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The Imagined Slovene Nation and Local Categories of Identification: “Slovenes” in the Kingdom of Hungary and Postwar Prekmurje

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2018

Jernej Kosi
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Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 49 , April 2018 , pp. 87 - 102
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Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 2018 

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Footnotes

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P6-0235). I would like to thank Daša Ličen, Nancy Wingfield, Pieter Judson, Rok Stergar, Tomasz Kamusella, and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, help, and advice.

References

1 Gerwarth, Robert, The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End (New York, 2016), 194Google Scholar.

2 I use the term “Yugoslavia” for both the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, established on 29 Oct. 1918, and the later Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, established on 1 Dec. 1918.

3 On the dissolution of imperial regime and the establishment of the Slovene National Government in Ljubljana, see Perovšek, Jurij, “The Slovenian Self-government in November 1918,” Studia Historica Slovenica 3, no. 1 (2003): 71–84Google Scholar; Pleterski, Janko, Prva odločitev Slovencev za Jugoslavijo [The first decision of Slovenes for Yugoslavia] (Ljubljana, 1971), 242–68Google Scholar; Vilfan, Sergij, Pravna zgodovina Slovencev [Legal history of the Slovenes] (Ljubljana, 1996), 464Google Scholar; Lukan, Walter, Die Habsburgermonarchie und die Slowenen im Ersten Weltkrieg (Vienna, 2017), 179–208Google Scholar. In autumn and winter 1918, demands for additional territorial gains can be found in many Slovene newspapers, for example: Slovenski narod [The Slovene Nation], Slovenski gospodar [The Slovene Landowner], and Straža [The Watch].

4 Matjaž Küzma, “Pozdravljeni bratje Slovenci, slišite klic ogrskih bratov” [Greetings brother Slovenes, hear the call of your compatriots in Hungary], Straža, 8 Nov. 1918, 1. On nationalist politics on the language frontiers of imperial Austria, see Judson, Pieter M., Guardians of the Nation: Activists on the Language Frontier of Imperial Austria (Cambridge, MA, 2006)Google Scholar.

5 On plans regarding Prekmurje devised by General Maister and the Slovene National Council for Styria, see Perovšek, Jurij, “Slovenska politika in vprašanje priključitve Prekmurja h Kraljevini SHS 1918-1919” [Slovene politics and the issue of Prekmurje's annexation to the Kingdom of SCS in 1918–1919], Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino [Contributions to contemporary history] XLVII, no. 1 (2017): 53–64Google Scholar.

6 Kokolj, Miroslav, Prekmurski Slovenci od nacionalne osvoboditve do fašistične okupacije 1919–1941 [Slovenes in Prekmurje from national liberation to Fascist occupation 1919–1941] (Murska Sobota, 1984), 14Google Scholar.

7 On the negotiations over Prekmurje at the Paris Peace Conference, see Kyovsky, Rudi, “Trianonska pogodba in slovensko-ogrska meja” [The Treaty of Trianon and the Slovene–Hungarian Border], in Revolucionarno vrenje v Pomurju v letih 1918–1920 [Revolutionary unrests in Prekmurje, 1918–1919], ed. Liška, Janko (Murska Sobota, 1981), 236–59Google Scholar; Grafenauer, Bogo, “Slovenska Koroška v diplomatski igri leta 1919” [Slovene Carinthia in the diplomatic game in 1919], in Koroški plebiscit [The Carinthian plebiscite], eds. Pleterski, Janko et al. (Ljubljana 1970), 295–378Google Scholar. On the Paris Peace Conference, see Margaret MacMillan, Peacemakers: The Paris Conference of 1918 and Its Attempt to End War (London, 2001).

8 “Prislek” [A Newcomer], Mörszka krajina, Muravidék [Prekmurje], 9 Dec. 1923, 1. Following Tomasz Kamusella's characterization of ethnolinguistic nationalism, I regard the nineteenth-century Slovene national movement as an ethnolinguistic one—as a movement, which adopted as its ideological basis the association of the postulated Slovene nation with the Slovene-speaking population. Along these lines, Slovene national activists regarded as members of the Slovene nation all speakers of the Slovene language, and the territory predominantly inhabited by the speakers of Slovene language as a Slovene national space. On ethnolinguistic nationalism, see Kamusella, Tomasz, “The History of the Normative Opposition of ‘Language versus Dialect’: From Its Graeco-Latin Origin to Central Europe's Ethnolinguistic Nation-States,” Colloquia Humanistica 5 (2016): 164–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kamusella, Tomasz, The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe (Basingstoke, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the emergence of Slovene national movement, see Hösler, Joachim, Von Krain zu Slowenien. Die Anfänge der nationalen Differenzierungsprozesse in Krain und der Untersteiermark von der Aufklärung bis zur Revolution 1768 bis 1848 (Munich, 2006)Google Scholar. On ideological and cultural origins of Slovene political nationalism, see Kosi, Jernej, Kako je nastal slovenski narod [How was the Slovene nation created] (Ljubljana, 2013)Google Scholar.

9 Following the anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen's argument that ethnic variation is an effect rather than a cause of ethnic boundaries, I regard particular understanding of ethnic difference as presumed and not as factual. Moreover, I consider it unstable and prone to changes and social manipulations. Eriksen, Thomas Hyland, Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2nd ed. (London, 2002)Google Scholar.

10 Kidrič, France, Zoisova korespondenca (1809–1810) [The correspondence of Zois (1809–1810)] (Ljubljana, 1941)Google Scholar, 144. On Kopitar's Slavic work, see also Vidmar, Luka, A Slavic Republic of Letters: The Correspondence between Jernej Kopitar and Baron Žiga Zois (Frankfurt, 2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Primic, Janez Nepomuk, Novi némshko-slovénshki bukvar, al A. B. C. otrokon léhko sastoplen = Neues Slovenisch-Deutsches der Fassungskraft der Kinder angemessenes A. B. C.: welches auserlesene, leichte und belehrende Aufgaben, Erzählungen und Unterhaltungen enthält (Graz, 1814), 122Google Scholar.

12 Šafárik, Pavel Josef, Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten (Ofen, 1826) IVGoogle Scholar; 263. Since the Middle Ages, German texts had employed the term “Winden” for the Slavic people, either Slavs in general or particular Slavophone speakers in various regions. For several centuries, the term and its derivatives also circulated in what is contemporary Slovenia, describing and categorizing Slavic communities and their speech in various ways. The derivative of the original term was in use by the Slavophones in western Hungary too. In the eighteenth century, a Catholic priest Mikloš Küzmič (1737–1804), for instance, defined the language of his translations as Windische Sprache in his German texts. On the use of terms in the present-day territory of Slovenia, see Lencek, Rado L., “Note: The terms Wende—Winde, Wendisch—Windisch in the historiographic traditions of the Slovene lands,” Slovene Studies 12, no. 1 (1990): 93–97Google Scholar. On Mikloš Küzmič, see Jesenšek, Marko, Poglavja iz zgodovine knjižnega jezika [Chapters from the history of Slovene literary language] (Bielsko-Biała, 2013), 93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 On Matija Majar and his political activism in 1848, see Melik, Vasilij, “Nacionalni programi Matije Majarja—Ziljskega” [National agendas of Matija Majar—Ziljski], in Vasilij Melik: Slovenci 1848–1918. Razprave in članki [Vasilij Melik: Slovenes 1848–1918. Studies and articles], ed. Vrbnjak, Viktor (Maribor, 2002), 58–65Google Scholar. See also Moritsch, Andreas and Rajšp, Vincenc, eds., Matija Majar-Ziljski (Klagenfurt, 1995)Google Scholar.

14 Rok Stergar and Tamara Scheer, “Ethnic Boxes: The Unintended Consequences of Habsburg Bureaucratic Classification,” Nationalities Papers (forthcoming). I would like to thank the authors for permitting me to read the manuscript.

15 On the creation of the map Ivan Kordiš, “Peter Kozler and His Map of the Slovenian Land and Its Provinces (1849–1871),” Imago Mundi 68, no. 2 (2016): 212–31.

16 Kozler, Peter, Kratek slovenski zemljopis in pregled politične in pravosodne razdelitve ilirskega kraljestva in štajerskega vojvodstva s pridanim slovenskim in nemškim imenikom mest, tergov, krajev i. t. d. [A short Slovenian geography and overview of political and legal division of the Illyrian Kingdom and Styrian Duchy with an appendix of Slovenian and German registry of towns, hamlets, places etc.] (Vienna, 1854)Google Scholar.

17 “Slovenci na Ogerskim” [Slovenes in Hungary], Slovenija [Slovenia], 10 July 1849, 220.

18 “Črtice o Prekmurcih in o njihovem govoru” [Essays on Slovenes in Prekmurje and their speech], in Narodni koledar in letopis matice slovenske za leto 1868 [National calendar and the yearbook of Slovene Society for 1868], ed. Janez Bleiweis (Ljubljana, 1867), 54.

19 “Ogrski Slovenci” [Hungarian Slovenes], Ljubljanski zvon [The Bell of Ljubljana] 21 (1901): 173–78, 240–43, 313–16.

20 Czoernig, Karl, Ethnographie der Oesterreichischen Monarchie, I. Band, I. Abt. (Vienna, 1857), 77Google Scholar.

21 Urbas, Viljem, Die Slovenen: etnographische Skizze (Trieste, 1870)Google Scholar, 3. For similar descriptions see also Majciger, Janez, Pleteršnik, Maks, and Raič, Božidar, Slovanstvo. Prvi del: Občni pregled.—Jugoslovani: Slovenci. Hrvati in Srbi. Bolgari. Z dvema zemljevidoma [Slavdom. Vol. 1: General overview.—Yugoslavs: Slovenes. Croats and Serbs. Bulgarians. With two maps] (Ljubljana, 1873–74), 153–54Google Scholar; Umlauft, Friedrich, Die Osterreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie: geographisch-statistisches Handbuch mit besonderer Rücksicht auf politische und Cultur-Geschichte für Leser aller Stände (Vienna, 1876), 406Google Scholar; Šuman, Josip, Die Slovenen (Vienna, 1881), 1Google Scholar.

22 Karin Almasy, “‘…za Boga in véro, za cesarja in domovino!’ Translationskultur und ideologische Steuerung in slowenischen Schullesbüchern (1848–1918)” (PhD diss., University of Graz, 2016), 320.

23 Kyovsky, “Trianonska pogodba,” 250.

24 “Naznanje Prekmurcom!” [A notice to the inhabitants of Prekmurje], cited in Kokolj, Prekmurski Slovenci, 19–20.

25 Domovina [The Homeland], 22 Aug. 1919, 1.

26 “Prekmurje osvobojeno” [Prekmurje liberated], Ptujski list [Ptuj Newspaper], 17 Aug. 1919, 1.

27 “Prvi ljudski tabor v Prekmurju” [First folk rally in Prekmurje], Slovenski gospodar [The Slovene landowner], 21 Aug. 1919, 1.

28 Regional Archives Maribor (hereafter: RAM), sig. 1133004/14, 407. “Narodno prosvetno udejstvovanje učiteljev v Prekmurju” [Nationally enlightening endeavors of teachers in Prekmurje].

29 RAM, sig. 1133004/14, 407, 70.

30 Ibid.

31 Raič, “Črtice o Prekmurcih,” 54; Trstenjak, Anton, Slovenci na Ogrskem: narodopisna in književna črtica: objava arhivskih virov [Slovenes in Hungary: An ethnographical and literary essay: Publication of archival sources] (Maribor, 2006), 70–71Google Scholar; Škafar, Ivan, “Kovačičevi spomini na prekmursko iz leta 1893” [Kovačič’s memories of Prekmurje from 1893], Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje [Review for history and ethnology] 41, no. 2 (1970): 325Google Scholar.

32 Trstenjak, Slovenci na Ogrskem, 70.

33 Ibid., 71.

34 The origins of Slovene literary tradition in the Kingdom of Hungary and terms used by the local authors in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be discerned from Jesenšek, Poglavja iz zgodovine, 89–101; Fujs, Metka, “Prekmurje—podoba prostora” [Prekmurje—An image of the space], Podravina 3, no. 6 (2004): 49–62Google Scholar.

35 Kokolj, Prekmurski Slovenci, 14. See also Mayer, László and Molnár, András, eds., Források a Muravidék történetéhez: szöveggyűjtemény—Viri za zgodovino Prekmurja: zbirka dokumentov 2 [Sources for the history of Prekmurje: The collection of documents 2] (Szombathely and Zalaegerszeg, 2008), 262–64Google Scholar.

36 Ibid., 14–15. In 1915, the newspaper Novine. Pobožen, drüžbeni, pismeni list za vogrske slovence [The News: A Pious, Sociable and Literate Newspaper for Hungarian Slovenes], which was published in the local Slovene language and intended for Hungarian Slovenes regardless of their religious adherence, wrote about various Slav-speaking soldiers and mentioned Czechs, Croats, Carniolians, Carinthians, and Poles in addition to Slovenes (meaning Hungarian Slovenes). “Naše ‘Novine’ med vojaki” [Our ‘news’ among soldiers], Novine. Pobožen, drüžbeni, pismeni list za vogrske slovence, 8 Nov. 1914, 3.

37 Škafar, Ivan, “Iz dopisovanja med škofom J. Szilyem in Miklošem Küzmičem v zvezi s sedmimi Küzmičevimi knjigami” [From the correspondence between the Archbishop J. Szily and Mikloš Küzmič regarding Seven Küzmič’s books], Slavistična revija [Slavic Review] 23, no. 1 (1975): 90Google Scholar.

38 Golec, Boris, Nedokončana kroatizacija delov vzhodne Slovenije med 16. in 19. stoletjem [Incomplete Croatization of parts of Eastern Slovenia between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries] (Ljubljana, 2012), 105CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

39 Both Slovenska okroglina and Slovenska krajina circulated in the beginning of the twentieth century. For Slovenska okroglina, see “Novomeša v Bogojini” [The new mass in Bogojina], Novine. Pobožen, drüžbeni, pismeni list za vogrske slovence, 19 Apr. 1914, 3. For Slovenska Krajina, see “Dom i svet—Glási” [The home and the world—Rumors], Novine. Pobožen, drüžbeni, pismeni list za vogrske slovence, 7 Apr. 1918, 3.

40 For a detailed account on events in the region that followed the Austro-Hungarian collapse see Kokolj, Miroslav, “Prekmurje v prevratnih letih 1918–1919” [Prekmurje in the revolutionary years 1918–1919], in Revolucionarno vrenje v Pomurju v letih 1918–1920, ed. Liška, Janko (Murska Sobota, 1981), 260–300Google Scholar. In contrast to what I argue, some Slovene historians claim that in 1918–19 the majority of “Slovenes” in Prekmurje demanded the unification of the region with the “main national body” on the other side of Mura/Mur River. Still, the substantiations for such an argument derive either from Slovene newspaper articles from that period or sources authored by Slovene politicians and national activists, who were actively engaged in the formation process of the new Yugoslav state. See for instance Perovšek, “Slovenska politika.”

41 Kokolj, “Prekmurje v prevratnih letih.”

42 On the population decline and political measures against Hungarians in Prekmurje, see Kovács, Attila, “Številčni razvoj prekmurskih Madžarov v 20. stoletju” [Demographic trends of the Prekmurje Hungarians in the twentieth century], Razprave in gradivo: revija za narodnostna vprašanja [Treatises and Documents, Journal of Ethnic Studies] 48–49 (2006): 6–37Google Scholar; Kovács, Attila, “Agrarna reforma in kolonizacija na območju Dolnje Lendave med obema vojnama” [Land reform and colonization in the area of Dolnja Lendava in the interwar period], Razprave in gradivo: revija za narodnostna vprašanja 53–54 (2007): 68–97Google Scholar.

43 Brubaker, Rogers, “Nationalizing states revisited: Projects and processes of nationalization in post-Soviet States,” in New Nation-States and National Minorities, eds. Julien Danero Iglesias, Nenad Stojanović, and Sharon Weinblum (Colchester, 2013), 14Google Scholar.

44 Cited in Brumen, Borut, Na robu zgodovine in spomina. Urbana kultura Murske Sobote med letoma 1919 in 1941 [On the margins of history and memory: Urban culture of Murska Sobota in the interwar period] (Murska Sobota, 1995), 71Google Scholar.

45 See for instance PAM, 1133004/6, 638. “Prekmursko učiteljstvo, izpiti za osnovne šole s slovenskim jezikom” [Teachers from Prekmurje, exams for elementary schools with Slovene language of instruction]. Interestingly, similar measures were employed in Istria after World War II when it was annexed by Yugoslavia and came under the authority of the government in Ljubljana. Teachers from Istria were sent to Ljubljana to improve their knowledge of what was understood as proper Slovene. See Virloget, Katja Hrobat, “Slišati ‘drugega’ med nami: o spomenikih etničnih Italijanov v Istri in o medetničnih odnosih” [Hearing “the other” among us: The memories of ethnic Italians in Istria and inter-ethnic relationships], in Nemi spomini: Manjšine med obrobjem in ospredjem [Silent memories: Minorities between fringe and forefront], eds. Istenič, Saša Poljak et al. (Ljubljana, 2017), 24Google Scholar.

46 PAM, 1133004/6, 1296. “Pouk narodne zgodovine in zemljepisa v osnovnih šolah” [National history and geography classes in elementary schools].

47 Geary, Patrick J., The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe (Princeton, 2002)Google Scholar.