- diterranean to Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Roads were initially developed to traverse what was considered a relatively transitory territory. However, it should be stressed that the Postojna Gate [Postonjska vrata] serves as the lowest-lying and most accessible pass into the rest of Europe through the Dinaric Alp and down to the Adriatic Sea and the Po Ri ver Plain (Klemenčič V. 1992, 99–113). Throughout history, many peoples have crossed the Slovene ethnic territory, contributing to and benefiting from its unique and diverse culture and civilization. From the 14th century onwards, most of present-day Slovene ethnic territory (with the exception of the so-called “Venetian Slovenia”, which was part of Italy) was in the possession of the Habsburgs, and later in that of the Habsburg monarchy. The territory was historically divided into the provinces of Carniola, Carinthia, Styria, Trieste, Gorizia and Istria and the counties of Zala and Vas, which formed part of Hungary. Over the centuries, two processes unfolded in the region that resulted in changes in the ethnic/linguistic population structure: (1) The German-speaking population migrated from north to south, gradual- ly Germanizing the Slavic/Slovene-speaking population in the northern part of the Slavic ethnic territory and (2) German-speaking immigrants lost their identity and language and became members of the majority i.e. the Slavic/ 128 German-Slovene relations in the Slovene lands (mid-19th century – today) . Slovene Ethnic Territory in the Mid-Nineteenth Century in the Mid-Nineteenth Territory Ethnic . Slovene Map 1 129 Matjaž Klemenčič Slovene-speaking population south of what was then the Slovene-German ethnic/linguistic boundaries. In Carinthia, residents have been subjected to intense pressure to Germanize since the mid-19th century (Grafenauer 1994). Until the modern era, Slovene-German linguistic duality in the Slovene ethnic territory did not result in any inter-ethnic clashes. This is reflected, for example, in the draft of Bojan Schnabl’s doctoral dissertation on the constitutionally guaranteed equality of both peoples in Carinthia in the provincial Constitution of 1849 (Paragraph 3) and, consequently, in the bi- lingual nature of official documents and the official lists of bilingual place names in Carinthia until the collapse of the monarchy (Schnabl 2016). Until the mid-19th century, people living in the countryside were able to communicate in both Slovene and German. This in spite of the fact that immigrants from the Tyrolean Pustertal in South Tyrol, who had moved to Baška grapa in the 13th century, had been almost completely “Slovenized”. Today, only the German names of the streams (e.g. Kacen- poh = Ger.: Katzenbach; Slo.: Mačji potok) and the names of some of the nearby peaks (Hohkoubl = Slo.: Matajurski vrh) serve as reminders of these migrants. With the modernization of the Habsburg Monarchy, the German lan- guage began to gain in importance and anyone who wanted to advance in state or public services, or in private economic ventures, had to know German. The question of the legal situation of peoples under the Con- stitution of the Habsburg Empire and the recognition of the equality of ethnic Slovenes came to the surface after the March Revolution of 1848. The Slovenes, with their national program of a “Unified Slovenia”, called for the unification of the entire Slovene ethnic territory and raised the question of linguistic demarcation in Carinthia and Styria (Gestrin and Melik 1966, Granda 1999). By means of this program, the Slovenes sought to exercise their political rights as a modern European nation. Howev- er, their national interests clashed with the plans of the Greater German nationalist circles. For German nationalists, Carinthia and Styria repre- sented historically ethnic German duchies, and attempts to enforce Slo- vene equality were identified as a threat. From the German nationalists’ perspective, the Slovenes, because of their small number and cultural underdevelopment, were “doomed” to Germanization. It is unsurprising, 130 German-Slovene relations in the Slovene lands (mid-19th century – today) therefore, that the Austrian authorities began, in the mid-19th century, to exercise a policy aimed at the assimilation of Slovenes (Cvirn 1995, 73–82). The purpose of this paper is to monitor the development of Slo- vene-German inter-ethnic relations in the Slovene ethnic territory from the 19th century onwards, and to examine the way in which discrimi- nation against minorities, in conjunction with several major historical events, influenced the development of these minorities and their efforts to achieve equality. 2 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL NEGLECT OF SLOVENE HISTORIC LANDS In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sought to assimilate members of non-German and non-Magyar ethnic groups. In so doing, it used a variety of methods: neglect, especially in the field of culture, education and the use of minority languages in all areas of public life, and a restriction on economic development in minority settlement areas, especially those with sizeable Slovene populations (Klemenčič V. 1993, 20). Ironically, with the rise of German nationalism, Slovene natio- nal identity actually strengthened. Slovenes developed their own literary language, published their own literature and journals, created their own works of art and founded social and cultural institutions. However, they were unsuccessful in their attempts to introduce Slovene as the language of instruction in secondary schools and as the working language in all offices. In addition, Slovene demands for the establishment of a Slovene University fell on deaf ears. At the same time, industrialization, closely tied to the growth of the railway network, was considerably less inten- sive in the Slovene territory than in other Austrian provinces (especially in the Czech lands). Moreover, ownership of capital remained largely in German hands. The Slovene rural population living in the overcrowded countryside