Slovenes
The Slovenes (in the historical context also Windische or Alpine Slavs ) are a South Slavic ethnic group. They refer to themselves as Slovenci . They mostly speak Slovene , which is one of the South Slavic languages . The majority of Slovenes live in Slovenia , but there was already a large emigration during the Habsburg Monarchy due to difficult economic conditions, and later also from communist Yugoslavia for political reasons . Autochthonous minorities of Slovenes also live in Austria , Italy , Croatia and Hungary (between Mur and Raab ).
history
Early history of the Slovenes
In the 6th century, Slavic tribes settled on the Adriatic and the Alps . They came through a total of two decisive waves of migration: The first took place in 550, when numerous Slavs left today's Moravia region . The second took place a little later, in 568, when the Lombards withdrew to Italy .
From 623 to 658 the Slovenes were under the rule of Samo ( Kralj Samo ), who promoted unity among the Slavic peoples. The unit broke up immediately after Samo's death.
Slovenes in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period
Fearing the Avar tribes from Central Asia, the Slovenes (Alpine Slavs, Carantans ) entered into an alliance with the tribal duchy of Bavaria in 745 . They accepted Frankish laws and adopted Christianity . The settlement border north of the Alps at that time lay on a line Gasteinertal - Salzburg area - Upper Austrian Pre-Alps , as the place names ( e.g. Windischgarsten ) show, and in the eastern Danube region of Austria it was probably not yet decently separated from the Czech-Slovak western Slavs .
The Slovenes lost their independence when they after Awarenfeldzug Charlemagne were incorporated in 874 in the kingdom. The last sovereign ruler was Prince Kocelj . However, the explicit coronation (and recognition) of the Bavarian, then Austrian duke with the Windischen hat remained a tradition in Carniola for centuries (this adorned the coat of arms of the Windischen Mark until 1918).
The distribution area of the Slovenes shrank in the following centuries. The main reason for this was the settlement of Bavarian settlers in the west (land grabbing in the Ostarrichi area in Lower Austria's Mostviertel) and the arrival of the Hungarians in the Pannonian Plain . This also resulted in the separation from the Western Slavs on the Danube. However, it can be considered quite certain that the Baiwar conquest took place largely peacefully and the Slavic population was slowly assimilated (this also shows the close proximity of German and Slovenian place names in the entire Eastern Alpine region up to the high medieval settlement phases).
The Slovene national feeling developed since the Windischen Peasant War in 1515, the Croatian-Slovene peasant uprising in 1573 and was promoted by the printing press . The reformer Primus Truber / Primož Trubar used the term "Slovenes" for the first time in catechism in the Windic language . This work, printed in 1550 by Ulrich Morhart in Bad Urach , established the Slovene written language. In 1584, the Luther Bible, translated by Jurij Dalmatin in the Bebenhausen monastery , followed .
Slovenes between the 17th century and World War II
The distribution area of the Slovenes in the duchies of Carniola , Carinthia , Styria and in the counties of Görz and Gradisca belonged to the Habsburg hereditary lands and was part of the Austrian Empire from 1804 .
Many Slovenes emigrated to the USA at the beginning of the 20th century . The reasons for this were mostly of an economic nature. Most of the Slovenes settled there in Cleveland or Ohio .
After the First World War , the Slovene area became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes , from 1929 "Kingdom of Yugoslavia".
In 1920, the majority of the population of Southern Carinthia voted in a referendum in favor of belonging to Austria.
Numerous Slovenian volunteers fought in the Italian-Ethiopian War in 1935 and in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 .
Distribution of Slovenes in different countries
Slovenes in the states of the former Yugoslavia
| country | Number of Slovenian residents | Share of the total population [%] |
|---|---|---|
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
2,100 | 0.05 |
 Croatia
|
13,173 | 0.3 |
 Serbia
|
5,104 | 0.29 |
 Slovenia
|
1,631,363 | 83.1 |
 North Macedonia
|
403 | 0.02 |
 Montenegro
|
415 | 0.07 |
Slovenes in other countries in the world
| country | Number of Slovenian residents | comment |
|---|---|---|
 Australia
|
16,085 | Slovenes and people of Slovenian origin |
 Argentina
|
30,000 | Slovenes and people of Slovenian origin |
 Belgium
|
1,500 | |
 Brazil
|
1,500 | Slovenes and people of Slovenian origin |
 Germany
|
21,759 | |
 France
|
4,000 | |
 Ireland
|
135 | |
 Italy
|
80,000 | including 61,000 autochthonous Slovenes in Friuli-Venezia Giulia |
 Austria
|
24,855 | autochthonous Carinthian Slovenes , Slovenes in Styria ; → Slovenes in Austria |
 Sweden
|
4,000 | |
 Switzerland
|
1,601 | |
 Spain
|
758 | Slovenian citizens |
 Hungary
|
3,040 | Hungarian Slovenes in the Vendvidék around St. Gotthard |
 United States
|
176,691 | Slovenes and people of Slovenian origin |
There is a high percentage of Slovenes who, for a variety of reasons, live in other parts of Europe and the world. At the end of the 19th or the beginning of the 20th century, many Slovenes emigrated from poor (mainly agricultural) areas. The United States was a popular destination at the time, but there were also miners who went to the Ruhr area. An interesting case is represented by young women who went to Alexandria in Egypt as nannies and midwives, especially after the First World War . They were called Aleksandrinke . After the Second World War , many looked for work in Western Europe (especially in the Federal Republic of Germany, but also Belgium and France). But there was also political emigration from what was then communist Yugoslavia . So fled immediately after the end of World War II people who are actively on the part of Germany had fought ( Domobranzen ) and their families, especially to Argentina. Since the economic situation in Slovenia became more difficult after the international banking crisis in 2009, many highly qualified, young Slovenes have been looking for work abroad.
In Austria, mainly in the federal states of Carinthia and Styria with their shifted border to the old Carniola ( Koroška , Štajerska ), in 2001, according to the census, 17,953 Austrians and 6,902 foreigners lived with Slovene or “Windisch” colloquial language. The Slovenes in Austria are a recognized linguistic minority with extensive rights, but implementation was sluggish until the 2000s (see the local sign dispute ). The Slovenian field and farm names in Carinthia were even declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010 , which confirms the exceptional position of the Slovenian minority in Austria.
In 2004 there were 21,034 Slovenian citizens living in Germany, 7,633 of them in Baden-Württemberg ; 80% have been living in Germany for more than 20 years, mostly second generation guest workers .
East Slavic tribe of the Slovenes
"Slovenes" was also called the East Slavic tribe who settled in Russia on Lake Ilmen and Lake Ladoga in the early Middle Ages . See: Ilmenslawen
religion
Catholic Church
Through the association with Bavaria , the Slovenes adopted Christianity in the 8th century . The vast majority of Slovenes are of the Roman Catholic denomination.
Today around 57.8% of Slovenes are members of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Ljubljana Cathedral is the "center" of Slovenian Catholicism.
Protestant church
In the 16th century the Reformation also reached Slovenia, but was suppressed again by the Counter Reformation , so that Catholicism prevailed again. Only a few evangelical communities were able to survive. Many Protestant officials fled to Germany .
It was not until the 1950s that Protestant parish life was permitted by the Yugoslav authorities. Several German missionaries founded Protestant congregations in Ljubljana , Celje and Maribor .
The Evangelical Church in Slovenia is Lutheran .
However, the number of Slovenian Protestants is marginal and does not exceed 1% of the population.
literature
- Marija Mitrović: History of Slovenian Literature. From the beginning to the present. Translated and edited by Katja Sturm-Schnabl . Hermagoras / Mohorjeva, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85013-834-8 .
See also
swell
- ^ Republika Hrvatska - Državni Zavod Za Statistics
- ↑ Serbia: Results of the 2002 census ( Memento from March 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 379 kB)
- ↑ Statistični urad RS - Popis 2002
- ↑ http://elecpress.monash.edu.au/pnp/free/pnpv7n4/v7n4_3price.pdf
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ STATISTICS AUSTRIA - Statistics
- ↑ Ine.es ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ US Census Bureau (PDF; 480 kB)
- ↑ 2001 census, population by colloquial language and nationality ( memento of the original from January 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 24, 2009.
- ↑ www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab10.htm ( Memento from May 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on Sep 6. 2006
- ↑ Statistical reports Baden-Württemberg, foreign population on December 31, 2004 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , pdf
