	Area of today's Alpe-Adria

	Pro Kaernten - za Korosko

	(http://www.bernthaler.com/prokaernten/liste-az.asp?name=A)

	Old Trieste in its New Expansion?

	Trieste in Search for »Space«

The "Euro-Regions" on a Chauvinist Basis - Illy and Haider

Solemn Declaration marking the anniversary celebration...

	Trieste's Burden of History

	Slovenian Foreign Ministry negotiated with Austria behind the back ...

	The pastry-men of Klagenfurt present replica of Prince's Stone...

	Riorganizzazione delle circoscrizioni ecclesiastiche in Slovenia ...

The Prince's Stone

Map of the Great Duchy of Carantania and its Marches

The question of Carinthian names - Old wine in new bottles?


	Bilingual place-name signs


	Homepages concerning Slovenian minority in Austria - Heinz Dieter Pohl


	The Fight for an Authentic Austria - Nichts als Namen (Otto Kronsteiner)


	www.heimat-domovina.at - (Sichtbare Heimat - Vidna Domovina)

	Ancient and Modern Austrian Expansionism

	Expo 2008

	Miss Trieste

	From Marib, the Sabean Capital, to Carantania - Irena Knehtl

	Irena Knehtl, Person of the Year

	Obsolete Austrian Stereotypes

	A Sorrowful Anniversary

	HAK - TAK

	History of Carinthia - (book by Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld)

	Power of Patriotism - (Moc domoljubja)

Historical reminiscences

Area of today’s Alpe – Adria

The one-time Great Carantania between utopia and reality

Map of Great Carantania. The lilac colour on the map indicates also Slovakia

and Croatia with Slavonia, which are of the same ethnic origin as the Carantanians.

Since the 60s, in Carinthia (Austria) the idea of a future community or even confederation among the provinces between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea has been kept alive. This community should have included the then provinces of Carinthia, Slovenia, Friluli and Trieste, Istria, Venetia, and possibly also Styria. In fact, a priority for regional cooperation among the provinces had already existed. The two Hungarian western counties and Croatia were also included.

Anyway, at that time Yugoslavia was still existing, and Slovenia was part of it. The former Yugoslavia was under the direct control of Belgrade, a great-Serbian and Communist metropolis. Therefore, the Alpe – Adria community could have functioned only as community of lands run by Belgrade, which would have tightened the communities’ relations on a cultural and economical level. In the 90s, Slovenia became an independent state and established relations with the countries of the world. Its connections to nearby provinces did quasi stop.

Illy and Haider form an unconvincing friendship

The modern tactics of conquering

Then, Riccardo Illy, the ex-mayor of Trieste and governor of Friuli (Italy), launched the idea of an “Euroregion”, which should unite the Alpe–Adria area and its provinces. Regretfully, his fellow friend Jörg Haider of Carinthia is known as fanatic anti-Slovene. Moreover, neither was Illy’s idea sincere. He was a member of the Masonry, with the purpose in mind to set a trap for independent Slovenia in order to bring it to ruin in an “Euroregion”. In this way, Slovenia’s national and political identity would have been assimilated.

At the end of June 2007, Illy and Haider signed the foundation agreement for the aforesaid “Euroregion”, which was supposed to be called "Northern Adriatic", with Trieste as its center. The Governor of Venetia, Giancarlo Galan, gave his consent, too, and now they were waiting for Slovenia to join their “Euroregion”. Because it hesitated, they extended the deadline for Slovenia and waited.

Their waiting was obviously supported by their allies, the Serbian underground in Slovenia, which piloted the Slovenian policies and economy. Regretfully, in April 2008, Riccardo Illy was not re-elected as Governor of Friuli, and his “Euroregion” initiative fell apart.

The main obstacle in the way for a smooth realization of a united community in the "Alpe-Adria region" or" Northern Adriatic Euroregion", was the ignorance of the people in the individual provinces. They never showed a personal level of interest for culture, lifestyle or daily events of their neighbours, with whom they share the country. In Venetia and Friuli, for example, people do not understand Slovenian and German, and they do not share the news of happenings in Carinthia (Austria) or Slovenia.

Riccardo Illy

Jörg Haider and

Gianfranco Galan

Their striving for cooperation between the provinces in the Alpe–Adria area was not sincere. Their main purpose was to absorb independent Slovenia into an “Euroregion”.

In this way, the manipulation of people's mind, carried out by nationalistic and chauvinistic structures, was exercised fully and was exposed to an open field. There was the memory of the past, when Fascism, Nazism and Communism ruled, when atrocities were committed, which were kept alive through mass media and gossips. They were diffused by structures, which had no interest whatsoever in the realization of an Alpe – Adria community. It was about the circles in the background, which would have lost the competence of national metropolises like Rome and Vienna.

Therefore, the poisoning of people’s mind had to continue. Still in 2005, the Italian Minster Maurizio Gasparri (Rome) promoted a movie called “Heart in the Pit” (Cuore nel pozzo), in which Slovenians have been presented as the guilty part for the Istrian exodus and the deadly pits. In reality, these atrocities were commited by Tito’s army.

Another image of Carinthia

In spite of continuous anti-Slovenian provocations, carried out by Governor Haider, his apparatus and the mass media, Carinthia is not a nationalistic German country. Behind such mass media image are perfectly normal people. But unfortunately, they are not aware of the very past and glory of their country in the times of Carantania. In schools the history of Carantania remains concealed. It is exclusively presented as Kärnten, which at one-time was also ruled by “Slav” dukes. In this kind of teaching is the Slovenian identity negated and destroyed.

Even today, such a point of view is present in the academical institutions of Ljubljana (Slovenia). It is about an ideological legacy of ex-Yugoslavia. After the WW2, both, Belgrade and Vienna were interested in destroying the history of Carantania (Slovenia). They divided the Slovenian historical area into two parts, north and south of the Karavanke mountain range. The northern part should go to German Austria, the southern one to (Serbian) Yugoslavia.

The German and Slovenian inscription on the sign at the University of Carinthia

is a testifying and respectful bilingual tradition of the country.

It is true, that Belgrade and Vienna belonged to different ideological systems, the first one to a communist world and the second to a democratic one. Anyway, both were linked to masonic circles, and on base of this structure, they cooperated in the separation of Slovenian history.

For this purpose, Carinthia had to be presented to Slovenia as an intolerant German national country. Every time, Lojze Kos, the Yugoslav - Slovenian reporter appeared on TV Ljubljana, some German Carinthian came out, who in an exciting manner insulted Slovenians. It was, of course, pure manipulation of people’s mind in Slovenia, in order to boost German nationalism, that still menaces Slovenia (which was only save in fraternal Yugoslavia).

The truth is, that the everyday citizen of Carinthia is otherwise very tolerant. But they are in fact the “silent majority” which follows in a passive way these malicious manipulations, because schools and mass media represent a wrong picture of their Slovenian speaking neighbours.

Indeed, the Carinthian people cannot imagine, that they are victims of an ideological plot between Vienna and Belgrade, whose aim it is to destroy the historical tradition of the same Carinthia (Carantania). Until now, such manipulation was successful.

An Example, the University of Klagenfurt – Celovec

It was founded in 1970. Its full name is Alpen Adria University. Surprisingly, the young institution soon gained respect and prestige. It dedicated full attention to the Slovenian cultural and historical tradition, which until then was neglected in Carinthia. In this way, it made a decisive contribution to mutual understanding between people of both languages.

On this occasion we have to point out the work of Detlef Olof, Professor at the University of Carinthia, who originates from Lübeck (Germany). He is a Slovenist and Slavist and he translated several Slovenian and Croatian works into German. For example, the translation of the poem “Baptism at Savica”, (1836) written by France Prešeren, Slovenia's most famous poet, was published in 1999.

The University of Klagenfurt - Celovec, Carinthia (Austria), which provided

a cultural cooperation between Alps and Adria.

Professor Franz Glaser, the leading archaeologist, is another name, that the University of Carinthia can be proud of. In his publications we find the image of Carinthia – Carantania from the Roman times onward. Regretfully, the Carantanian archaeological legacy is still waiting for excavations. There is the question of financing, which the present-day Austrian government still has not granted for the project.

In contrast to this, the ancient University of Graz (Styria), founded in 1585 and officially known as the Karl-Franzens-Universität, was never able to play a meaningful role in the cultural and geographical field, which belongs to it. Moreover, towards the end of the 19th century, its professors like Ludwig Gumpolowicz († 1909), Jan Peisker († 1933), Richard Hildebrand († 1918) and others collaborated with the main producers of the pan-German ideology, which was directed against the neighbouring Slovenians and Slavs.

The University of Graz could never recover from this infamy. After the WW1, when Lower Styria, a Slovenian speaking land, was incorporated into Yugoslavia (Slovenia), the motto “Zerreißung der Steiermark” (Splitting up Styria) dominated the leading circles in Graz and the university. Of course, no one wanted to remember their chauvinism against Slovenians before WW1.

Since we are already dealing with universities, the University of Ljubljana has also to be mentioned. This institution, founded in 1919, was and remained Slovenian in language only. Its humanistic division was completely involved in pan-Slav and Yugo-Slav ideology, as prescribed by Belgrade, which financed it. Even today's Slovenia cannot distance itself from this apparatus which dictated the wrong ideology, that Slovenians, respectively their “predecessors”, should have originated from beyond the Carpathian Mountains .

The situation at the University of Trieste, founded in 1924, is even worse. It presents itself as an accentuated Italian institution without paying attention to the Slovenian hinterland. Being founded in the Fascist period after the WW1, it safeguarded Italianity at the Northern Adriatic. Today, all this has been forgotten and the institution does not have a new purpose. For its team, the most important is financing, and Rome gives generously. In return it expects an Italian and particularly an ideological expansion to the East and into the Slovenian area.

Trieste University built in Fascist style of the Novecento Italiano. Regretfully,

this university never grew into a cultural ambient of Alpe–Adria.

Slovenian literature and language are still considered as inferior.

Study programs at the University of Trieste were projected in sense of the Italian expansion towards East. To this very day it was not able to find its own cultural message based on its geographical position between East and West, in particular between the Slav and Italian world. There, the department of Slavistics does not exist at all. In sense of the traditional chauvinistic mind of the city, the Slav language is inferior to their “bi-millinery Latin culture”.

The University of Graz in particular ignored and even distorted the historical, national and cultural tradition of Slovenians. Why? Because it is an institution which still reflects expansionistic ideological aims. In the last years they stressed their “European” purposes, as to receive some financing from Brussels. But they do not change their ancient expansionistic policy.

The Ignorance

It is very characteristic, that Riccardo Illy, who presented himself as the architect of the “Euroregion” of Northern Adriatic (equal to Alpe – Adria) ignored Slovenian and German, the languages of his neighbours. This is, because he grew up in the chauvinistic Italian ambient of Trieste. He never made an effort to say “Dober dan” (hello) in Slovenian. Still worse, like his apparatus, he wholly ignored the Slovenian culture and history. In spite of this, he worked out a plan to create an “Euroregion”, which should include Slovenia. The centre, of course, was focused on Trieste(!).

Under normal circumstances, one would complete the necessary groundwork first before one starts the project. Only the Illy clique headed by Haider was not aware of this. They simply laboured on an “Euroregion” - as one can image – after masonic directives. Indeed, their plans were ruined.

At this point, we are confronted with the ancient burden of ideologies, which is the legacy of academic institutes in Graz (pan-Germanism), in Ljubljana (pan-Slavism, Yugoslavism) and in Trieste (pan-Latin ideology). It is about paper mountains of “scientific” materials, in which - well, well, well – even the Slovenian history and culture has been distorted and not corrected until this very day.

It is about the history of Carantania, the medieval Slovenian state. It has been ignored in academic studies and school programs. Why? This is not difficult to guess. The history and culture of Slovenians, who occupy the central area of the strategic territory between Alps and Adria, had to be concealed. Thus, in this way the imperialistic circles of Vienna, Belgrade and Rome could have continued under the pretext, that they are expanding imperialism on the territory of a people without history and culture.

Such a point of view was also planted into the mind of German Austrians, Italians, Serbs, Croatians, and they are still convinced that this is the right approach. One has to ask himself, if under such ideological distortions the creation of an Alpe-Adria, or Northern Adriatic “Euroregion” is still possible? (May 21, 2008)

Please read also: EU Slovenia, article: Andemo a la S’ciaveria


	The sack of Trieste - the city is surrounded by Slovenian territory, an area in which it would like to expand its borders under the mask of "collaboration", while moving towards the formation of a common Euroregion.


	In this way, Trieste, with its hysteric Italian nationalism and anti-Slovenian chauvinism, would have the potential to subject nearby Slovenia.

Old Wine in New Bottles

Old Trieste in its New Expansion?

The ancient Chauvinism is obsolete but not yet extinct!

Undoubtedly, the initiator of Trieste's »new age movement« is Riccardo Illy, its former mayor and now governor of the province Friuli-Julian March (Italy). As a matter of fact, since WW2 the territorial position of Trieste is hanging like a sack in the former Yugoslav, now Slovenian territory. Only a narrow strip of land links it with Italy.

With the enlargement of the European Union and the gradual removal of borders, Trieste has won a new chance to expand and it elaborates several tactics referring to nearby Slovenia, which is locking in the narrow area of Trieste.

In order to remain competitive with other ports across Northern Europe, Trieste continues to offer its »collaboration« to the port of Koper (Slovenia). Only 6-km of railway are to be built in order to connect the port of Koper with Trieste, and together they should represent a single enterprise against the competition in Northern Europe. Not only that, the 6-km-railway trail would give Koper a rapid connection with the so-called Corridor 5 (the modern railway from Barcelona to Kiew), instead of building through Slovenian territory the much more expensive separate link to Corridor 5.

Sketch of Corridor 5 (yellow), the connection through which the port of Koper should be tied to Trieste. Slovenia rejected this proposal because of "national interests".

It is clearly evident that the hidden intentions of the Trieste »purpose« was the amalgamation of Koper, as commented by Die Presse (Vienna) some time ago. Nevertheless, Slovenia was fully aware of Trieste's speculative movements. Therefore, in the recent agreement with Italy regarding Corridor 5, it has been officially established that the railway connection to Corridor 5 will be built through Slovenian territory. This connection will be more expensive, but it is of »national interest«.

The Northern Adriatic Euroregion

Moreover, another of Riccardo Illy's ideas is the launch of the Northern Adriatic Euroregion. It should comprise the following provinces: Friuli - Julian March (Italy), Venetia (Italia), Carinthia (Austria), Istria (Croatia), Kvarner (Croatia), and the state of Slovenia. Except the representative of the latter, all other governors of the mentioned provinces signed the agreement of participation on June 21, 2007, in Passariano (Friuli).

Then, they extended the final date for Slovenia to July 31in order to associate with the other partners. But Slovenia did not sign the agreement of Illy's Euroregion. Why not. Slovenia is an independent country and an equal member of the European Union. Riccardo Illy declared forcefully that the Northern Adriatic Euroregion will start without Slovenia, which can join also at a future date.

In fact, Slovenia did not reject its membership in the Euroregion in a direct way. It proposed a different structure based on the integration of further adjacent provinces: Styria (Austria) and Zala and Vas in Hungary. In this way, as is clearly evident, Slovenia would be the centre of the Euroregion. And Lublana, the capital of Slovenia, would also be the capital of the Northern Adriatic Euroregion. Evidently, for this reason Trieste rejected Slovenia's proposal. Why?

As you are well aware, Brussels supports the creation of »Euroregions« through financing. If Lublana would become the capital of the new Northern Adriatic Euroregion, Brussels would not transfer moneys to Trieste (the now foreseen capital), instead, the money would first go through to Slovenia and then be sent to the appurtenant provinces. The deposit of capital, even though for only a short time before distribution to its proper destination, would yield a certain percent of profit. Such type of capital has also its priorities, and Lublana is aware of this.

The Trieste Chauvinism

In Trieste, chauvinism against »Slavs« has its roots still in the period before the WW1, this is, in the last decades of the Austrian Monarchy. At that time, the population of the city was prevailingly Italian, but a third of them were Slovenians. Anyway, Trieste was considered an »Italian« city, also by Vienna, and the Slovenian population there could not exercise their national rights, especially when it came to speak their own language in public.

After the WW1 the city came under Italian sovereignty. Since then the Italian Fascist regime destroyed all Slovenian cultural and business centres in the city and in the adjacent province. The entire Slovenian capital was confiscated, it was forbidden to speak Slovenian in public. Jails were full of Slovenian adversaries to the Fascist regime...

The Slovenian national house of Trieste burnt to the ground in July 1920 by the Fascist mob.

After the WW2, however, Trieste found itself surrounded by a new border with Yugoslavia (Slovenia), a Communist state. Even though Fascism was over, chauvinism continued to expand towards Slovenians. They have been considered an inferior tribe in comparison to Italians, with a »two-millenary« Latin culture. In consequence of this, Italians were never eager to learn Slovenian. And neither did Riccardo Illy ever come forward to say a greeting in Slovenian. Otherwise, the chauvinistic lobby would have attacked him for this, and he would have lost some votes at the elections.

Unfortunately, it has to be said that during his mandate as mayor and governor of the province, he never did anything to change the anti-Slovenian chauvinism in the country. Italians are not chauvinists by chance, but by ignorance. They have no possibility to learn about Slovenian culture and history from the materials published in Italian. The common Italian man considers Slovenians a barbarian people, because he stands under the increasing influence of well-organized chauvinistic circles.

But nothing of that sort has been published or said in public. In this way the anti-Slovenian chauvinism is prolonging beyond the international limits. Riccardo Illy is well aware of this. His continuous invitation to have Slovenia join the proposed project of the Northern Adriatic Euroregion is a tactic on a very low level. He evidently considers the Slovenian part so »barbarian«, that they are unable to recognize his true intentions. Under such conditions, without liberating the country from the chauvinistic atmosphere and without the implementation of appropriate civilian conditions, he would like to catch Slovenia in his »Euroregional« net.

To destroy the State of Slovenia?

Those who can read between lines and underneath the camouflage see the truth of Illy's future plans, can only come to the conclusion that the Republic of Slovenia should disappear or better dissolve for benefit of Trieste in the proposed Euroregion. Finally, Slovenia is an independent country with a population of 2 million and should not be subjected to Trieste for the benefit of Trieste. The Italian speaking oligarchy of Trieste resents and even despises the Slovenian language (equal to Illy) and is not ready to learn. Consequently, if Trieste would gain the status of a future capital, the administration would be in Italian, and Slovenians would be forced to communicate with the »capital« in Italian only?

Furthermore, anti-Slovenian chauvinism exists also inside the Euroregion, in Carinthia (Austria). Its governor Jörg Haider is a fanatic adversary of Slovenians, and he is so obsessed with preventing the installation of German - Slovenian place-name-signs in the southern bilingual part of the province. He is the chief instigator of the anti-Slovenian climate in Carinthia. Besides, Riccardo Illy and the openly chauvinistic Jörg Haider are great friends. Under conditions like these, could Slovenia survive in the above-mentioned Euroregion?


	Riccardo Illy and his good friend Jörg Haider, the governor of Carinthia. The latter is a great enemy of Slovenians and a fanatic adversary of German - Slovenian place-name-signs in the southern bilingual part of Carinthia.


	Can Slovenia collaborate in an "Euroregion" with anti-Slovenian chauvinists like these?

But there is more to come! Among the future members of Illy's Northern Adriatic Euroregion only Slovenia would not be a province, but a State. Once integrated, it will be subordinated in the political system, so that its state status will become a regional one. This cannot be denied. Riccardo Illy, the initiator of the Euroregion, never broached this subject. Why?

It is common knowledge, that he is a member of the Mason circles, to which the existence of Slovenia as a state sets an example for other minor, but not unimportant nations in Europe: Catalonians, Flanders, Scots... After the Slovenian example, they tend towards independence, too. In this was, the concept of a »great nation«, built to the advantage of the Masonry, is in danger. If the Masonry controls important centres like London, Paris, Rome, Moscow... and several others, they control Europe and its financial currents. But this idea does not work, if Europe is composed of many major and minor nations. Then, some political and financial power centres will no longer exist. (August 24, 2007)

Trieste in Search for »Space«

On October 7, 2006, Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, and Riccardo Illy, President of the Region Friuli - Venezia Giulia, signed a protocol. Some of the issues addressed in the protocol include protection of the Slovenian community in Italy, the establishment of an »Adriatic Euroregion«, and the construction of a gas terminal in the Bay of Trieste, floating in the middle of the gulf very close to the Italian-Slovenian border. According to the protocol, Italy should have consulted Slovenia about the proposed construction, since the ecological influence of such terminal will go beyond the Italian border on the sea. The plans, which were developed in consultation with the Italian Government, are now in Koper for the public to review. - What's the matter?

Gas-terminal has been proposed regardless of possible ecological disaster

Riccardo Illy dreams of »Euroregion«
Trieste missed out on its chance to improve business relations with the East


	The proposed gas-terminal in the middle


	of the Gulf of Trieste would be a time


	bomb for the nearby Italian and


	Slovenian coast region.


	Eco del Litorale

Since 2005 the public has been informed about the activities related to the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in the Gulf of Trieste, alongside Slovenia's maritime border. Nevertheless, the gas-terminal could be devastating for the ecosystem. It would have an ecological impact not only on the city of Trieste, but also on the nearby Slovenian and Istrian coast region. The citizens were bitterly disappointed that the local press did not reflect on the overall consequences and risks that such project could have on people's quality of life and on the environment, and they protested in the streets of Trieste. In spite of this, the assembly of the community of Trieste rejected the idea of a ruthless destruction of the gulf, and the project leaders of ENI, the Italian oil and gas concern, persist with their announced plans. »The decision has to be made at a national level by the government in Rome and not locally« said its representative. - Recently, the government in Rome avoids commenting on this issue until after Slovenia has voiced its opinion...

Slovenia feels highly alarmed by the planned gas-terminal in the Bay of Trieste. A successful alternative to the dangerous construction would be a gas line Russia - Slovenia - Italy. The project was already under way, but then it was abandoned in 1994. In the recent May 2006 talks in Moscow between Putin and the Slovenian delegation headed by Janez Janša, the chief argument was the supply of Russian gas and the construction of a previously planned gas pipeline.

	Feature of the planned gas-terminal, which could provoke a tremendous impact on sea life and on the people living in the coast regions.

	The hardest hit would be the city of Trieste.

Illy and his »Euroregion« (rather a collapse)

Surprisingly, Ricccardo Illy, the present-day governor of the region Friuli - Venezia Giulia and former mayor of Trieste, still supports the construction of a gas-terminal on the door-step of Trieste and Slovenia. »We do not want to depend on gas supply from Russia« is his argumentation. - Not very convincing! Because the gas for the proposed terminal would be imported mostly from Algeria at a higher price in comparison to the Russian offer. What's going on here? Who is Riccardo Illy?

Riccardo Illy (* 1955), born in Trieste to a family of Serbian origin (Ilich), made his career in the coffee trade (Illy Caffè). He was mayor of Trieste (1993 - 2001), then deputy in the Italian Parliament in Rome... In December 2004, he was elected President of the Association of European Provinces (ARE), represented by 250 European provinces and 30 states. He advocates the standpoint, that the provinces would be autonomous and that their decisions would not be subordinated to that of national governments. It seems that he supports the standpoint of the European Masonry, which is directed against the existence of small nations, like Slovenia.


	Riccardo Illy, Governor of the region Friuli - Venezia Giulia,


	in 2004 elected President of the Association of European Provinces (ARE).


	He firmly advocates the construction of the perilous gas-terminal.

Indeed, the idea of para-statal provinces in the frame of the EU has significance when it comes to great nations. Some of them, like Germany (with Bavaria, Saxony...) or Spain (with Catalonia, the Basques Provinces...) are already federative states. But others, like France, Poland... are still centralistic. Illy's idea also contains a plan of trans-boundary regions. Brussels is generously financing trans-border associations and structures, and the most skilful circles know how to reap undeserved profits. However, for several states, like Slovenia, Slovakia, Czechia... the eventual realization of such »Euroregions« would equal the dismemberment of their national territory.

After the WW2, Trieste lost its one-time hinterland in the North and East. It is now like a sack, surrounded by Slovenian territory. The political and economic authorities of the city and province, headed by Riccardo Illy, evidently in search for space are trying to expand with the establishment of an »Euroregion«. At the same time, it is about a new Italian expansion towards East, an idea, which was indirectly supported by the ex - Berlusconi - government. For example, it financed several anti-Slovenian movies as to destroy the dignity of Slovenians, by presenting them as Barbarians to the world.

In Carinthia (Austria), a similar plan, under the somewhat romantic name Alpe - Adria region, enjoys great popularity. In this »European« province three nationalities (Germans, Italians and Slovenians) should live side by side »in peace and harmony. The manifold attacks on bilingual signs in Carinthia, carried out by Carinthia's Governor Haider, reveals the very intentions of this »European« project: the extermination of national identity of Slovenians.

A unique »Euroregion«...

Jög Haider's intentions are clearly visible from his actions. His counterpart Riccardo Illy, on the other hand, endeavours to establish an Euroregion«, without first trying to remove the remnants from the past - nationalism, fascism, chauvinism, anti-Slav paranoia - which were, and still are, the very obstacle for his seemingly so progressive projects.

So, in February 2006, a meeting was held in Tröpolach (Dropolje), a locality in the Gail/Zila Valley, in Carinthia. At the meeting participated governors Jörg Haider (Carinthia), Riccardo Illy (Friuli - Julian March) and Gianfranco Galan (Venetia). They discussed the above-mentioned "Euroregion", which should include the provinces they represent. The "protocol of agreement" contains other interesting future proposals, such as the enlargement of the Euroregion with the participation of the border areas of Slovenia and the Croatian counties Istria and "Littoral-Mountain".

In this way, it was said, the territorial borders of the future Euroregion were defined in a precise manner. Its foundation, Illy said, could be achieved by 2010. Galan said: "The way to follow is ineluctable, because it is firmly wanted by people and institutions." While Haider explained: "Because it will bring important advantages to people and territories of the present-day provinces."

The representative of Slovenia was missing at the governors meeting in Tröpolach (Dropolje). It was noted as a formal obstacle: Slovenia is not a province (region) but a State. When the »Adriatic Euroregion« will be formally launched, after regional representatives adopt the Euroregion's statute and the founding, Riccardo Illy also expects to meet Slovenian representatives at the table.

… in order to destroy Slovenia?

The future Euroregion, also called Alpe - Adria, should extend from Carinthia southwards until the Adriatic Sea (but excluding Trieste, to which a different role is designed). This idea has been enthusiastically embraced by the local administrations of the border provinces Gorizia (Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia). To this purpose, the idea "Gorizia and Nova Gorica - a unique city - times ago", has already been picked up by the mass media. The idea should be a preliminary stage in the realization of the trans-border Euroregion called Goriška (Goriziano), and its initiators are already counting on significant financing from Brussels.

Anyway, Slovenia's participation in the project would mean that the scruples are not only of a formal nature. Thus, its realization would result in the alienation of vast amounts of land of Slovenian State territory. Therefore, except for the administrative lobby in Nova Gorica, (under control of the Yugoslav, respectively Serbian lobby), the Goriška (Alpe - Adria) plans are not favourably accepted in Slovenia. Until now, Lublana kept quiet. But the foundation of such an "Euroregion" is the first step to the dismemberment of Slovenia as a state. In fact, it is about new territorial expansionism, which Illy, Haider and their entourage are trying to cover up with Euroregions.

If such "Euroregion" plan would be realized, the following division of Slovenia is in view: Istria and the Littoral region would go to Italy, the Lower Styria region to Austria, the Carniola region would become a march under Belgrade's control. The powers, which tend towards such a political solution, seem to be the Austrian and Italian freemasonry and the Serbian underground lobby in Slovenia. However, their "trans-boundary" projects are abundantly financed by Brussels, but it cannot control where the money is going. It has been rumoured, for example, that Brussel's allocation of 6 million Euro for an "Interreg" (Gorizia) was transferred to Vukovar (Croatia), where it disappeared.

Illy's argumentation is not persuasive

In this connection, the planned gas pipeline from Russia through Slovenia into northern Italy becomes of great importance. It would reinforce the strategic and political position of Slovenia, which the western lobbies are trying to dismember. Illy's intransigent persistence on the realization of a gas-terminal in the Gulf of Trieste has to be seen from this viewpoint. It is about an attempt to make Slovenia unstable.

A possible dismemberment of Slovenia would be a solution for Trieste, which is continuously in crisis, to re-occupy its geo-strategic position and become the open door for Central and Eastern Europe in the Mediterranean. At present, the city borders on Slovenia. The EU, it is true, is an international market with no borders between Member States, but the national administrative borders, and with them those of economic systems, will remain.

If Slovenia would be dismembered, the present-day Trieste sack in the heart of the future Euroregion (!?), could expand on nearby Slovenian and Istrian (Croatian) territory. So, one must suspect, that this is the very aim of expansionistic policy at the expense of »Euroregions«, which Riccardo Illy and his entourage are carrying out. In fact, it is not about a »trans-boundary« collaboration, where nations and languages share an idyllic coexistence on an equal level, etc., but rather the contrary.

An Adriatic Euroregion?

In Trieste, contrary to the Goriška (or Alpe-Adria) region, one is taking a rather warm interest in the creation of an Adriatic Euroregion. Some time ago, the Trieste press, perhaps, launched the sensational idea of a mega-province, which should extend from Trieste eastwards to Istra and Dalmatia and even cover part of Herzegovina. It is about a modern expression, making more or less clear territorial claims, nursed by former revenge circles of Trieste towards ex-Yugoslavia. With its fall, as it seems, these goals could now be realized.

This political aspiration includes the emigration of persons of Italian culture from this territory, which at the end of the WW2 was annexed to Yugoslavia. They are longing to resume their lives under the umbrella of Italy. The additional aiming for part of Herzegovina, apart from Istria and Dalmatia, should only cover the ancient aspect of a mega-region.


	Roberto Menia, deputy in Rome from Trieste, was elected mostly by exiled voters from Istria and Dalmatia.


	He sees the return of the two provinces to Italy in a foreseeable time.

The chief spokesman for these people and their dream is Roberto Menia, the deputy in Rome. Otherwise he is a dogged opponent of the rights of Slovenians living in Trieste and in the pertaining region. It is suggested, that Slovenians (in WW2 on the side of partisans) are to be blamed for the exodus of Italians from one-time Yugoslavia? In particular, the contrariety is directed toward the equality status of the Slovenian language in public life. It is still stigmatized as an "inferior" language. It is possible, that Menia is supported by both, the ex-Yugoslav and the Italian secret service, which are interested in the continuation of the Trieste conflict.

By all means, behind-the-scenes in the administration of Trieste, major players with big interests and expansionistic dreams are causing further confusion, and Riccardo Illy is trying to pave the way for them in an improper way. (think about the Haider example).

A century of squandered chances

Seen from a historical retrospective, it becomes clearly evident that Trieste missed out on its chance to address the issue of its hinterland. One is left with the impression that the city's hysteric anti-Slav attitude has not changed over the years. Let us look at some examples!

Before the WW1, Trieste was the most important harbour in the then Monarchy. The majority spoke Italian, but one third of the population spoke Slovenian. Since the 19th century the Italian community supported more and more the idea of annexation to Italy. In 1918, at the end of the war, their dream was finally realized. Italianity triumphed. Still before Fascism took over Italy, Trieste launched a destructive campaign full of hatred against everything that was Slovenian and Slav.

In 1920, the Slovenian cultural centre in Trieste, the Narodni dom, was set ablaze. In the following years, Slovenian schools, cultural associations, etc. were abolished. Then, it was the turn of the credit institutes. In an oppressive way all Slovenian banks and savings banks were abolished. Among them was the very important Jadranska banka, which operated in the Adriatic area and also maintained connections with Russian banks. The same fate awaited the Živnostenska banka, a Trieste branch of the famous Prague bank. Branches of the Vienna banks, like the Credit-Anstalt or the Union Bank were also not saved... In this way, Trieste finally became an »Italian-only« city...

Share of Jadranska banka in Trieste (1909) with text printed in Slovenian, Italian, Croatian, and German. Its liquidation in the 20s cut off the city from business and financial links with North and East Europe. The economy did not recover until this very day.

It was, of course, a self-destroying policy carried out by the local structures. At the end of the WW2, the Fascist regime collapsed, but the anti-Slav mania survived. In that period Trieste was close to the Iron Curtain, i.e., at the doorstep of the Communist world of Eastern Europe. The idea to stand on guard for Italianity against Slav and Communist invasion continued to be imprinted into people's mind. It is symptomatic to know, how Gianni Bartoli, the mayor of Trieste in the 50s, answered the question, if he knew some Slovenian: For me this language is like that of the Mau-Mau (the then movement for Kenya's independence)! Until this very day, this mania has been carefully nutured by the news media and in this way in the mind of the people of Trieste.

Simulated openness

However, several decades later the Sack of Trieste had become more and more unbearable. The administration of Trieste was forced to make contacts with the Slav world. Indeed, several initiatives of collaboration have taken place in areas of common interest, as for example the promotion of Adriatic ports, in order to compete with competitive ports in Northern Europe. Some years ago the Port of Koper Company was invited to take over 49 % of the Container Port in Trieste. But in 2004, because of continuous intolerance by local Italian circles, Koper withdrew its shares from Trieste.

This occurred in the year when Trieste celebrated its anniversary annexation to Italy (in 1954). To highlight the festivities, the leader of the city's right-wing party publicly declared, that the withdrawal of the Slovenian Port of Koper was the "best anniversary present" for Trieste. Such is the Trieste situation at the beginning of the 3rd millennium!

What did Riccardo Illy, the former city mayor of Trieste, now governor of the Friuli province and president of ARE, do to eliminate the chauvinistic prejudices towards their Slovenian neighbours? Nothing! He never took any corresponding initiatives. For example, his administration never supported the publication of Slovenian materials in Italian language, in order to present Slovenian culture to the Italian public, who does not understand Slovenian. In this way lots of prejudices could be swept away and an approach from both sides would gradually strengthen communication between the two nationalities.

Until this very day, Riccardo Illy never made an effort to greet the public in Slovenian. Why? Is he ashamed of it? Does he disdain this "barbaric" language? Or does he fear to lose prestige in the eyes of his chauvinistic and narrow-minded Trieste bourgeoisie?

After decades of self-isolation a new expansion is on the horizon with the creation of an "Euroregion"

Indeed, until this very day the city oligarchy of Trieste, which still appeals to their "Latin" culture, has preserved a chauvinist attitude toward their Slovenian and Slav neighbours, who they consider of inferior descent. Such a situation, because of intentional lack of information, has been created in the mind of the Trieste citizen. It definitely represents the main obstacle in the collaboration between Trieste and its hinterland.

It is impossible that the bureaucrats of Brussels were not aware of the severity of these problems. First and foremost, it is their duty to support the endeavours of mutual understanding among people of a future Euroregion, especially when they speak different languages. Instead, they squander the funds on speculative projects, like "Interregs" etc., which are outside of the necessary control.

Illy's insistence on building the perilous gas-terminal must be regarded as a provocation against Slovenia. His Euroregion plan (financed by Brussels), can only be an attempt to make Slovenia unstable and to expand into the neighbouring hinterland of Trieste. His endeavours, for Brussels to finance a railway between the ports of Trieste and Koper (and not a railway from Koper to the inland of Slovenia), clearly shows the intentions of Trieste to subject and to annex the competitive port of Koper, etc…

After Illy left behind such a Trieste "legacy", his interceding on behalf of trans-boundary Euroregions does not appear very serious. The suspicion, that it is all about expansionism of Trieste, seems to be justified. Of course, the consequences of such mismanaged policy - unemployment, etc. - will burden the every-day citizen of Trieste and not its oligarchy.

(cf: The aftermath of war in Slovenia - article: Istria, without its people)


	Riccardo Illy


	a "friend" of Slovenians,


	and their relentless adversary


	Jörg Haider

The "Euro-Regions" on a Chauvinist Basis

The allies Illy and Haider, advocates of a "new" Europe

Recently, the Carinthian (Austria) Governor Jörg Haider in a great style removed the bilingual town signs of Schwabegg - Žvabek and replaced them with large monolingual German signs and much smaller Slovenian supplementary letters underneath. Besides, Haider announced that all existing bilingual inscriptions in Carinthia will be replaced after this example. It is of course a renewed humiliation of Slovenians, their language and their identity.

More recently, in the autonomous region of Friuli (Italy), where Riccardo Illy is the Governor, new health cards have been issued. They have been printed only in Italian text. Riccardo Illy did not live up to his promise to issue bilingual cards for the Slovenian inhabitants, which are found in the provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Udine. Morevoer, Slovenian names with characteristic letters like š or ž… have been simply transcribed in s and z…

With these kinds of friends Slovenians do not need enemies.

Solemn Declaration marking the anniversary celebration
of the Day of the Common Homeland

Carinthia, October 10, 2006

Representatives of the Carinthian public after signing the declaration

On October 10, 1920, after a plebiscite, the majority of the inhabitants of southern Carinthia voted for Austria and in this way for the unity of the country. Since then, this date has been regarded as a major event of the country, commemorated with solemn ceremonials. Regretfully, the celebrations emphasized the "German" aspect of the country, stressing "A German and indivisible Carinthia", which was highly praised. The motto was like a triumph confronting the Slovenian population in the country, to who the linguistic and human rights were denied.

In this year's celebration occurred some changes. On the eve of the Homeland Day a great number of important public personalities from Carinthia gathered for a meeting at the Court of the Provincial Government of Carinthia in Klagenfurt - Celovec (Austria). Present were the leaders of German and Slovenian associations, high military officials, representatives of political parties (the Social Democrats, the Populars, the Greens)… Among the guests was Dr. Alois Schwarz, the Bishop of Klagenfurt, … Notably absent were the representatives of Haider's party, as well as the representatives of the National Council of Slovenians in Carinthia. Nevertheless, it was a welcoming surprise that the chairman of the Carinthian Home Union, a long time adversary of bilingual place name signs, participated at the meeting.

It was a breaking point in the Carinthian tradition of the last two centuries, in which Germanic nationalism triumphed above the "inferior" Slavs. Such attitude is not common among the majority of Carinthians, who in fact are a kind and peace loving people. It was about a predominating clique in the country, the ideology of which was introduced as an obligatory public and personal thinking. This type of German Carinthian ideology was maintained with distortions of the historical truth, the usurpation of the media and school education. - Already some time ago we have warned of declarations made by Mme Claudia Fräß-Ehrfeld, the official historian of Carinthia and trusted ally of governor Haider.

With regards to the above-mentioned conditions, which had an impact on Carinthia until this very day, it was greeted with great enthusiasm, that the representatives of the meeting signed a Solemn Declaration of the Common Homeland, this is, a homeland of the German as well as Slovenian speaking Carinthians. The signing ceremony concluded with the melodic song above Rosental - Rož, an idyllic Carinthian valley, sung in German and in Slovenian… Indeed, after so many years of complete domination of an extremist ideology, another face of Carinthia was finally demonstrated.

As expected, Governor Jörg Haider and his party organized a proper celebration on the following day, at which he criticized the meeting. Surprisingly, neither Haider nor the Slovenia media paid the necessary attention to the event. Not a single article was published on their websites. For the post-Yugoslav oligarchy, as it seems, Carinthia, like in the times of former Yugoslavia, should still present the "German threat" to Slovenians. It has been a decades long conspiracy towards Slovenia, carried out by Vienna and Belgrade. We hope that now the conspiracy has finally been stopped. The same Carinthia showed, that the domination of misguided ideology, which for so long oppressed Carinthians, has been overcame.

With regards to bilingual place names in Carinthia

Slovenian Foreign Ministry negotiated with Austria behind the back of the Slovenian Community in Carinthia

Attempt of corruption against a Carinthian-Slovenian community representative on part of Ernest Petric, the Ambassador of Slovenia in Vienna. Will the ex-Yugoslav lobby succeed to ruin the present-day prosperous foreign policy of Slovenia? Very negative consequences for the prestigious Janša government.

Karel Smolle (* 1944), the internationally known representative of Slovenians in Carinthia.

He was an elected deputy on the list of the Green Party in the Vienna Parliament (1986 - 1990)

and of the Liberal Forum (1998 - 1999)

Letter from Slovenia

Saturday, July 29, 2006, Karel Smolle, vice-chairman of the NSKS (National Council of Carinthian Slovenians) in an interview with the daily Dnevnik (Lublana). The primary focus of the discussion was on the need to erect bilingual German-Slovenian signs in southern Carinthia. - The Austrian constitution-court of justice had reduced the population-limit for bilingual place-name signs on approximately 10%. Based on this criterion, the representatives of the Carinthian Slovenians calculated that 394 bilingual signs had to be installed in southern Carinthia. Showing willingness to compromise in the ongoing negotiations led by the historian Stefan Karner from Graz, the number of signs to be installed was reduced to 158 for the time being.

NSKS agreed to the compromise provided that the proposed law (for 158 bilingual sites) let open the possibility to install the missing signs at a later date on the same legal basis. But the final draft of the law was quite different: This law should be a constitutional amendment, which states that the implementation of bilingual place name signs, as required by the Austrian State Treaty, will be reduced to158 sites in southern Carinthia. …

In his interview, Karel Smolle mentioned the Vienna talks from March 2006 between Wolfgang Schüssel, the Austrian Chancellor, Marjan Šturm, chairman of ZSO (League of Slovenian Organizations), the second representative to the Steering Committee of Slovenians in Carinthia, and the above-mentioned historian Stefan Karner from Graz.

What made the headlines in this interview was Smolle's following statement: From the protocol of the talks it is evident, that Ernest Petric, the Slovenian ambassador in Vienna, was a collaborator in this triangle, and that he actively participated in the discussions between Šturm, Schüssel and Karner. Petric suggested to give more financial assistance to those Carinthian - Slovenian organizations, which support the "compromise". Those must receive more money from Slovenia, Petric said.

Of course, Ambassador Petric rejected sharply these statements, as Television Lublana repeated over and over. Petric's boss Dimitrij Rupel, the Foreign Minister of Slovenia, ordered an internal investigation on leaks to the public involving secret information of the Slovenian Embassy in Vienna. This was an indirect recognition of the incident, which made the front pages of the Slovenian press. The scandal was also a discredit for the Janša government in the eyes of the citizens. Anyway, what is the background of Petric?


	The one-time Yugoslav jurist and diplomat, Ernest Petric who continued his carrier in independent Slovenia, is the originator of the recent diplomatic scandal to the detriment of Slovenia.

Who is Ernest Petric (* 1936), the present-day Slovenian ambassador in Vienna? He is a jurist, an expert on international law, and he made his carrier during the Yugoslav period. He was a professor at the University of Lublana etc., a Yugoslav ambassador in India (1989), then Slovenian ambassador in USA... In short, he belonged to the top-level management circle of the one-time and today's Yugoslav - Slovenian elite. It is true, that someone in his position could have been a close confidant of the Belgrade regime, if not a direct confidant of the Yugoslav secret service. Such were the conditions in ex-Yugoslavia!

In this regard, the question arises: did the ex-Yugoslav confidants still act according to Belgrade's directives after Slovenia's declaration of independence? With the recent Petric scandal we come to the conclusion that they did. And yet, what concrete role could Belgrade play in the present-day relations between Slovenia and Austria?

Belgrade (Yugoslavia) was a co-signer of the Austrian State Treaty of 1955, which in its Article 7 guaranteed the national rights for Slovenians in southern Carinthia. Article 7 has not been fulfilled until this very day.

In the sense of the aforesaid Treaty, independent Slovenia took over from ex-Yugoslavia the care of Slovenians in Carinthia as well as the unpleasant legacy of the unfulfilled Article 7.

In the recent negotiations concerning Article 7, Ernest Petric evidently tried to corrupt the representatives of Carinthian Slovenians, in order for them to accept a compromise, which practically would mean a legal annihilation of the Carinthian Slovenian communities. Such treatment certainly does not answer the personality of Ernest Petric, a jurist and expert on international law, as he has been listed in biographical publications. In this case, it had to be done in compliance with the secret directives from Belgrade. Why?

In the decades following the signature of the State Treaty, Austria did not fulfil Article 7 and vehemently declined the installation of bilingual place-name signs. Yugoslavia, as co-signer of the Treaty, never protested and never raised this case on an international level. It was a silent agreement between Vienna and Belgrade, for which Austria evidently offered Yugoslavia several privileges in bilateral relations, in particular on war exchanges, and so on.

Yugoslavia exists no longer. However, its structures are still alive. In Slovenia, as it seems, they are acting to the advantage of Belgrade, which tries to block Slovenia's credit in the world. This is also the case in the Carinthian-Slovenian affair. The fact, that Austria did not fulfil its obligations connected to Article 7 of the Austrian State Treaty, which guarantees the national rights of Slovenians in Carinthia, evidently suited ex-Yugoslavia, too. Thus, Belgrade has continuously obstructed the efforts of Slovenians inside and outside of Yugoslavia. The latest corruption scandal of Petric against a representative of Carinthian-Slovenians seems to confirm this, because the corresponding directives probably came from the ancient Yugoslav lobby.

The question remains, if Dimitrij Rupel, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Petric's boss was aware of the plot. Rupel held this influential position already under the Lds government, a Yugoslav oriented party. Then, he was re-appointed in 2004, when Janez Janša won the elections. The plot with Petric profoundly shook the prestige of the Janša government in public.

Sources (in Slovenian): http://www.volksgruppen.at/ and Narodni Svet Koroških Slovencev (http://www.nsks.at/aktualno.php)

The pastry-men of Klagenfurt - Celovec

present a replica of the Prince's Stone out of pastry

And why not? Carantanian Symbols become trademarks!

The recent entanglements about the origin of the Prince's Stone, caused by the Carinthian Governor Jörg Haider, developed also a commercial idea. A group of pastry-men from Klagenfurt - Celovec presented a new product, a round cake in the form of the Prince's Stone and a chocolate bearing its logo. The presentation found a great echo. This creative idea can be compared with the Mozart Balls in Salzburg, which are sold by the millions. Several years ago, a similar inventiveness started in Slovenia and achieved great success. It is about the wine bottle with the Carantanian panther. These bottles, filled with fine wine, are exported into many countries of Europe and perhaps reach also New York.

Riorganizzazione delle circoscrizioni ecclesiastiche

in Slovenia e relative Provviste

Benedict XVI

Città del Vaticano, 8 aprile 2006

Il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha adottato i seguenti provvedimenti per le circoscrizioni ecclesiastiche in Slovenia:

1) ha creato le nuove Diocesi di Novo Mesto, con territorio dismembrato dall'Arcidiocesi di Ljubljana; di Celje, con territorio dismembrato dalla Diocesi di Maribor; di Murska Sobota, con territorio dismembrato dalla Diocesi di Maribor;

2) ha assegnato la Diocesi di Novo Mesto come suffraganea all'Arcidiocesi metropolitana di Ljubljana;

3) ha elevato la Diocesi di Maribor ad Arcidiocesi metropolitana, assegnandole come suffraganee le Diocesi di Celje e di Murska Sobota;

4) ha nominato Arcivescovo metropolita di Maribor Sua Eccellenza Reverendissima Monsignor Franc Kramberger, finora Vescovo della medesima sede;

5) ha nominato Vescovo residenziale di Novo Mesto, Sua Eccellenza Reverendissima Monsignor Andrej Glavan, finora Vescovo titolare di Musti di Numidia ed Ausiliare di Ljubljana; di Celje, Sua Eccellenza Reverendissima Monsignor Anton Stres, finora Vescovo titolare di Ptuj ed Ausiliare di Maribor; di Murska Sobota, Monsignor Marjan Turnsek, finora Rettore del Seminario Vescovile di Maribor.

(Highlights in colour and pictures done by Carantha editor)

The Prince's Stone

A state symbol between history and ideology

Knežji kamen (Prince's Stone), recently transferred

to the Office of the Provincial Government of Carinthia.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

The dispute concerning the origin of the Prince's Stone - Knežji kamen, which the Carinthian Governor Jörg Haider dismissed, has certainly deeper roots than one could judge from the outside. In Europe we find similar symbolic stones in the historical state tradition of Sweden and Scotland (see illustrations). There, these stones represent a national pride and are considered national monuments. In this regard, the Prince's Stone plays a similar role in the Slovenian historical tradition. To deny its Slovenian origin is not a question of historical science, but a political and an ideological one. It is a matter of the ancient - new anti-Slovenian ideology with clear expansionistic aims. (Author's Note)

Mora Sten was the monument, where the Swedish kings were elected. The beginning of the tradition is lost in the sands of time. The elections occurred in the proximity of Uppsala. The eldest document describing it, is from 1275. The stone was flanked by many stones with inscriptions commemorating the elections of earlier kings. However, the stones were destroyed in 1515 during the civil war against the Danes, and only fragments have been preserved until now.

On December 1, 2005, a solemn ceremony was held in the Office of the Provincial Government of Carinthia in Klagenfurt - Celovec(Austria). It was a celebration of the event, that from the Regional Museum the Prince's Stone has been transferred to the hall of the Provincial Government, where it is currently on display. At this occasion, the Carinthian Governor, Jörg Haider, stated once again in his speech, that the Prince's Stone is of only-Carinthian origin, which is a slightly falsified statement, but it gave the performance the necessary historical-political atmosphere. Among the guest speakers of the more or less noticeable Carinthian crème de la crème was also Mme. Claudia Fräss - Ehrfeld, the chairwoman of the Carinthian Historical Society. On one occasion she intervened with a proper historical explanation concerning the origin of the Prince's Stone, by saying: »Never in history did a Slav-Carantanian prince, installed on the Prince's Stone, reign the territories, which today are part of the Slovenian state...«. The Slovenian historians should have recognized this also. The symbol of the prince's power never extended on the territory south of the Karavanke ridge, this is, in present-day Slovenia... She did not mention by name the aforesaid »Slovenian« historians.

Of course, Claudia Fräss - Ehrfeld's «statement» adapted to the atmosphere, which pulsed under the baton of conductor Haider and his lobby. Actually, in this case it is an easily demonstrable falsification. First, the territory of Lower Styria (now part of modern Slovenia) pertained to Carinthia (Carantania) until 1180 AD. Second, the communities of Dravograd and Ravne, now also part of Slovenia, belonged to Carinthia until the end of the WW1. Third, the province of Carniola was a March of Carinthia until 1364. Until then the Duke of Carinthia also bore the title Lord of Carniola. Fourth, using the appellate »Slav« instead of »Slovenian« means denial of the ethnical identity of Slovenians in the period of Carantania. They should have been an undefined »Slavic« race.

Evidently, such an assertion, inherited from the chauvinist times of the ancient Austrian Monarchy, has never been substantiated in any way. It is only based on academic authority, which in this case has been abused. Unfortunately, until this very day several Austrian historians keep on quoting this theory with the purpose in mind to humiliate Slovenians as a historical modern people and nation. Their assertions have been repeated in papers and in the mass media. In this way, an anti-Slovenian ideology has been diffused in Austria. The Austrian public, of course, is not aware of such instrumentalization. But Claudia Fräß - Ehrfeld, as a trained historian, should not lower herself in he eyes of the public by making ancient chauvinistic stereotype comments of this kind. Evidently, she does not know Slovenia at all.

Since the times of the ancient monarchy, the Austrian historiography has been traditionally oriented toward German nationalism. It operated as an outpost of the great-German ideology, which was especially created for this purpose at the University of Graz (Styria). There, in the second part of the 19th century, several professors like Richard Hildebrand, Ludwig Gumplowicz, Jan Peisker… diffused incredible theories, which were not strictly substantiated by historical evidence. Thus, their very aim was to interpret the records in an anti-Slav and anti-Slovenian sense, and, as to make them credible, they used their academic authority. The "scientific" (ideological) contents of their assertions gradually pervaded the mind of the German speaking population in Austria. The word "Slav" instead of Slovenian originated in this period, which denies premeditatedly the Slovenian ethnical and historical identity.

In Carinthia, scholars took over in good faith the "scientific" anti-Slav explanations of history, which were based on the ideology of Graz. Most influential were the Carinthian authors Primus Lessiak († 1937), a well-known Germanist, the ethnologist Georg Graber († 1957), and the historian Martin Wutte († 1948). Their papers willy-nilly anchor the idea of the cultural superior Germans and the inferior Slavs, which consequently left an imprint on the mind of the German speaking population of Carinthia. This idea acts as a stereotype until this very day, and on several occasions it is also manifested in the public, as it has been displayed once again by Mme. Claudia Fräß - Ehrfeld. It is fair to say, that in other provinces of Austria historians try to abolish the German national ideology, thus, in particular their chauvinistic attitude towards the Slav nations. Anyway, in this connection an additional problem lies in the fact, that they are not sufficiently educated, or don't know anything at all about Slav languages.

Not only Stereotypes

The question of the origin of the Prince's Stone, which at present-day is debated and leads to a political dispute, opens another problem at the same time. It is about the liberal explanations of history of Carantania (Austria, and Slovenia), and about their credibility. This question existed already in the ancient Austrian Monarchy. By proclaiming Slovenians as a »non historical« people, the Austrian academic lobby, in an evident way, tried to destroy the history of Slovenians, in particular the history of early Carantania. This can be clearly seen in the case of Domitian, the saintly Carantanian duke († ca. 802). About his personality, the historian Robert Eisler made an accurate research, which he concluded with the statement, that Domitian »never existed« (Innsbruck 1907).

In Carinthia, Eisler's statement, without verification, was repeated until the 90s. In this connection a more recent declaration by the historian Hans Dietrich Kahl has to be pointed out. He declared the historical documents and tradition of St. Domitian a "falsification complex of the 12th century… without historical basis". He applies the same rule to the St. Modestus tradition, even though this Saint can be individuated as a historical figure (Millstatt 1986). According to Kahl's explanation, the falsifiers in Domitians's case should have been the Benedictines of Millstatt, and in Modestus' case the Canons of Maria Saal - Gospa Sveta. - However, in 1991a fragment of the epitaph of the Domitian grave in Millstatt has been discovered, which confirmed his historical existence.

Such circumstances confirm that we rely on historical statements, which are lacking scientific basis. In the above-mentioned case it is true, that references made to the ancient great-German ideology do not appear anymore. In spite of this, its purpose is clearly evident: to destroy the historical, political, state and religious tradition of Slovenians and of Carantania. Further on, it is said, that this State should only have been a "Bavarian March". I think, still today certain background circles, who are responsible for the explanation of Carantanian history and the anti-Slovenian and anti-Slav propaganda, have to be identified and found.

Stone of Destiny is called the stone under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. One-time it was found in the Abbey of Scone in Scottland and served as coronation stone of the Scottish kings. Its Celtic name is Lia Fail (the speaking stone). It was last used in a coronation of 1292. Four years later, in 1296, the English monarch Edward I had the stone transferred to England.

The Coronation Chair and the Stone of Destiny under it,

found in Westminster Abbey, (picture from 1855)

In Search of Ideological Supremacy

With regards to the interpretation of Slovenian history, the same course as in Austria has been followed in ex-Yugoslavia. There, after the WW1, and especially after the WW2, the centralistic and hegemonistic Belgrade regime evidently maintained control over the history of Slovenians. In this connection, the leading idea was similar to that of the Austrian Monarchy: Slovenians are a »non historic« people, who were saved from the millenary German domination by their Serbian brethren as early as at the end of the WW1. Such explanation was part of the obligatory unitaristic Yugoslav ideology, the control of which was entrusted to the Serbian Academy - SANU.

Nevertheless, in public SANU did not appear as a creator and surveyor of the Yugoslav unitary ideology. Its guidelines were carried out by the Belgrade secret service, which controlled the political structures in the country. Not earlier than at the collapse of Yugoslavia SANU played its role in public, when one of its members, the linguist Pavle Ivic, made the following statement in a prestigious western magazine: Thus, as Serbs have it, Yugoslavia was created by their military prowess, which benefited their Slav brethren in Croatia and other regions by giving them statehood. Many Serbs are convinced that the circumstances of Yugoslavia's birth still rankle in Croatia. Says Pavle Ivic, a linguist and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts: `The Croatians and Slovenes have practically no history, and they never fought for their nation. They have suffered, perhaps quite naturally, from an inferiority complex, first toward Austria and then toward Serbia.' (see Times International, October 14, 1991, p. 15). Of course, Ivic never backed up his assertions with concrete proofs. The academic and the Yugoslav regime authorities were sufficient enough. - I think, Ivic's assertion clearly reflects the SANU guidelines concerning explanations of Slovenian history in ex-Yugoslavia, which was dominated by the totalitarian Communist regime with clearly great-Serbian unitary aims.

The historians, who served in their appointed positions during the Yugoslav period, had to follow the above-mentioned directives. Otherwise, they would have lost their job. Of course, after the declaration of independence of Slovenia, they did not recognize that they were forced to present Slovenian history in the sense of the Yugoslav ideology and not in a neutral scientific way. They would have been seen as unreliable in the eye of the public. In this way, the story of the »non historical« Slovenian people continued. Besides, one has to reckon, that in independent Slovenia the ancient Yugoslav structures have been preserved and that they continue their destructive work against Slovenia. In this case, their accordance with the anti-Slovenian ideology and policy in Carinthia appears to be quite natural.

In this regard, I would like to call attention to one of the »methods« used to present Carantanian Slovenian history. An eloquent example offers the book Karantanien Ostarrichi, 1001 Mythos (Klagenfurt 1997), published by Andreas Moritsch († 2001). The addition »1001 Mythos«, which in its title points out the oriental fairy world, is clearly a derision of Slovenian history. In fact, the book is a miscellany of serious papers, and in several of them the Carantanian Slovenian history is derided as a »myth«. I quote two papers and authors, the above mentioned Hans Dietrich Kahl: Der Mythos vom Zollfeld - Gosposvetsko polje (p. 51), and Igor Grdina: Der karantanische Mythos in der slovenischen Kultur (p. 93). The proclamation of Slovenian history as a myth is one of the well known tactics, which the Yugoslav (Serbian) secret service has used in its anti-Slovenian activity.

The Modern Expansionism

Evidently, such persistent distortions of Slovenian history and ethnical identity, carried out by Hainder's lobby in Carinthia and by the ex-Yugoslav (great-Serbian) lobby in Slovenia, cannot be without an aim. This could mean only the gradual destruction of the Slovenian national consciousness. Slovenia, with an amorphous population, would play the role of a great-Serbian march. Part of it could also be ceded to Austria, where the ancient striving for the Adriatic Sea comes sooner or later to life. Of course, Slovenia would continue to exist, but as a non-state (Unstaat).

To such a modern expansionistic tendency associated also the European project for the creation of »supranational« regions. It was the right moment Austria, and in particular Carinthia, was waiting for. It is true that the idea of creating an Alpe - Adria Region appeared already some decades ago. It has been presented to the public as an institution, in which parts of Carinthia (Austria), Slovenia and Friuli (Italy) should collaborate. This idea, in a determined way, influenced the thinking of the Carinthian leading political parties and the public. They saw it from the perspective of the Carinthian geo-political isolation, trying to find their proper place in Central Europe and Europe.

Anyway, the Carinthian pathos for the Alpe - Adria idea did not pass its basic examination. Already before Haider's time, the leading political structures in the country were not able to recognize the equal rights of Slovenian speaking fellow-countrymen. It is certainly an anachronism, when until this very day these structures have proclaimed their enthusiasm for Alpe - Adria and their will for co-existence and collaboration in such a region, when at the same time discrimination of the Slovenian people and language continues in Carinthia. Eloquent proof is the enthusiastic hysterical opposition towards the installation of bilingual place-name signs and perhaps the demolition of some existing posts. It is the sign of intolerance, which must be considered as a step towards the destruction of the Slovenian ethnical identity. A step further in this direction is the destruction of Slovenian history, which is reflected in the recent attacks on the Prince's Stone, the symbol of Slovenian state tradition, carried out by certain academic circles.

In this way, the performance of ancient anti-Slovenian ideology continues. Once again, Slovenians should feel the humiliation of a "non-historical" society, always under "German" masters, and so on. The aim is clear, the mind of Slovenians should be stuffed with an inferiority complex. They would consequently become a willing instrument in the hands of foreign regimes and their secret services. Slovenians experienced a treatment like this already in Yugoslavia. Thus, it cannot be only by chance, that ex-Yugoslav circles are supporting anti-Slovenian outbursts in Lublana, which are carried out by the official policy and historiography in Carinthia.

In this regard, the idea of the Alpe - Adria region, which the Carinthian leading class is so much striving for, appears rather as a political bluff. In fact, it is about the ancient Austrian expansionism, which at present-day is giving itself a European masque. Evidently, the bearers of this idea speculate, that the bureaucracy in Brussels will not notice the very expansionistic contents of the Alpe - Adria "project" and will finance it abundantly. Perhaps, this is possible. Moreover, the advocates of the "project" also speculate on the fact, that Slovenians were humiliated as "historical servants", during the long Yugoslav period. Consequently, the Slovenian leading political classes lost already their Slovenian national consciousness, and would be willing to sell off parts of Slovenian territory to the highest bidder. Indeed, this process is already underway.

Under such circumstances the dispute over the origin of the Prince's Stone is not only a question of history and ideology. It is an outside mark of anti-Slovenian conspiracy. In Austria it has an ancient tradition, which is presenting itself now under the cover of "co-existence", "collaboration", and other phrases.

Map of the Great Duchy of Carantania and its Marches (952 - 1180 AD)

The map shows the Great Duchy of Carantania and its Marches (952 - 1180 AD). The map was published in the Austrian Lexicon (Österreich Lexicon). The numbers under the names of the marches indicate the year in which a march, because it advanced to a duchy, ceased to be a direct part of Carantania. The March of Carniola, as we see, should have been separated in 1040 AD, in fact, this occurred as late as 1364 AD. In spite of this irregularity, we clearly see that Carniola was a part of Carantania. But as we have already reported in our article The Prince's Stone - A state symbol between history and ideology, Mme. Claudia Fräss - Ehrfeld, the historian of the Carinthian Historical Society, publicly declared, that never in history has a Carantanian - "Slav" duke reigned the territory south of the Karavanke mountain ridge" (this is, in Carniola). We are asking ourselves: Who is lying, the Austrian Lexicon or the Carinthian lady historian?

The question of Carinthian names (Austria) and what they reveal

Old wine in new bottles?

The ancient-new stereotypes

Universities are not always a reliable source

A parody of the meaning of explanations of place names on an ideological basis: Železna Kapla (Eisenkappel), a lovely Slovenian borough situated in a Karavanke valley, Carinthia (Austria). In the sense of Nazi ideology it had to be called "Stahlhelm"(steel helmet).

Anyway, its very meaning is as follows: the ancient word "kapla" means a place of passage in a transitive (mountain) valley, which in Slovenian often is called vrata (door), or a similar name. The root v'r - ver in this name was often pronounced as fer and understood as deriving from the Latin fer(um),meaning iron (železo, in Slovenian, or Eisen, in German). In this way, without Celtic or Roman predecessors, the name Železna Kapla - Eisenkappel arose.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

In the 19th century AD, a true anti-Slovenian ideology prevailed in Austria. Slovenians should be Germanized and assimilated, because in this way a »German bridge could be created« from the North Sea to the Adriatic. The reason for this was, that at the end of the WW1, Slovenians abandoned Austria and entered the newly constituted Yugoslavia. Anyway, one part of the Slovenian population, those from Carinthia, would have preferred to belong to Austria.

One would expect that after the events of the First and the Second World War, the Austrian academic circles, which had created and spread the anti-Slovenian (anti-Slav) ideology, would have changed. Not at all! As far as I can ascertain, in Austria, particularly in Carinthia, the ancient ideological policies remained in place and have been preserved until this very day.

Notwithstanding this, I was somewhat surprised, when I discovered on the website

www.uni-klu.ac.at/groups/spw/oenf/Sprachinseln.htm (University of Klagenfurt - Celovec) a paper called Sprachen als kulturelles Erbe der Region: Sprachen und Sprachinseln im südalpinen Raum - Ein Überblick (in English: Languages, a cultural legacy of a country: Languages and linguistic islands in the southern Alpine territory - a survey) written by Maria Hornung.

The authoress is trying to explain the meaning of several place names in Carinthia. But, how does she go about it? Watch out! She simply copies materials, which contain many stereotypes of obsolete anti-Slovenian ideology, and which, since the 19th century AD, were repeatedly published in the Austrian academic world. In this regard, I would like to point out some examples in her paper, the meaning of which Maria Hornung explains in a non-correct way.

Moreover, on one occasion she quotes, without taking a critical approach, several inventions and distortions of the history of Carantania. They were written, without being backed up by some sources, for the sole purpose to present the Slovenian people in a "scientific" way as an inferior nation. Have a look!

The "Celts"?

The name Carinthia, Kärnten in German, Koroška in Slovenian, and similar names, should have derived from the Indo-European *karant, "stones, stone region" (Gestein, steinige Gegend). In the later era, the name should have been mediated through the Celtic language, and preserved in this form until today. Another explanation of the presumably Celtic root karant is the meaning "friend, ally". If I remember correctly, E. Kranzmayer gave this meaning to the word. But the authoress, because she is not taking it seriously, simply omits it. The asterisk saves the problem: a false Celtic change in "reliable" Indo-European.

The presumption of such an intent is clear: This is, that the Celts should have been the ancient inhabitants of Carinthia and Austria, called Noricum in the Roman and pre-Roman period. And the proofs? In the territory of ancient Noricum, it is true, some archaeological traces of Celtic presence have been found. Anyway, this does not mean, that the Norican people as such were Celts. In fact, they were Vends (Veneti) and their language was similar to modern Slovenian. Indeed, the Celtic migrations began after 400 BC and they have not settled the Alps, where the elder Venetic inhabitants and their language remained preserved until the Roman era and beyond. This is also confirmed by a multitude of non-Celtic names all over the Alps. Carinthia is not an exception.

Names of presumably Celtic origin, it is true, met their parallels in name forms of modern Slovenian. In this way, their true meaning can be individuated. So, in Slovenian, the root *kar, "hard"(?), is found in the form ker, meaning concretely "a rocky mass with abrupt walls" (Badjura 1953, 143). In Carinthia, a typical ker is found above the street of Železna Kapla (Eisenkappel) - Bela. As a derivation if this name must be considered the palatalized cer (pron. tcher) meaning a cliff and similar. It seems, that the older form was still *karv, from which kerv > cerv derived. Like in the name of castle Cerveny Kamen (near Bratislava, Slovakia).

The adjective cerven (pron. tcherven) often appeared in the abbreviated form cern and was pronounced with a semivowel as c'rn, crn (pron. tch'rn). But crn also means »black« in Slovenian. So, after the diffusion of the German and the Romanic (Italian) languages, this name was wrongly translated as »schwarz« and »nero« (in both cases: black). In this way, »black summits and mountains« appeared all over the Alps.

Košuta (Koschuta), the picturesque ridge of the Karavanke mountains. This name supposedly means a "hind", and should be proof, that the name Karavanke derives from the root karv > kerv > cerv (in Latin: cervus - deer). Thus, "deer mountains", because in the fantasy of the linguists, a hind pertains to a deer.

Likewise, several cerv-names were wrongly translated as "Hirsch-" (deer), because they were considered to derive from the Latin cervus (a deer). Anyway, this was not the case of the mountain chain called Karawanken - Karavanke (between Carinthia and Carniola), as Maria Hornung is suggesting to us. She arbitrarily presents this mountain chain as "deer mountains" (Hirschberge). As "proof "she adduces, that their main ridge is called Košuta - Koschuta, i.e., a hind (Hirschkuh). Evidently, the "deer" and the "hind" represent a logical and therefore reliable explanation of both names.

Anyway, this explanation is not Maria Hornung's invention. We find it already in the etymological vocabulary of the Slav languages (O. N. Trubacev 1984, 110), where it had been taken over from other papers. I suppose, names like Košuta (firstly Kosuta, the ending -uta), or Kozjak, Kozje and similar derive from the root *kos meaning in origin a morphological form, like the skinny back of a goat. I suppose, because of its skinny back, the goat is called koza in Slovenian. In German, such a name was registered in the form Göß. In the Karavanke case, by all means, the invented couple of deer and hind, although it sounds very romantic, cannot be explained whatsoever.

In this regard the explanation of the well-known name Kuk, which is widely spread in Slovenia and also in Italy, has to be mentioned here, too. The authoress connects it once again with the supposedly Celtic kukka (Gipfel, "summit"). On base of which dictionary? - In fact, this name refers to the summits, which are found at the end of a mountain chain (Tuma 1923, 149). The name is an abbreviation of kolk or kovk, "hip", and in this full form it still appears in the Slovenian nomenclature.

In another case, the authoress derives the name Tirol from the "Celtic" tegia (supposedly Taie - Almhütte, Hütte - „Alpine hut, hut"). On base of which dictionary? - In fact, this name derives from the castle Tirol above Meran. Its base can only be *tur, "a steep hill", like in so many name forms: Ture - Tauern, Turje, as well as Turn and torre (tower) etc.

There are still many other "Celtic" names in Carinthia treated by the authoress. Evidently, she was not able to explain them in an interdisciplinary method, i.e., by consideration of morphologic, topographic and other facts. Indeed, in order to substantiate their (supposedly) Celtic origin, the corresponding terms in the Celtic (Irish) vocabularies should have been quoted. But this was not done.

The "Slavs"

As it is customary in Austria, the authoress is also Romanizing the Celtic people, which in pre-Roman times should have settled in Carinthia (Austria). Thus, at the end of the Roman period they should have already spoken the Alpine Romanic (Alpenromanische) language. The nomenclature, once again, does not provide corresponding proofs. Anyway, the authoress succeeded to find an example of a presumably Roman name. As it appears, she affirms that the Roman version Ranggetín equals the German version Rantscher and the "Slav" (Slovenian) version Rantschnigg (written the German way). Its base should be *runca, "cleared land" (Rodung).

I made a search in the Italian etymological vocabulary (Pianigiani 1988, 1167) and I found the quotation of the Latin runca, close to the Greek rýghos (rostrum - beak, snout) and to the Sanskrit luk- (luncati - to tear up). Anyway, an etymon of the same base is also found in Slovenian, in the form of ronek; its morphological meaning is the "foot of a hill" (Tuma 1923, 141). In Slovenian, this etymon is rather an original one and not a borrowed word.

Another Slovenian name shows a linguistic connection probably with a name of Roman origin. This is Ribnica (Reifnitz, in German). The authoress explaines it as a "stream of fish" (Fischbach), because the Slovenian word "riba" means fish. Anyway, the topographic position of a lake clearly indicates the connection with the Latin ripa and Italian riva, meaning the bank of a river or lake - like the site Ribno in Bled. The name could be a loanword, or also an ancient toponym, of which the corresponding etymon in the living Slovenian language has already been lost.

After the presumable Romanization of the Celts, the authoress talks about the settlement of the Slavs in Carinthia (6th century AD). She calls them "Alpine Slavs" (Alpenslawen) and denotes them as "forerunners of the Slovenians". Once more, it reflects the common standpoint of Austrian historians, who until today continuously repeat themselves, without ever providing proof of such a link. Moreover, they adduce, that the "Alpenslawen" settled the country under the dominion of the Avars, a Turkish speaking race. This quotation was invented in the 19th century AD. Its purpose was to humiliate the Slovenian inhabitants, because they were thought to be a people "without history", always subjected to a master: first to the Avars, then to the Germans.

Such ideological purpose of the supposedly Avarian domination over the "Alpine Slavs" (Slovenians) is clearly evident. In spite of this, the authoress, without any hesitation, is providing proof, which has been created in an artificial way. So, the name Kazaze (Edling, in German) should point to the Avarian dominant class. In fact, it is about a social class called "kosezi". They, in contrast to the bondmen, were free tenants, although they had to fulfil required duties (Mal 1963, 139). Names like Banice, Banja vas (Faning and Pfannsdorf, in German) and Fohnsdorf should indicate perhaps an "Avarian" prince title called ban. In fact, the etymon ban has to be considered as an abbreviation of župan (village major). But this has never been registered in the Slovenian language. In Croatian, the etymon ban means the head of a province.

Klagenfurt - Celovec

Idyllic landscape in the surrounding of Klagenfurt -

Celovec with a typical wayside shrine (znamenje, Bildstock)

Concerning the name Klagenfurt - Celovec, the chief-town of Carinthia, there is evidence that once again Maria Hornung copied from other authors the explanation of its meaning. It is true, the Slovenian origin of this name (in the records of 1615: »v Zelovzi«), cannot be denied. So, the German form Klagenfurt, which is composed of klagen (to lament) and furt (ford, ferry), is connected in its first part with the original Slovenian name Celovec, which in the dialectal ascent has also been pronounced as Cvilovec. To German ears, this dialectal form was understood as a derivation of the Slovenian verb »cviliti« (to whimper in pain). Therefore, it was approximately translated as klagen (to lament) and together with the ford, found on the nearby river Glina (Glan), it was combined into Klagenfurt. There is no other possible explanation of the name Klagenfurt (very uncommon in German).

Anyway, the Slovenian origin disturbed the national »pride« of the German circles in the country. Therefore, they once again »found a way out« to a Romanic origin of the name. The authoress, in an uncritical and ingenuous way, copied it mechanically. So, she, too, adduces: »Cviljovec« is referring to the Romanic *l'aquliu, »site at the water« (Ort, Platz am Wasser), which in the form *kvil passed into the Slav language, where it was palatalized in *cvil. Consequently, this form sounded to German ears like »Klage, Gejammer« (lamentation) and subsequently the name Klagenfurt arose. Evidently, such acrobatic explanations reveal a rather chauvinistic connotation. The Carinthian German »honour«, it is true, did not permit any »Slav« origin of their beautiful Landeshauptstadt (chief town). As a consequence, in this case, too, a reconstruction with asterisk saved the national problem.

In contrast to the aforesaid explanations, the same history shows another image of the question. The ancient chief-town of Carinthia was St. Veit - Št. Vid. On the place of the present-day chief-town of Klagenfurt - Celovec, there stood only the hunting manor of the Carinthian duke. The ground was completely uncultivated, meaning, it was cel (pron. tsel, entirely, whole) in Slovenian. Consequently, the site was called by a name composed of cel and of the formative ending -ovec, which is very common in Slovenian. At the beginning of the 16th century, Celovec (Klagenfurt) became the chief-town of the country.

It is evident, that Maria Hornung and the Austrian linguistics are not knowledgeable about Slovenian topography and its vocabulary. Therefore, they prefer to explain the question of names only from a linguistic point of view. Besides, Maria Hornung is copying her quotations from obsolete ancient papers together with easy demonstrable errors and ideological statements. In Carinthia, where the anxiety for a »German« character of the country is constantly present, such a standpoint is welcome, even though it is not scientific. (Evidently, everybody tries to make it to the top!)

Anyway, when it comes to the denomination of language used in Carantania in the Early Middle Ages, Maria Hornung does not agree with the artificial denotations like »Alpenslawisch« (Alpine Slav) or »Alt-Slowenisch« (Ancient Slovenian). Thus, in spite of the fact, that such denomination was used already by Fran Ramovš, a well-known Slovenian linguist. In the sense of her meaning, this language could only be called »Carantanian«. Wrong! Carantania was the name of the State, the language was Slovenian!

It is true, that Fran Ramovš worked in the period between the WW1 and WW2. Anyway, he leant his explanations on the theory, that »Slavs« (Slovenians) arrived from Russia and settled the Eastern Alps (later Carantania, Carinthia) as early as after 568 AD. A theory without the necessary proofs, only substantiated on ideological basis. Nevertheless, already in that period the well-known Alpinist, Dr. Henrik Tuma, discovered a multitude of Slovenian (Slav) names in a territory, which extends beyond Tyrol, Switzerland and the Western Alps.

This discovery contradicted all theories, in the sense of which the »Slavs« settled the Eastern Alps not earlier as after 568 AD. Thus, the names are witnesses that the Slav (Slovenian) speaking people also lived in the Western Alps. But since when? The scholars could not answer this question, therefore they simply ignored Tuma's discoveries. Today, as we learned, these names are the legacy of the ancient Vends or Veneti (Sloveneti). Nevertheless, the academic world, together with Maria Hornung, continues to quote the ancient unproven version of the »Slav« settlement. Evidently, it is about a directive of masters, who are financing the academic institutions.

Bibliography:

	•	Rudolf Badjura: Ljudska geografija /Popular Geography/, Lublana 1953

	•	Henrik Tuma: Krajevno imenoslovje /Local nomenclature/, in: Jadranski almanah, Trst 1923

	•	Josip Mal: Ist das Edligerproblem wirklich unlösbar? /Is the question of the Kosezi really insolvable?/, in: Südostforschungen, München 1963

	•	Ottorino Pianigiani: Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana, Genova 1988

•

Oleg N. Trubacev: Etimologiceskij Slovar' Slavjanskih Jazykov, Akademija Nauk SSR, Institut russkogo jazyka (device: korva), Moskva 1984

Bilingual place-name signs

Not only a Carinthian question,

but a question of co-existence in Middle Europe

	In St. Kanzian - Škocijan, a site in Carinthia, the opposition is extremely vehement on the issue of bilingual place-name signs, because of the nationalistic drill, that Slovenian is considered an inferior language.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

In spite of so many slogans about a »common« Europe, we still come across a problem, which arose in the time of the »spring of nations«, in the 19th century. It is the idea of a great nation, of superior and inferior peoples, nations »without history« and, as a consequence, of great-national and economical expansionism. After the WW2, on the political level this problem gradually surmounted. The corresponding ideology has been kept alive through school programs and public education. So, in modern Austria the persistent opposition to bilingual German - Slovenian place-name signs, which is still an ongoing debate in the province of Carinthia, is a superficial appearance of the aforesaid ideology.

Thus, not the signs of place-names, but rather the multilingual coexistence, that these signs express in a visible way, is the very problem. Will this problem, which has been acute for many years in this particular Austrian province, destroy the idea of a united Europe precisely in the centre of the continent, in Middle Europe? What's the matter?

A historical view

The province of Carinthia (Kärnten in German, Koroška in Slovenian) was the core centre of the one-time Carantania, the present-day Austria. It was a Slovenian Medieval State mentioned in the records for the first time in 595 AD (Paulus Diaconus) as »provincia Sclaborum«. In 745 AD, Carantania opened its doors to Christianity and, like so many other European nations, it associated with the Frankish Empire. The Pope, as protector of Christianity in Europe, acknowledged its King.

In the following centuries several migrants from nearby Bavaria settled in Carantania. In this way, the German language began to be diffused in the territory of Carantania and its northern part until it completely prevailed. In the 13th - 14th century AD, the Habsburg family, which first ruled only the part of Austria along the Danube, came into possession of the Carantanian provinces. From then on, the name Austria extended over all provinces. Nevertheless, the State remained the same, and so did the people, regardless if they spoke German or Slovenian.

In the 19th century AD, a nation was identified by the language its inhabitants spoke. In this way, in ancient Carantania - Austria two nations came into existence: German Austrians and Slovenians. As a consequence, today we have two States, Austria and Slovenia. The province of Carinthia, which continued to be part of Austria, has been bilingual for a very long time. Anyway, since the 19th century, the Slovenian speaking people were put under pressure of Germanization.

In modern Austria

During the WW2 Austria was part of Germany, consequently, at the end of the WW2, the country was occupied by the main Allied powers: USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union (Russia). Carinthia belonged to the English occupied sector. The schools of southern Carinthia introduced lessons in bilingual classes. Anyway, the attitude of mind towards the Slovenian ethnical group, as it was diffused by the Austrian academic world already in the period of the Monarchy, did not change. Slovenian history and culture continued to be explained as that of an »inferior« nation.

In 1955, the so-called State Treaty was signed, in the sense of which Austria became a free State and the occupying forces left the country. Article 7 of the State Treaty provided protection for the Slovenian community in Carinthia and the erection of bilingual place-name signs (German - Slovenian). Anyway, only a few of them were installed. Moreover, in 1957, bilingual schools were abolished. If a child was to learn Slovenian, the parents had to fill out a separate registration form.

This in a country, where the declaration to be a member of the Slovenian linguistic group was considered treachery of the »German« Carinthia, was not a simple thing. Living under such pressure, parents preferred not to register their children for Slovenian classes. They were educated in German only. In this way the Germanization among the Slovenian inhabitants advanced.

The co-signer of the Austrian State Treaty was Yugoslavia. Since the WW1, Slovenia was a part of this State, which on the international level also represented the Slovenian interests. But Yugoslavia, evidently in a secret conformity with Vienna, tolerated the breaking of Article 7 of the above-mentioned Treaty. In this way, Belgrade tamed also a probable reviving of »nationalism« in its province of Slovenia.

An unusual meeting (1998): Jörg Haider, governor or Carinthia (on the right) is shaking hands with

Jacques Chirac, President of France.

So, in Carinthia the ancient pan-German nationalism and hatred against the Slovenian language and culture, even though no one has expressed it openly, has been preserved until today. In public, the political parties stress the »German« character of the land. By continuously warning the people of a possible »Slav« invasion, they try to catch votes. Expressed in a more or less evident way, such is also the standpoint of Jörg Haider, the present-day governor of Carinthia. His political triumph is a strictly anti-Slovenian policy, in particular the denial of bilingual place-name signs. In spite of this, Haider's political relations with nearby Slovenia have been going well until now. This was not a difficult task, because the ruling parties in Lublana still continue to bear the ancient Yugoslav ideology, as they did for many years.

Nevertheless, Jörg Haider's aspirations are greater. In conformity with Riccardo Illy in Trieste, the governor of the province of Littoral - Friuli, (Italy), is also interested in the founding of a Europe Region on the southern side of the Alps. It should extend from Carinthia to Trieste, including Littoral (on both sides, the Slovenian and the Italian part) and should be called Alpe - Adria. Under the pretext, that in this way the ancient national engagements in the border zones should be done away with, Brussels should abundantly finance its foundation.

Evidently, as long as the ancient anti-Slovenian nationalism is alive in political circles in Carinthia and in Austria, the Alpe - Adria project cannot mature to be realized. The hysteric rejection of bilingual place-name signs is only the external expression of a problem, which firstly must be resolved in its roots. Otherwise, Brussels' financing will miss its very purpose.

cf: Homepages concerning Slovenian minority in Austria

The Fight for an authentic Austria

Homepages concerning Slovenian minority in Austria

I have visited your homepage and I send you now my homepages concerning Slovenian minority in Austria:

http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/groups/spw/oenf/Kaernten_Namen_als_Kulturgut.htm

http://members.chello.at/heinz.pohl/Namen.htm

http://members.chello.at/heinz.pohl/Namen-Konflikt.htm

http://members.chello.at/heinz.pohl/Volksabstimmung.htm

With my best regards

Z lepimi pozdravi

Dr. H.D. Pohl

Limburggasse 21

9073 Klagenfurt / Celovec (Avstrija)

0664 433 54 36

heinz.pohl@chello.at

http://members.chello.at/heinz.pohl/Startseite.htm

An interesting study by Prof. Kronsteiner (University of Salzburg)

The Fight for an Authentic Austria

It is also the fight for co-existence and peace in Europe

Prof. Dr. Otto Kronsteiner, University of Salzburg

Some well-intentioned observations

Dr. Jožko Šavli

Not long ago, I received an interesting booklet called Nichts als Namen (Nothing more then Names, Lublana 2003) written by Prof. Dr. Otto Kronsteiner, University of Salzburg. In his booklet the author laid out a very critical view regarding stereotypes of wrong interpretation, in which numerous place-names of Slovenian origin, found all over the Austrian territory, continue to be repeated in the Austrian academic world and public arena.

Title page of the booklet Nichts als Namen (2003), written by Prof. Dr. Kronsteiner

Indeed, it has been necessary for a long time, that one among the Austrian academicians, in this case Prof. Kronsteiner, mentions the opinion monopoly, which, as he states, is carried out by the Vienna Germanistics (p. 34). This society quasi identifies with the Austrian Academy of Sciences and works very close with the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting and Television). It seems very uncommon, but in this connection I came to the conclusion that it is rather about ideological conspiracy directed against the very historical tradition of Austria. Beneath today's German speaking surface of Austria, this tradition also contains a Slovenian component, which even nowadays is still ignored by the Austrian oligarchy, in order to present this State as a pure »German« creation.

In this way, Prof. Kronsteiner willy-nilly hit the core of the well-known Austrian Ideology, which is based on the academic Germanizing of the history of Austria. In the early Middle Ages, it is true, the state known as Carantania was located on Austrian territory, the people of which spoke Slovenian. Throughout the centuries, the German language gradually spread over the territory, but the state and the people remained the same. Since the 19th century, the bearers of the Austrian ideology are trying to conceal all traces of the one-time Slovenian language and cultur, which spread over this territory. These traces reflect particularly names of places.

Academic distortions to this purpose are still being carried out today, which has been testified among other things by the following fact. Several decades ago, Prof. Kronstainer published a study called Alpenslawische Personennamen (Alpine Slav Personal Names, 1975). In this work the author presented many Carantanian Slovenian names, which were in use until the 15th century. Anyway, soon after, a counter-study called »Alpengermanische Personennamen« was published, in which the same Carantanian Slovenian names revealed (academically falsified) German roots. Thus, a very conspiracy! This has been proven also in Prof. Katicic' case, a Croatian, who at the Vienna Institute for Slavistics blocked the systematisation of the Slovenistics for nearly 20 years (cf. Delo of October 11, Lublana 2004). He probably acted on directives from certain backgrounds.

Another factor that makes me think of conspiracy, is the question of German - Slovenian place names in the bilingual area of southern Carinthia. Since the 70s, the local political structures there, under the silent patronage of Vienna and support of the Austrian mass media, vehemently oppose the installation of bilingual place name signs. This problem has been inherited into modern Austria from the nationalistic and chauvinistic times of the Monarchy. It was the cause of its decay. - In 1973, Prof. Kronsteiner was appointed member of the commission for bilingual place names in Carinthia. Therefore, he is aware of this ancient ideological burden.

It is true, many falsifications were made on purpose, so that Austria, for the »pride« of its inhabitants, appears as a »German« founding. This was the basis used in the development of the Austrian national consciousness until today. Anyway, in his research Prof. Kronsteiner does not consider intangible such kind of Austrian consciousness. For him is Österreich (Austria) neither a German name (p. 45). Indeed, its first mentioning as Ostarichi (996 AD) cannot be explained as the Eastern Reich (Österreich), which did not exist. It is true, at that time Ostarrichi was only a March. Says Prof. Kronsteiner: »Not in the Austrian or in any other close dialect and neither in High German is the word East called Oster or Öster. In my observation the answer to this question is closely related to the Slav (Slovenian) name like Ostrik (a steep mountain)...« - In my opinion, the corresponding name form must be searched among the present-day mountain names like Ojstrnik, Ojstrica, or Ostrica, Ojstrovica...

Those, who sincerely are searching for the historical truth, will discover another face of Austria in Prof. Kronsteiner's booklet. It is found under the ideological image referred to as its »German« founding. This face is much more authentic in comparison to the one, which is presented to the Austrian public. However, as I was reading the booklet I also noticed some errors. So, I would like to adduce some corrections, which are the fruitful results of my proper studies.

Under the Avar dominion?

The question of the Avar domination over early Carantania, which also Prof. Kronsteiner considers an important fact (p. 88, 90), is certainly a hypothesis, which he spontaneously assumed without being aware of its ideological connotation. Indeed, early Carantania, the independent Slovenian state on modern Austrian territory, remained a disturbing factor until today in the pan-German survey of early Austrian history. The independent State of Carantania, mentioned already in 595 AD (Paulus Diaconus), does not correspond to the ideological model, in sense of which Slovenians throughout their history, are still presented as "serfs" and the Germans as "masters". Since the 19th century, such an ideological model has been also used by the pan-Slav and Southern Slav (Yugoslav) historiography. In sense of this, Slovenians should have been saved from the "millenary" yoke by their Southern Slav "brethren".

Evidently, Prof. Kronsteiner could not verify such an ideological background of the question. Regretfully, the supposedly "Avar domination" too, represents to him a basis, on which he accumulates his lexical proofs, like the following "Avarish" etymons in Slovenian: župan, ban, kagan, tudun, harvat should have been. - Let us examine these etymons in a critical way. The Slovenian word župan (the village mayor) derives from župa (a district community), like the Gau in German. The Croatian word ban (the head of a province) is very probably a derivation from župan.

In ancient Carantania, the harvat or better hrvat sing., hrvati pl. (pron. h'rvati) very probably formed a class of armed farmers, which were in constant state of preparation, in case the enemy would invade the country. The characteristic villages bearing hrvat-names are still found today on strategic positions and they also encircled the Klagenfurt basin, where the centre of Carantania was found. In Croatian, the word "hrvati" (pron h'rvati), more an abbrev. from "rvati" (to fight), is still in use today. It is less probable, that harvat or better hrvat derives from hervard. - The Avarish words kagan and tudun do not appear anywhere in Slovenian vocabulary. Furthermore, in this connection Prof. Kronsteiner also speaks about the typical Avarish graves with horse skeletons and harnesses (Pferdebestattung, Pferdegeschirr), but he forgets to adduce the suitable finding places in Carantania. Why?

In addition, we have no historical records to prove the aforesaid Avar domination over Carantania. Anyway, we have to admit, that even several Slovenian historians, like the well-known France Kos, was of the same opinion (cf. Gradivo I, p. 116/2, 1902). But at the same time, the historian is contradicting himself by saying, that the Carantanians acted as if they "were a completely independent people "… (Gradivo I, 112, 146). The comment is superfluous.

The Meaning of Names

In Prof. Kronsteiner's booklet I find several names, which, in my opinion, were not explained correctly by the author. For example, the names Sierning and Sirnitz (p. 92) cannot be defined as Crnika and Crnica (c as tch) meaning Schwarzbach »black stream«, but only as Žirovnica. The name Ursin (p. 105, 110), Irsching in German, can only be the Slovenian Vršina (the summit of a steep ground or slope). The Birnbach (literally: stream of pears) does not refer to pears (Birnen), but to the crumbly terrain (p. 69). In Slovenian, the word krušiti (to crumb) sounded like »hrušiti« and was mistaken for »hruška« (Birne, pear). So, the stream appears as Birnbach (stream of pears). Already in the Roman era, the original name of the Hrušica Pass (in fact Krušica) in Slovenia was wrongly translated into Latin as Ad Pirum, and then in the Midle Ages again into German as Birnbaum. But pear-trees do not grow at all on the height of this pass.

Further, »fruit-names« like Aflenz or Gablenz (ibid.), or Jablanica in Slovenian, have nothing to do with apples (Apfel, in German). The original meaning is »round« (obel, in ancient Slovenian). The phonetic development is as follows: firstly, the well-known ablaut ob > ab, then the iotacism ab > jab, to which the formative endings were added. For example, the Jablanica (Herzegovina) is found precisely at the place, where the Neretva River makes a big circle.

Likewise, the Nußbach is connected with the Slovenian vrh (summit, top), dialectal u'rh, uorh, which sounded like »orh« (»oreh«, nut) and in a suitable way was wrongly translated as Nuß (nut). The original meaning is: a stream which flows down from the vicinity of a summit. It has nothing to do with nuts. - The name Weichselbach, too, does not derive from Weichsel (marasca, višnja, in Slovenian). It is a wrong translation of the similar Slovenian words višnji, or višji (higher, superior) only. And so on…

Celtic and Ladino?

I do not agree with Prof. Kronsteiner's conclusion, that names like Danuvius (Danube, Donava) or Dravus (Drava) should be of Celtic origin. We know that the Insular Celtic, which is still preserved, was not identical with the Continental Celtic (p. 61). The latter, which must be considered in this case, did not differ essentially from the Venetic language and its dialects (today's Slav languages).

Furthermore, Prof. Kronsteiner adduces (p. 104) some names pertaining to the ancient Noricum inhabitants: ambidr(avi), amibisontes, ambilinei… mentioned in the inscription on the Magdalensberg - Štalen (2nd century ). He considers them Celts, because in Celtic the word ambe should mean a "river". This is not very probable, because here the word amb- (with a nasal) can only be the ancient form of a well-known proposal, which after the ablaut a > o and the well-known change m > n developed to onb-, from which both, ob (in Slovenian) and also on (in English) derive. Thus, the ambidravi could only have been the inhabitants on the river Dravus (Drava), the ambisontes those on the river Sontius (Isonzo, Soca, and not those of Pinzgau), the ambilinei those on the river Zila (Gail)…

Against the Celts as inhabitants of the Eastern Alps speaks also the fact, that in this area the Venetic Hallstatt culture (after ca. 800 BC) continued to exist until the Roman era, ca. 15 BC. The finds of the Celtic La Téne culture (after ca. 400 BC) in the Eastern Alps are scarce, they are obviously imports. Such is the statement of the well-known archaeologist Tone Knez (Slovenia). Anyway, in Austria the Celtic mania continues to exist.

It is very probable, that several names in the Austrian - Slovenian territory still remember the Roman era. Such are, for example, Cerkno, Cerknica, Cerkle, which could have derived from the Latin circulus (circle, ring). But Cerkno… could also have been the legacy of an older common etymon, already lost in Slovenian but preserved in Latin. Likewise, the name Žirovnica can only be connected with the Latin gyrus (curved), the name Ribno with the Latin ripa (shore, bank), and so on. It is true, such names could also have been inherited from a remote period, while the original words already were lost many times ago. At any case, the density of these names on Slovenian territory is scarce. Therefore, they cannot prove, that the people in the aforesaid territory at one-time spoke Ladino (late Latin), of which Prof. Kronsteiner is convinced.

Such a conclusion can neither be supported by the following etymons of supposedly Latin origin: plan, planin, planeza, which Prof. Kronsteiner is adducing. It is true, these words coincide with the Latin planus (plane, level) and they certainly do not derive from the Slav *polnina (a reconstructed word). In Slovenian we also find plan (without trees and bushes, baumfrei in German), planina (Alpine pasture), planja (hey meadow on a slope), planica (Alpine valley with a plane bottom). These meaning nuances do not show, that plan is a borrow from the Latin. It must be rather considered an ancient Slovenian word, which reveals the same root like its Latin parallel.

I think, both, the Latin, or Ladino, and the Slovenian form of plan have a common Indo-European origin. The method of comparison with other Slav languages, where this etymon does not appear, and for which the Slovenian form was declared a borrow from Latin, is certainly wrong. The word is closely connected to the Alpine terrain and to the Alpine way of farming, which in other Slav countries is lacking. - I'm afraid, Prof. Kronsteiner's conclusion, that Latin was commonly used before the "Slav" language was spread out over the Eastern Alps, has been premature.

Piz Buin (3312 m) is the highest peak in the Silvretta mountain group, which is found between Tyrol/Vorarlberg (Austria) and Engadin (Switzerland). According to Dr. Henrik Tuma, the well-known Slovenian nomenclature scholar, its name derives from the grassy surface found under the peak. In Slovenian (Venetic), such a terrain is called planja (pron. planya). But there are several phonetic variations in Slovenian dialects: p > b and l > u (Carinthia), diphthong ai etc. In this way somehow the word »planja« is still today pronounced as »puain'«, from which finally the word »buin« derived. But this variation of songs must have occurred already in the pre-Roman, i.e., in the Venetic period. Charles Bryant - Abraham, the well-known linguist (California, USA) was right: the Venetic language, which was the predecessor of Slovenian, had already dialects. His statements confirm the Venetic - Slovenian origin of many mountain names in Switzerland. I think, Prof. Kronsteiner's standpoint, according to which the Alpine inhabitants spoke Ladino after the decay of the Roman empire, needs to be reviewed.

The Very Austrian Message

In spite of some discrepancies, I consider the above-mentioned booklet by Prof. Kronsteiner to be monumental work of research and one of the most important steps in discovering the authentic cultural, ethnical and historical tradition of Austria. Evidently, this State is not based on the German historical and linguistic tradition. Its roots, it is true, go back into ancient Carantania, which represents the historical origin of modern Austria and Slovenia. A fact, which the Austrian academic world and political oligarchy is trying to conceal.

Prof. Dr. Franz Nikolasch, University of Salzburg

In Austria, there are still academicians, who are not affected by the imposed Germanizing current of thinking, in sense of the Austrian Ideology. For example, at the same University of Salzburg already some years earlier, Prof. Dr. Franz Nikolasch, in his religious studies about ancient Carantania furnished evidence that St. Domitian, a Carantanian duke († ca. 802), was a true historical person. Through the centuries, he was venerated as the protector of Carantania (Carinthia). But in the 2nd part of the 19th century its figure began to disturb the then Austrian oligarchy. Therefore, in 1907 the historian Robert Eisler, in a "scientific" way, declared him an invention of the Benedictine monks of Millstatt. This distortion was uncovered only in the 90s .

	The facade of the University of Klagenfurt - Celovec, which today is seriously working for a better understanding and collaboration between the people of the Alpine - Adriatic region.

In the same Carinthia, the University of Klagenfurt, since its foundation, is concentrating on the common history and cultural tradition of Austrians and Slovenians living in the so-called Alpine - Adriatic area. In this connection, the work of Prof. Dr. Franz Glaser, a well-known archaeologist, has to be mentioned. Not only because of his many archaeological discoveries pertaining to the Carantanian period, but also because he denoted them with their original Carantanian names. Another lecturer at the University, Prof. Dr. Klaus Detlef Olof, a Slavist, is carrying out a very message with translations of Slovenian literature into German, in particular the poetry of Prešeren…

	After having been removed by »unknown« forces, the bilingual German - Slovenian sign with the inscription of the University of Klagenfurt has been re-installed.

This institution is manifesting its position in the Alpine - Adriatic region with the bilingual inscription Universität Klagenfurt - Univerza v Celovcu. In spite of pressures from above, the university persists in its counter-ideological position, and carries out the proper message necessary for future co-existence and collaboration in this part of Middle Europe. A message, which should reach every household in Austria.

Indeed, there are several personalities and institutions, which endeavour and work for the very image of Austria. Nevertheless, until now the pan-German circles are predominating. It is true, because of the ancient "multinational" Monarchy, which was succeeded by modern Austria, the European idea is very popular in this country. Nevertheless, the ancient ideological and chauvinistic burden has not been removed and continues to exist. Moreover, Austria still has not fulfilled the requirements of Article 7 (tutelage of the national minorities) of the State Agreement, by which the great powers conceded full sovereignty to the country, in 1955.

Some Bibliography:

	•	Tone Knez: in Arheološki vestnik XXIV, Lublana 1973, p. 323

	•	Henrik Tuma: Slovenska imena v ladinskem in bavarskem narecju /Slovenian names in Tyrol and Bavarian dialect/, in: Planinski vestnik 8, Lublana 1912

	•	Henrik Tuma: Krajevno imenoslovje /Local nomenclature/, in: Jadranski almanah, Trieste 1923

	•	Franz Nikolasch: Domitian von Millstatt - eine Erfindung des 12. Jahrhunderts?, in Carinthia I (180), Klagenfurt 1990

	•	Franz Glaser: Domicianus dux. Eine historische Persönlichkeit in Millstatt zur Zeit Karls des Großen, Millstatt 1993

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(cf: article: Ancient and Modern Austrian Expansionism)

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(cf: Sichtbare Heimat - Domovina vidna) http://www.heimat-domovina.at/index.php/news/

The 50th anniversary of the Austrian State Agreement

Ancient and Modern Austrian Expansionism

A strange phenomenon, no one can imagine it, but…

Borut Potocar

After the WW2, Austria was occupied by four great powers: USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, whose multi-national effort was directed at defeating the Nazi regime in Germany and Austria. In 1955, the Austrian State Agreement (Österreichischer Staatsvertrag) was signed, in sense of which the four Allies withdraw from Austria, and the country returned to full sovereignty. Article 7 of the Agreement assigned to Austria a jurisdiction with adequate legal authority to protect the national minorities of non-German language within its territory. Nevertheless, half a century after the signing of the Agreement, Austria practically worked on the ultimate suppression of minorities; in particular it targeted Slovenians in Carinthia, one of its federal provinces.

Signing of the Austrian State Agreement on Mai 15, 1955. In sense of it, the occupational powers in the period after WW2, i.e., USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, withdraw their troops. Austria regained full sovereignty. With this international document Austria was also bound to protect the national minorities (Slovenians and Croatians) in its territory. But it acted contrary to the public interest.

A counter-Slovenian policy

In the southern part of Carinthia, where Slovenian speaking people are living, existed German Slovenian bilingual schools in the period after the WW2. But in 1957, two years after the signing of the State Agreement, these schools were suppressed by Ferdinand Wedenig, the then governor of Carinthia (SPÖ). Evidently, he followed the secret directives given to him by unidentified circles. Since then, school lessons were taught in German only. Students, who asked to be instructed in Slovenian, had to submit a special request. In such case, in a counter-Slovenian atmosphere as it was in Carinthia, the student would risk to be exposed to pressure. Of course, Wedenig's action violated the Austrian State Agreement. But no one protested, either Yugoslavia, which was the co-signer of the Austrian State Agreement, or Russia (the »mother« of the Slavs) or USA (the »defender« of democracy in the world), who also signed the »Staatsvertrag«.

	The governor of Carinthia, Ferdinand Wedenig (first on the left), on a banquet (1956). In 1957, two years after signing the Austrian State Agreement, he was ordered to abolish by decree the German Slovenian bilingual schools of Carinthia.

In the aforesaid Austrian province, they reacted with disdain towards the Slovenians, which became already paranoiac. The Slovenian language often is called »Karawankenfranzösich« (Karavanke' French), as to make fun of it. Karawanken - Karavanke is the name of the mountain range between Carinthia and Carniola (Slovenia). In such an atmosphere, the recognition of the Slovenian ethnical group is suspected to have Yugoslav orientation. The open interceding on behalf of the rights of the Slovenian group is explained as treason of the Carinthian homeland, which is considered »German« country.

Nevertheless, the counter-Slovenian atmosphere in this country is unnatural and uncivilised to such a degree, that it hardly can be seen as a spontaneous thing which originated among the Carinthian people themselves. So, one has to ask the question, why does the German speaking population of Carinthia have such a perseverance in the disdain and humiliation of their Slovenian neighbours? In this connection, the only conclusion can be drawn, that there are well organized and financed occult forces, which manipulate and maintain the hostile atmosphere.

The counter-Slovenian atmosphere, it is true, also pervades the Austrian political parties: SPÖ (Socialist Party), ÖVP (People's Party) or FPÖ (Liberal Party) and their branches in Carinthia. Anyway, I think, such an atmosphere can only be created by an agency, whose confidants are found on all levels of government. This organization could only be the Cobra, the Austrian security service. Officially, the Austrian Cobra is a secret service, which deals with the safety of individuals, who occupy key positions in the state structure of modern Austria. It also provides safety to foreign high ranking guests during their stay in Austria, and so on.

But that's not all. We must consider this service the bearer of the modern Austrian Ideology, a branch of the ancient pan-German ideology. In present-day Austria, this ideology and its movement is still alive. Not only that, its counter-Slovenian connotation testifies its expansionistic aims. One who follows the quotidian happenings in Austria, he clearly perceives such an ideological activity, which only can be carried out by Cobra.

The origins of the Austrian Ideology

The majority of Austrians, in a naive way, still imagines present-day Austria as a descendant of the one-time Austrian Monarchy, also called Danube Monarchy, where numerous nations should have lived »in peace«. Therefore, they consider the Monarchy a predecessor of the modern European Union. But the truth is another! In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the Slav nations of the Monarchy, from the historical and cultural point of view, began to be considered inferior and were discriminated. Slovenians in particular were exposed to a forced Germanizing. This was presented to the public mind as a progress for the Slovenians, and as their salvation from historical and cultural »backwardness«.

The background of such a doing was the fact, that the great-German movement, which pervaded the Monarchy, strove for the restoration of a German »Bridge to the Adriatic«. This meant, the German speaking territory should be extended from the Northern Sea to the Adriatic Sea in the south. The existence of the Slovenians, living just in the background of the Adriatic coast, was the main obstacle to this purpose, and they had to be Germanized. Therefore, the apparatus of the Vienna government negated to Slovenians secondary schools in their language, instead they imposed upon them German as the official language in their territory... The Slovenian language was declared unsuitable for a cultural and social progress.

As to endorse such affirmations, many falsifications were made. Slovenians were declared a people »without a history«, a people with a language lagging behind, of which one should have been ashamed, etc. As to deny their historical identity, Slovenians began to be called »Alpine Slavs« (Alpenslawen). Carantania, their historical State, has been ignored. It was rationalised that they settled the area of the Eastern Alps under the yoke of the Avars. In the following times, Slovenians should have been subjected by the Germans... Such explanations, evidently carefully planed, are still in use in modern Austria.

As to make the falsifications credible to the Austrian public, they had to give it an »academic« character. This role was ascribed first of all to the University of Graz (Styria). There, towards the end of the 19th century, a large number of diligent professors elaborated and published »scientific« materials, in which the identity and history of the Slav peoples was presented in a very negative light. Several names of the professors in question are quoted here: Richard Hildebrand (* 1840 - 1918), Jan Peisker (* 1851 - † 1933), Ludwig Gumplowicz (* 1838 - † 1909), Arnold Luschin von Ebengreuth (* 1841 - † 1932)… (cf. Vilfan 1985).

	The beautiful facade of the University of Graz. Nevertheless, in the period before the WW1 this institution was lancing, under a »scientific« mask, a historical counter-Slovenian ideology, which still today dominates modern Austria.

They wrote down a great number of materials. Regretfully, in their works appears a continuous denigration of the Slavs. For example, in sense of Prof. Peisker's explanations, the "ancient Slavs" lived for a long time under the Turk-Tataric and thereafter under the German (Nordic) masters. They were prohibited to rear cattle. As proof they quoted the Slav word for milk, "mleko", which supposedly has been borrowed from the Nordic (Scandinavian) "melk". Scandinavia was considered the homeland of the ancient Germans…

I believe, the above mentioned professors were constrained to explain history as prescribed by their financiers. This was the Vienna government, the apparatus of which was completely embraced by the great-German ideology. Until today, the University of Graz has not been rescued from such an ideological mortgage.

In the period of the Austrian Monarchy the aforesaid "bridge" could not be realized, because the Monarchy decayed at the end of the WW1. Its remainder was the Republic of Austria, in which the great-German dream was preserved. In 1938, Austria was occupied by Nazi troops. In 1941 they also occupied the Slovenian territory, which since WW1 pertained to Yugoslavia. During the WW2 the dream of the »bridge« seemed to be realized: the Nazi occupation power founded a military operative zone called »Adriatisches Küstenland" (Adriatic Coastland). Its centre was Trieste. Its commander was an SS-man of high rank, Odilo Globocnik by name, originally from Carinthia (Austria).

The Austrian Identity

The negative attitudes confronting the Slovenians (Slavs), which the academicians introduced to the Austrian public, remained alive until today. For example, materials written by Austrian academics still contain the term "Alpine Slavs", suggesting a supposedly inferior descent of the Slovenians. This appellate has to be regarded as a characteristic term for a centenary of distortions and humiliations of Slovenians from the side of the Austrian (German speaking) oligarchy.

Thus, in sense of the aforesaid academic explanations the historical Austria, since the times of the Monarchy, has been considered a "German" founding. Perhaps Emperor Carl I of Austria, a very noble-minded person, could not free himself from such a way of thinking. We know this from Prof. F. W. Förster's words, referred to in his audience with the Emperor. During the interview Emperor Carl I expressed his opinion concerning the nationalism and chauvinism, which before and during the WW1 pervaded the Austrian Empire: Austria is neither a German nor a Slav state. The Germans were, it is true, the founders of the Danube Monarchy; but they are a minority surrounded and permeated by aspiring nations; they can be the leader of younger civilizations if they give an example of the highest culture and meet the new and rising races with love, respect and generosity... (Polzer - Hoditz, 1931, 337).

	Emperor Carl I of Austria (* 1887 - † 1922) during the WW1. In sense of the ideological explanations diffused by academic classes, he, too, was convinced that the Austrian Monarchy was a German founding. It was impossible for him to imagine that its roots originated in Carantania, the Slovenian medieval duchy.

Thus, "younger" civilizations and a "higher" culture… The comment is superfluous! Anyway, although never clearly expressed, this standpoint is still echoed in modern Austria. As to make it credible to the public, the origin of the same Austria, which in fact descends from Carantania, a Slovenian State, is concealed at the academic level.

The historical truth is, however, that the first State formation in the Eastern Alps was already recorded by Paulus Diaconus, in 595 AD. This Lombard historian calls it "Sclaborum provincia" (Slovenian province). Until today, this historical source has been omitted in the publications written by Austrian historians. Why? According to the records, this Slovenian province soon after was called Carantania. And this State began to be called Austria as early as after 1335 AD, when the Habsburgs (House of Austria) became the rulers of the Carantanian territory. After some centuries, from Austria (Carantania) developed the Danube Monarchy.

The centre of Carantania was the Duchy of Carinthia. Its dukes were installed on the Prince's Stone, and the ceremony of installation was carried out in Slovenian language. Of course, in Carinthia and in Austria this circumstance is suppressed, as not to acknowledge the historical importance of the Slovenian language. The same Babenberg family (976 - 1246), under which Austria, at first a Carantanian March, became a Duchy, descended from the Carantanian duke Berthold († 947). And so on…

It is true, Slovenian and Austrian national and political history are interweaving. It is not possible to separate them into two independent national parts, i.e., into a German (Austrian) and a Slovenian (Slav) one. But today, exactly this branched out into Austria and Slovenia.

In Austria, the modern »Austrian« consciousness, which is diffused among the public, evidently is not based at all on the very historical tradition of this country, which is a multinational one. This consciousness, which through school programs, mass media and academic materials is drilled into the mind of the Austrian people, is in fact a continuation of the great-German ideology carried out in the last decades of the ancient Monarchy.

Nowadays, the Austrian people are by a great majority German speaking. Therefore, after more than a century of indoctrination, they easily adopt the idea of being the descendants of the Bavarians (Germans) only. Because of political circumstances in the last century, in which Eastern Europe and the Slav nations were occupied by Communist regimes, the idea of an Austrian "better being" in confront to the "inferior" Slavs diffused. In this connection, the historical truth is not considered of importance. In this way, the academic falsifications are accepted without hesitation and continue to exist.

A Menace for Central Europe?

The ideological instigation of the mind of the Austrian public, directed particularly against the Slovenian culture and history, and in general toward the Slavs, which is still carried out by the academic circles, mass media and political oligarchy of modern Austria, does not remain without consequences. Proof of this is the discrimination of the Slovenian speaking people in Carinthia, in spite of Article 7 of the Austrian State Agreement. There, the Slovenian language is gradually suppressed.

	A deceptive idyll: Cobra centre in Wiener Neustadt (Austria). It is very probably the secret focal point of the counter-Slovenian activity in Austria.

Moreover, the Austrian economy begins to expand into present-day Slovenia. There, among foreign investments, Austria is taking the first place. In this case, it is not only about an economical question, but also about a new Austrian expansionism. In Slovenia we find branches of banks like Volksbank, Reiffeisen, Wiener Städtische, Hypobank,… The case is, that the centre, in which the investor of the German speaking area receives information about the investment risks in Slovenia, is found in Vienna (Cobra?). With all consequences…

We are sure, that this centre is connected with Cobra and that, in sense of the ancient Germanizing policy, it is planning the realization of the ancient idea of the "Bridge to the Adriatic". The administration boards of the Austrian enterprises in Slovenia conduct business in German. Austrian masters do not speak Slovenian and neither show a will to learn it. They are forcing the Slovenian officials to speak and correspond in German.

Some time ago, the Slovenian parliament passed a law, in sense of which public affairs and business in Slovenia has to be conducted in Slovenian language. - France is passing a similar law - On this occasion, it was not accidentally, that in the European Parliament, an Austrian deputy (FPÖ) criticised this law, accusing Slovenia of discrimination... Anyway, the Serbian lobby, which is holding Slovenia in their hands through a net of confidants, are boycotting this law. The same Slovenian administrative structures and the mass media, likewise under Serbian control, are forced to ignore this question.

As we can see, "Europe" is not able to resolve the basic problems, which cripple the existence and the national individuality of its several members. The European territory without borders provides a possibility for the upswing of nationalism and chauvinism, as we already know from the one-time "peaceful" Austrian Monarchy. The bureaucracy in distant Brussels is not able to recognize the state of facts. With generosity they finance projects, which are presented to them under the title of collaboration among the bordering nations.

Regarding its position in Europe, the Slovenian territory is of very strategic importance. Because this territory is a crossroad of interests, several events gained European attention. For example, at the end of the WW1 the "Volksräte" in the German speaking territory of the Austrian Monarchy withstood the creation of a Slovenia under the umbrella of the Monarchy. The motif was, that they would not permit to loose access to the Adriatic. Then, it was too late and the Monarchy collapsed. Much later, Slovenians were made responsible to provoke the decay of Yugoslavia. And for the third time?

Until now, the provocation of the Austrian oligarchy has been ignored. But the one, who is aware of the very situation, must have had the impression, that the Austrian State Agreement of 1955 was a premature act. It awakened the ancient expansionistic and chauvinistic forces in the country, which slept in its underground. Their hatred and imperialistic aims toward the Slavs, i.e., the ancient Austrian ideology, which was hidden under the friendly Austrian patriotic and economic face, began to be diffused anew. It seems, that in Central Europe, the very peace, co-existence and collaboration among the peoples is still far away.

Further reading:

	•	Count Artur Polzer - Hoditz: The Emperor Karl, Chiswick House, London 1931

•

Sergij Vilfan: Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Rechtsgeschichte. Der Grazer Beitrag zur Theorie (Kleine Arbeitsreihe zur Europäischen und Vergleichenden Rechtsgeschichte), Graz 1985

Expo 2008

Congratulations to Zaragoza (Spain)

Dr. Jožko Šavli

The BIE assembly in Paris has recently awarded Expo 2008 to the Spanish city of Zaragoza (Spain). A big disappointment for the citizens of Trieste (Italy) and Salonika (Greece), who had registered as candidates to host the international festival. The dream of the city at the Adriatic coast was destroyed again. Why? - Among other virtues, Trieste tried to present itself as a city of multicultural character. Really? Traces of ancient Austrian (German) traditions, it is true, are still present, although a German speaking community does not exist anymore in the city. On the other hand, the cultural and very active Slovenian community there continues to be officially ignored. Not only by the Italian speaking majority of the city, who consider Slovenians culturally inferior to their own »Latin« background, but also by the Commune of Trieste itself. Outbreaks of intolerance by the right political forces of the city against Slovenians are a daily occurrence, since the neighbouring State of Slovenia entered the European Union! The same forces triumphed, when recently the Port of Koper Company (Slovenia) withdrew its shares from the Trieste Port. On this occasion, the influential Le Monde (Paris), issued very discretely in an article the assertion that Boris Pahor, the well-known Slovenian writer of Trieste, is a determined believer in the city's bi-cultural future, equally shared by its Italian and Slovenian inhabitants. The world knew, that the »multicultural« image of Trieste was deceiving. Thus, one of the reasons, why the BIE assembly voted for Zaragoza (Spain). For the occasion of Expo 2008, the Carantha staff is inviting the Spanish organisers to proportionately represent their own country's multicultural image, i.e., the cultures of the Basques, Catalans, Galicians... España, tierra creada…

Miss Trieste

a national and political problem

Sara Jug, a young girl from Nova Gorica (Slovenia) was elected Miss Trieste (Italy). However, delegates, representing national oriented Italian parties, soon expressed their disappointment that the winner was of Slovenian origin. They stressed the fact, that the 2004 beauty queen contest fell together with the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the return of Trieste to Italy. After the WW2, it is true, the city was under Yugoslavian rule, and until 1954 it was placed under American and English military administration. Therefore, the national sentiments, actively supported by the Italian rightists in the city, were awakened anew.

It seems that only in Trieste the nationality of a beauty pageant presents also a political problem. But in this case the story has not ended yet. Sara Jug, the newly chosen Miss Trieste, has also the right to compete in the Miss Italy contest. A Slavic girl? Thus, this will be a unique case in the world, that a competitor represents also a national political, or maybe at first sight an ideological problem.

From Marib, the Sabean Capital, to Carantania
The long suspected link between the ancient Yemeni Kingdom and Carantania uncovered

Irena Knehtl

I have been living in Yemen all my adult life. The modern Republic of Yemen is situated in the South West of the Arabian Peninsula, and surprisingly it is a mountainous country with patches of desert in the east, and the green Lowland of Tihama along the Red Sea and Arab Sea turning over into the Indian Ocean. Over the years scholars have researched for a Sabean - Yemeni - South Arabian connection to the East African Coast. One of my Yemeni teachers, upon learning that I am from Slovenia, casually remarked: Ah, Carantania, the land of the Black Forest.

But it was not until Adeeb Mahfood from Jamaica and his cousin Hashem Hashem, in search of their own family roots in Yemen, provided the history of the Gebara family and other Arab linages. As a result of their seven year long research the long suspected link between the ancient Yemeni Kingdoms and Carantania became apparent. What follows here is a personal journey, and search for a lost identity and history.

The famous Marib Dam

The oldest history of Yemen is connected with the city of Marib and its dam. The legendary date of its building is 1700 BC. The city was situated in the eastern part of the Al Jawf Governorate in the present day Republic of Yemen. Around 1000 BC, Sabeans settled in the Marib area. Ancient Marib was the largest of the incense cities. It held the commanding position for the transportation of frankincense on the important caravan route that ran from the areas on the Indian Ocean to the shores of the Mediterranean.

Around 950 BC, Queen of Saba (Sheba) visited Salomon in Israel. Salomon died 925 BC. From the period after 800 BC the rulers of Saba are known. They were called Mukarrib, the term probably means "priest-king". The time around 800 BC is valid as the traditional date for the "building" of the dam at Marib. The reference here probably means the rebuilding of the dam, and possibly the building of the great sluices.

In 715 BC, the successive kings of Assyria received tribute of gold, precious stones, spices, horses and camels from the Sabeans. Sargon II received tribute from Yitha, mr. Mukarrib of Saba. In the period after 600 BC appeared Quataban, the neighbour and rival of Saba. Sabeans sent trading colonists to India. In 587 BC, when Jerusalem was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, Prophet Ezekiel wrote about the trade with the Sabeans. Around 115 BC, there was a period of conflicts between the groups in the area, notably Qataban, Aussan, Saba and a new group called Himyar.

At the very beginning of the 1st century AD, the whole region, stretching from Southern Arabia to Zanzibar, an island of the East African Coast, was part of the Kingdom of Saba (115 BC - 525 AD), i.e. Yemen. Through archeological evidence, we have proof of Sabean presence throughout East Africa from Egypt to Tanzania, further, at the coast of India, and Indochina.

The Queen of Saba (Sheba) and Salomo (Sulejman) on a French manuscript from the 11th century.

Most probably Rome was the furthermost and northernmost capital, to which the ancient Yemeni diplomats were appointed to. They even sent a diplomatic mission to meet Emperor Octavianus Augustus at the Greek island of Samos. - In 25 AD, however, Romans sent Aelius Gallus to South Arabia. He fought Sabeans near Marib.

Around 200 AD and after, Saba was under the hegemony of Himyar. Himyar kings were calling themselves Kings of Saba and Dhu Raydan. The following two centuries are ones of conflict, with Ethiopia and Persia siding with first the one, then followed by another South Arabian faction. It was also an era of turbulent changes in religion, with both Judiasm and Christianity prominent at various periods. Approximately in 550 AD, the church al-Qalis was built in Sanaa. In this time, due to heavy rains and floods, the great dam at Marib was already destroyed.

The political dynamics of Pre-Islamic Arabia can be summarized in the interaction of three major forces. The Ghassanids, the Lakhimids, and the Kindah.

The Ghassanids were allied with the Byzantine Empire and the Ethiopians, the Lakhimids with the Persians, and the Kindah cooperated with the Sabeans/Yemenis. This political dynamic is important, because out of interactions with the Beduin tribes and the leaders of these kingdoms emerged the early Islamic community and, later the Islamic Empire. With the Hijra in 622 AD, and Mohammad's flight from Mecca to Medina begins the Islamic era.

The area of influence of the ancient Kingdom of Saba (today's Yemen)

The Ghassanids

The Ghassanids are a south Arabian Yemeni tribe. The Banu Ghassan migrated north during the 3rd and 44th centuries AD, mostly after the break up of the great Marib Dam, and settled in the region of Damascus. Christian by religion, they allied themselves with Byzantium. Another group of emigrants settled in Hira, where they established the Kingdom Lakham, Yathreb, the present day Medina, the city of the Prophet Mohammed.

Amer, son of Amer, King of Saba, was a direct ancestor of the Ghassanids. He was the one who first emigrated with his family and many of his followers north (of Marib) and settled in Houran near Damascus, where they founded the Ghassanid Kingom. The Ghassanids were named after the well, where they first settled upon their arrival from Yemen. Amer El-Ghatreef, known by the name of "Maussma", meaning "water of heaven" was the first Ghassanid king due to his generosity.

Houran was the first home of the Ghassanids after their departure from Saba in Yemen. The word "houran" derives from the Hebrew word "hour" which means "cave". The land of Houran lies about 20 miles to the south of Damascus. It is a vast region with mountains, valleys and plains. The climate is mild and its soil is fertile.

The Ghassanids allied themselves with Rome against Persia. In return the Roman Emperors granted them privileges such as to become leaders of all Arab tribes in Syria. Even the city of Damascus was under their rule. They also controlled the country known today as Jordan.

Later, the Ghassanids also agreed to protect the southern flank of the Byzantine Empire against intrusion of other Arab tribes. This alliance held well throughout the wars between the Byzantines and the Persian Empires. In the 6th century AD, as the Byzantine power declined, many Ghassanids allied themselves with increasingly dominating Arab tribes from the heartland of Arabia.

But after the departure of Byzantium and Persia, the two major empires of the time, their allied states opened the way to the Beduin Arabs, who poured into central Arabia from all corners and took control of the growing wealth and prestige of the region.

Marib, eastern Yemen. Moon temple.

Poets and men of literature

The ruins of palaces, churches, castles, public baths, aquaducts, etc. in Houran are proof of the high level of their culture and civilization. The Ghassanid Kingdom extended as far as the Red Sea to the South and the Euphrates to the north. The Jordan and Yarmuk valleys were included in their realms. Joulan, known today as Balkaa, was their capital.

The Banu Ghassan lived in the palace in the centre of the town, and from there they administered their vast domains and traded extensively. The Greeks gave the Ghassanid kings the title "Elharith" and the kings of Hira the title "El-Munzer". These two titles were equivalent to the title of Pharaoh in Egypt, Negus in Abyssinia and Caesar in Rome. The Emperors of Constantinople gave them the tile of "Patrik", which in those times incorporated the meaning of father.

The Ghassanid kings became known for their generosity. The last one to succeed the throne was King Jeblet, son of El-Ayham, who built the town of Jeblet that lies between Latakieh and Tripoli. He was such a good and strong king that for decades after his death his name was proverbial and symbolized strength and glory. He lived about the beginning of the 3rd century AD. With his death and the coming of Islam, the Ghassanids were once again scattered far and wide.

	Preislamic history of Yemen, the so called" Incense Kingdoms" as told by Yemeni artist Samira Abdo Ali. - The authoress is a Yemeni artist, first female TV director, cartoonist, writer, illustrator of children books, winner of several international awards…

The Gebaras

Historical evidence shows that some Christian families in Syria and Lebanon, and especially the Gebaras, are direct descendants of the noble Ghassanids. They originated from the city of Azra in the land of Houran. In the past, the town of Azra was also known as "Azrai", meaning a fortress. It lies about 75 five miles away from Bosra Eskj Sham, about 612 m above sea level, and it lies in the center of the district of "Al Lija". Azra is an old town, boasting ancient Greek and Roman connections. Many battles between the Crusaders and the Moslems were fought on its grounds and streets.

As the Banu Ghassan, the Gebaras were very much interested in art, literature and especially in poetry. Therefore, Azra used to be also the city of learning. Some of its great men were: Ibn-Jeyyan Nasre, Ul-wehhab, Isaq Ibn Ibrahim, Abu al-Rabi and judge Sahref Eddine.

The story of the Gebara ancestry, passed down through the ages from father to son, confirms:

That they were of Ghassanid origin, and that they came to Lebanon from Houran after the Moslem conquest, and prior to that from Yemen. - They were of Greek Orthodox faith. - Some of them still live there, but the majority went to Damascus and Acre, and some came to Arjeyoun and Kornet Shahwan.

Their features were confirmed as follows: high temple, big noses, prominent foreheads, fuzzy hair, small jaws, thin lips, beautifully straight teeth, well proportioned features, dark complexions, black eyes and a beautiful figure. - Further: generosity, contentment, fondness of country life, bravery, distinguished looks and benevolence. In all ages and epochs that the Gebaras -Jebaras -Jeberas - Sceberras went through, there were among them men and women outstanding in bravery, administrative work, learning, religion, writings. One can find among them generals, administrators, bishops, priests, monks, physicians, pharmacists, scientists, lawyers, merchants, benefactors.

The Gebara family includes both Christians and Moslems. The Moslem Gebaras adopted Islam at the time of Arab conquest, and migrated to the respective Moslem community. The Moslem Gebaras went to El-Median, Yunbu, Asffan, Alexandira, Beer Sheba, Jub Jennine, Majdal Balhiss, El-Kerou, Tripoli.

The places, where the Christian Gebaras went after the Moslem conquest, are the following: Damascus, Marjeyoun, Kornet Shahwan, Jebbata el-Zeit, Ammatour, Zahleh, Jell elDeeb, Ain Aiir, Aleppo, Alexandria, Austria/Slovenia, Greece, Turkey. The rest remained in Azra. - The group of Gebaras, who went to Alexandria (Egypt), proceeded to Malta and gave rise to one of the most prominent Maltese aristocratic families. But perhaps this is another story. - Here we want to mention the names of families who settled in Merjyoum (present day Lebanon): the Jebara, the Gholmia, the Bayouth, the Razook, the Andeel, the Rashid, the Naifeh, the Barakat, the Farha, the Hamara, the Farhood, the Rahal, the Theeba, the Mady. - All places were known to them from their extensive contacts.

There is still much to be said as to what happened to the Gebaras, who went to Austria/Slovenia, then known as Karantania. It is very possible that they settled in Maribor. In this respect, one will ask himself, if a connection exists between Marib and Maribor?

Apologia

I am much indebted to Adeeb Mahfood in Jamaica and Hashem Hashem in Canada, whose mother was a real Gebara, for providing the lead and their family histories and references. My profound thanks, however, goes to Dr. Jožko Šavli, friend and scholar, author of the important book "The Slovenian State of Carantania", for his encouragement and for his tireless effort to document that the Slovenes are not newcomers to the history. They played an important role in events that shaped the future, both, then and now. This contribution sheds light on how the Slovenian State of Carantania actively took part in international trade, it used to be known and had trading contacts far beyond the known borders. -

Sanaa, Yemen, 21st July, 2004

References and further reading:

	•	Chronology for the area of Marib, The American Institute for Yemeni Studies, Sanaa, Yemen

	•	Albright, F.P. and LeBaron Bowen, Archeological Discoveries in South Arabia, John Hopkins, Baltimore, 1958

	•	Doe Biran, Southern Arabia, Thames and Hudson, London 1971

	•	Groom Nigel, Frankincense and Myrrh, A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade, Longman, London, 1981

	•	Phillips Wendell, Qataban and Sheba, V. Gollancz, London 1955

	•	Periplus of the Erythraen Sea, author unknown, trans. By Schoff, New York, 1912. This is an antique Greek document whose exact date is unknown. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was probably written in Alexandria by a Greek author in the First Century and is a guide to the ports and trade of Arabia, East Africa, India and the connection route to China and comprises the first eye witness written account of the coast of Azania, the present East African Coast.

	•	Irena Knehtl, Yemen Claiming the Future, Part I in a series, Yemen Times issue 751, 1st July 2004,, Sanaa, Yemen

	•	Irena Knehtl, Banaadir: The Country of Harbors, Yemen Times, issue 728, 11th April 2004, Sanaa, Yemen

	•	Irena Knehtl, The beautiful island of Kilwa - Tazania, Yemen Times issue 748, 21st June 2004, Sanaa, Yemen

	•	Irena Knehtl, When Yemenis sailed to Lamu, Tales of journeys reveal links between Kenya and Yemen, in Yemen Times issue 713, 19th February 2004, Sanaa, Yemen

	•	Nabataens in East Africa, a short history of Mafia Island, by Peter Byrne, http://www.nabataea.net/mafia.html

	•	Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis, The Diachronic Supremacy of Yemen, in Yemen Times, issue 756, 19th July 2004, Sanaa, Yemen

	•	Irfan Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, ISBN: 0-88402-284-6.

	•	The Gebara family site http://gebara.marjeyoun.net

	•	Raymond Faris Gebara, The rise of the Ghassanids in Gebara family site

	•	Slavomir Janacik, Slovak academic and author Slavs in History, in personal communication

Yemen Times, 5th January 2004, Sanaa, Republic of Yemen

Indian Ocean Center at the Curtin University and Technology in Australia (cf. article in Yemen Times). Personal web site: www.geocities.com/iren_knehtl/

IRENA KNEHTL

Person of the Year 2003 in the Republic of Yemen

Dr. Jožko Šavli

After discussion and exchange of ideas, it has been decided to dedicate the "2003 Person of the Year" title to the person who has participated in building bridges between the Republic of Yemen and the world in 2003, which was a year in which such efforts should have been appreciated. The year 2003 lacked tolerance, understanding, and appreciation among people of different countries and origin, especially as it witnessed the Iraqi war, which caused substantial damage to international relations. In evaluating and respecting such efforts, a person's nationality, religion, and fame are of little importance.

We have come to realize that Irena Knehtl, a native of Slovenia, indeed fits this category, and hence deserves the gratitude and respect of Yemenis in Yemen and abroad for her role in this respect. She was and continues to be a person dedicating most of her life to bridging between continents through her spectacular efforts at all fronts to introduce Yemen to the world, because she wrote and wrote about the country and its people. Through her dedication to Yemen, she was able to make friends in villages that are as remote as one can image.

Irena Knechtl among young Yemenis

Background: Irena Knehtl, a native of Slovenia, obtained her degree in economics from Slovenia, in Business Studies from London School for Business Studies, and in International Relations and History from the University of Oslo in Norway. She lived and worked in Malta (1975 - 1977) on investment promotion and Mediterranean economic co-operation. During 1996 - 1999 she served as Honorary Consul of Malta to Slovenia.

She came to Yemen twice during 1977/1978 on an UNIDO (UN for Industrial Development) assignment for steel and foundry industries for the then Yemen Arab Republic. She joined the Industrial Bank of Yemen (1979) as economic advisor and head of research department. As consultant for the private sector she worked on a number of investment and development projects, including commercial ventures and trade.

She studied History of Islam and Islamic peoples in the Islamic Center in the Old City of Sanaa. She lived with fellow Yemenis through all the Yemeni wars and witnessed the spectacular Yemeni unification on May 22, 1990.

As independent researcher she continues researching economic co-operation among Indian Ocean countries and Red Sea countries. She participated in the Australian sponsored Indian Ocean dialogue (1993) with the then Yemeni Minister of Development and the then current Prime Minister of Yemen H.E. Mr. Abdul Qadir Ba Jammal. During 1990 - 1996 she was affiliated with the Indian Ocean Center at the Curtin University and Technology in Australia. Personal web site: www.geocities.com/iren_knehtl/

The editor and all friends and followers of the Carantha website congratulate Irena on her outstanding success. We imagine, in spite of the fact, that she carries out her work and cultural message in remote Yemen, her personality demonstrates very well the quality of a native Slovenian lady as has been presented in our article The Carantanian Lady. Slovenians at home and in the world are proud of Irena Knehtl.

Obsolete Austrian Stereotypes

which still obstruct a good understanding and collaboration in Middle Europe

Vienna, the capital of Austria, which in the 19th century triumphed as one of the center's of pan-German ideology in opposition to the pan-Slav one. This conflict brought the decay of the Austrian Monarchy. In the following period, under the Nazi occupation, Vienna became the center of the "Ostmark". In spite of this, the distortions in sense of the ancient ideology in Austria continue to exist... Therefore, one looks rather toward Prague as the center of the modern Middle Europe.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

Today, one is questioning oneself, why are ancient ideological slang terms still used on the academic level of modern Austria, which derived from the pan-German and pan-Slav impact of the 19th century AD? The majority of serious and diligent academicians and university lecturers in Austria do not ever think or dream that they are to some extent partisans of the "pan-German" or "anti-Slav" or any other kind of ideologies. Nevertheless, they are still making use of an ideological slang, without being aware of the distortions it presents. This slang, it is true, has been the language of the academic institutions, where it fulfilled the studies, and it is still a customary practice in modern Austria.

This type of slang is quite old and is evidently based on the ancient ideology of pan-German predominance, which labelled the historical and cultural ranks of the so-called "Slavs" as a second or third class status. Today this situation still presents a problem, because the aforesaid ideological distortions have been introduced and preserved in the general mind. It is true; that these are false teachings from the past, i. e., from the 19th century, but the distortions survived as stereotypes until nowadays. Indeed, they are still quoted and reoccur in the Austrian academic papers and in the mass media, and are working in this way to condition the public mind of modern Austria.

In this connection, the historical and the ethnical identity of Slovenians is particularly touched. Because, the early Austrian history is inseparable connected with Slovenians. Indeed, the early Slovenian State, called Carantania or Sclauinia, extended all over the present-day Austrian territory (except Tyrol). Later, in this territory the German language gradually diffused throughout the land, but it did not destroy the political and historical structure of Carantania. After some centuries, when this territory came into the hands of the Habsburgs (House of Austria), the name Austria extended all over the ancient Carantanian provinces. But the ancient Carantanian state structure continued to exist.

Several people in Austria are aware of the fact, that the majority of the Austrian population are either Germanized Carantanians or Slovenians. But to publicly acknowledge this reality would mean a degradation of the cultural and historical dignity of modern Austrians. Such a "dignity" and pride should have been based on their supposed German origin, and they, of course, refuse to be "degraded" to the rank of the "Slavs".

As already mentioned before, the academic papers and their slang terms support such a viewpoint in the minds of the Austrian public. In this connection, one should expect a more critical attitude from the academicians in Austria and elsewhere, which in this case has not been met yet. Consequently, the ancient ideological stereotypes continue to be kept alive in the Austrian people's way of thinking. Sometimes the distortions border already on absurdity. In spite of this, they are presented to the public as "scientific" facts.

Many examples concerning this phenomenon could be easily proven with proper evidence. Let me demonstrate to you only one case, which I found in a paper written by Mme Brigitta Mader (Vienna). The English translation of the title is: Roman - Slav continuity in the Christian Sphere. The Continuity Problem in the Light of the Ground Finds on the Example of Carantania. The paper is listed in the miscellany section Die slawischen Sprachen (Band 8/1985, pp. 158 - 165), published by the Institut für Slawistik (University of Salzburg). After so many years, this example of ideological distortions can still be presented, because the situation did not change at all. So, guided by this concrete fall I wish to express my observations to the statements made by the authoress in her paper.

First of all, Mme Brigitte Mader denotes Carantania as a dukedom of the "Slavs". In fact, it was a dukedom of the Slovenians, whose identity she is unable to acknowledge. But in case of the neighbouring Bavarians of the same period, she is able to define them without any scruple what so ever, and she does not treat them as "Germans", or "Alpine Germans", or maybe as "Danube Germans". - Even if the language of the Slovenians in Carantania of that time should not have distinguished itself from the general Slave language (which was never proven), they had just the same already proven their national identity with the founding of a proper State. - On the other hand, in sense of such an Austrian historical "model", all modern Americans, Canadians, or Australians etc. should be identified as English, and the Mexicans, or Argentineans should be classified as Spanish, and so on.

Second, the authoress takes it for granted, that the "Slavs" invaded the Eastern Alps as early as in the 2nd half of the 6th century AD. In fact, we have no records of that, and it could also not be established by coincidence of other circumstances. But this "invasion" seems to be a standard theory of all Austrian and Bavarian historians. Even though it has not been proven, there are no specific discussions on this subject, and in this way the academic "peace" is assured.

Moreover, in spite of lacking records concerning the "invasion", Mme Mader is authoritative in such a way, that she feels confident enough to reject decisively any possible continuation of the social and national structure from the Noricum mediterraneum (Inner Noricum, the former Roman province in the Eastern Alps) into the period of later Carantania, which in the early Middle Ages arose in the same territory (p. 158). Such a possibility, expressed by Klebel (1960), she defines as "trügerisch" (deceptive). Nevertheless, she does not ground her rejection on any facts. A very uncommon "scientific" practice!

Thereafter, in the continuation of the paper, she had no choice but to acknowledge: Unfortunately, not only the period of the Slav conquest of the territory (ie., of the Eastern Alps) is characterized by complete lacking of archaeological finds... And further on: About the Slavs themselves as well as about the Avars, who advanced with them, every trace is lacking (p. 161). Nevertheless, she treats the "Avarian - Slav invasion" as a proved fact! - At this point it becomes clear, that the denial of the independence of Carantania has already been taken for granted. This is not only Mme Mader's belief, but such a denial is continuously repeated in the entire Austrian academic system. If someone has the courage to oppose this theory, he is systemically ignored.

Austrian academicians, it is true, are very industrious and they are still making important empirical researches. But they refuse to recognize the Slovenian origin of Carantania and its independence, without having serious grounds to do so. It is like an unwritten "law", to which they must submit. Like in the case of a gregarious instinct. I think, in this case it is evident that they fear the public opinion, which is still under the "successful" manipulation of the Austrian mass media.

As already quoted, the Austrian public, in contrast to the neighbouring "Slavs", has always endeavoured to represent themselves on a higher cultural level and in this way to be of a "better" origin. Of course, such a feeling cannot be described as reasonably. In an eventual public discussion, it would be revealed as pure chauvinism, and the corresponding ideological problem would have been cleared up. But such a debate will not take place, and such self-deceptions, based on ideological lies, will continue to exist in modern Austria. The suitable "scientific" slang of the academicians maintains a false peace in the consciousness of the public, who in connection with this problem feel themselves "in the right".

The ideological distortions and their consequences are evident in such a manner, that in the Austrian academic world, including Mme Mader's, they cannot be repeated self-consciously. So, Mme Mader not only repeats the falsification concerning the Avarian supremacy over the "Slavs" (Carantanians), but she even adds others, when saying: Since 740 AD, the dukedom of Carantania stays under the Bavarian - Frankish sovereignty (p. 161). Therefore, the sovereignty of Carantania, which already pricked the ancient pan-German circles, deserves to be clarified in a more detailed manner.

In the above-mentioned statement, the "Bavarian" (not a Bavarian - Frankish) sovereignty over Carantania is the first very easy demonstrable distortion. Mme Mader's quotation certainly refers to the military assistance, which the Bavarian duke gave to the Carantanians in their fight against the Avars, who in ca. 743 begun to penetrate the Carantanian lands from Pannonia. But this was in exchange for the help the Carantanians had offered to the same Bavarians many years ago in their rebellion against the Franks. However, this rebellion did not take a successful course and thereafter the dependence of Bavaria from the Frankish king became even tighter than it had been earlier.

The Frankish king was considered the protector of Christianity in Western Europe. This role acknowledged him also the Pope. Therefore, the Bavarian duke needed the king's permission before he could assist the Carantanians, who at that time still were a pagan people. The permission was granted under one condition, that the Carantanians should accept Christianity and that they should acknowledge the supremacy of the Frankish king (as the guardian of western Christianity). - I cannot detect here any "Bavarian - Frankish sovereignty" over Carantania. When I compare the situation of the other nations, the Frankish "sovereignty" extended in reality all over (western) Europe. Moreover, in 788 the same Bavarian duke was deposed by Charlemagne and he together with his entire family were locked up in a monastery. Then, Bavaria ceased for a long time to be a dukedom. This type of situation never occurred in Carantania. But this is one of the facts, which continue to be suppressed by the Bavarian as well as by the Austrian writers, including Mme Mader. Why? Because the Bavarian "sovereignty" over Carantania should be substantiated, which of course is pure falsification.

An example of such "foreign sovereignty" is also demonstrated by the Republic of Venice, which formally was subordinated to the Byzantine Emperor. In fact, Venice was an independent State. Its subordination meant the protection of the Byzantine Emperor, which he provided to the Christian nations. Likewise was the subordination of Carantania to the Frankish king. When in 800 AD Charlemagne was crowned Emperor, such a role became a political feature. It was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. In this connection not one dukedom in Europe is presented as "under Frankish sovereignty" (or for that matter "under Bavarian-Frankish" like in the case of Carantania). - Thus, the ideological manipulation concerning the Carantanian sovereignty is quite evident. Yet, because it is reported on an academic level, no one is ashamed to repeat such "scientific" facts.

In consideration of the sovereignty of Carantania, the hegemonistic Yugoslav regime of Belgrade, too, was extremely interested in its denial. Already after the WW1, Ljudomil Hauptmann, the leading historian at the University of Lublana (Slovenia), emphasised the "Avarian" predominance over Carantania, which in the following times should have been continued first by the "Croatians" and then by the "Germans". He was a vehement partisan of the Yugoslav unitarism and hegemonism, in which the history of an independent Carantania would have presented an ideological obstacle. Hauptmann's arguments were not backed up by references, and can only be characterized philosophically (ideologically), substantiated on "logical" reasons.

In the period after the WW2, Hauptmann's statements had no further intercession in Lublana. But Belgrade, evidently diligently striving to humiliate the Slovenians, continued to insist upon their dependence from the Avars. Therefore, Slovenian historians were urged to declare, that the Avars, if not Carantania, kept Carniola (the present-day Slovenia) occupied. - Several years ago, the Slovenian press opened a discussion forum, in which I and some other readers also collaborated as participants. I still remember, that our standpoint concerning the non - presence of Avars in Carniola, was rejected with a historical "fact", which the official Slovenian historians adduced. We were told, that the Frankish army, which in 791 went from Italy toward the Avars in Pannonia, only a day's walk from the Italian border met an Avarian fort (hring). Thus, because the way to Pannonia led over the present-day Lublana, it should have been evident, that Carniola was already occupied by the Avars. This data was evidently taken from the Charlemagne's letter to his consort Fastrada.

Anyway, when I later checked the quoted source, I found the following citation: sed et ille tunc ejus exercitus quem Pippinus filius ejus de Italia transmisit, ipse introvit Illiricum et inde Pannonia. This quotation shows clearly, that the Frankish army under Pipin's command took the ancient route across north Istria and Tarsatica (Reka, Fiume), and that the Avarian fort could only have existed in the present-day Croatia (Illyricum). In opposite to this, Carniola was never called Illyricum. First, it was documented in the records as Alpes Juliana and even then already as Carniola. - In the above-mentioned polemics the word "Illyricum" was simply omitted by the Lublana discussants and in this way they had a free hand to place the Avars "into Carniola"(!).

Returning to Mme Mader's paper we find out that she in some way or another adduces "Roman - Slav contacts" in the territory in question. This part of the paper is the only one, which corresponds to the contents, predisposed in the title of the paper. She asserts: ... Therewith should have been supplied but also the mission of Salzburg and, for this purpose, the by Cyrill and Methodius created Slaw Church language, with its in the Roman language basing terminology, an indirect proof for the existence of the Roman Slav continuity... (p. 161). But she is not able to support her statement with any examples of words, because she does not know the Slovenian language and not even Church Slaw. Here, her negative attitude toward the "Slavs" is quite obvious. One gets the impression, that she does not write out of her own cognisance but in sense of the prevalent ideology.

By continuously reading such slang, used over and over by Austrian academicians, one must ask oneself, if the Austrian academic papers publish only accidentally and through ignorance such obsolete distortions in such a persistent way? Has nobody in Austria ever heard something about a bias? Apart from this, Brigitta Mader's above-mentioned paper is also faulty in such a way, that with regards to its scientific criterium it should not have been released in an academic publication at all. When, in spite of this, such materials are made public, we are entitled to question the motives, if this occurred by following the directives of certain circles, which are financing the Austrian academic institutions? A legitimate question, because in all Austria we do not encounter materials, which are written in a fair manner.

The distortions are directed in particular towards the Slovenians, but on the second thought also towards other Slav neighbours of modern Austria, that at one-time pertained to the Danube Monarchy: Czechs, Slovakians, Poles, Croatians... The reason seems to be incredible: chauvinism? Nevertheless, in regards to the very agitated nationalistic past one can only come to the conclusion, that in this way a false sense of being a "better being", in contrast to the "inferior" Slavs, must have been continuously exercised in the consciousness of the common Austrian people. Sometimes, the rancour of the Austrian oligarchy, in particular towards the Slovenian people - irrespective of Mme Brigitta Mader - appears like paranoia.

If in Austria such a practice and thinking is still diffused, the idea of good understanding and collaboration in Middle Europe, which in this country is a fashion, in fact is only a bluff. I think, in this way, the role that Austria plays in Middle Europe, in consequence of its central geographical position and historical tradition, will be at loss for a second time (like in the case of the one-time Ostmark). It is very probable, that the new centre of Middle Europe will become the much more mundane Prague.

A Sorrowful Anniversary

Marking the seventieth anniversary of the prohibition of the use of the Slovenian language in the churches of Benecija (Friuli)

Dr. Jožko Šavli

In the summer of 1933, the churches of the Slovenian communities of Benecija (Slavia), located with the Italian Archdiocese of Udine, were forbidden to use the Slovenian language. The Fascist regime of that time suppressed the use of Slovenian in all Slovenian schools and other institutions of public life. Under the Lateran agreements with the Catholic Church, the fascist regime became suspicious of churches, which conducted sermons, prayers and singing in the Slovenian language.

While the Fascist squadrons attacked the Slovenian liturgy in the churches of Littoral and Istria, the area's bishops rose to defend the rights of the Slovenian faithful. This was not the case, however, in the Archdiocese of Udine, where in 1928 the newly appointed Archbishop, Giovanni Nogara, not only supported this illegal action but actively exiled Slovenian-speaking priests to the parishes in the Friulian territory. Non-Slovenian priests were appointed to replace them.

	*Ivan Trinko ( 1863 - † 1954), priest, poet, historian, translater, publicist, teacher of philosophy at the Seminar of Udine. He was considered a leader of the Slovenians of Benecija (Friuli).**

While the Vatican was well aware of the situation it did not take any steps to intervene. By 1936, Mons. Ivan Trinko, a leader of the Slovenians of Benecija, had already sent a second letter to Pope Pious XI outlining the tremendous difficulties arising from this interdiction. The priest's letters went unanswered. The text of the letter, originally written in Italian, was taken from the work "Od duoma... ", Edited by Ferruccio Clavora (Cividale 1977).

Most Holy Father,

In the name and on behalf of the Slovenians living in the Archdiocese of Udine and on behalf of their priests, the humble undersigned dares for the second time to throw down to the feet of Your Holyness and to rise to You a warm and trustful request, to arrive in help to these your devoted souls, abandoned of all and deprived of their sacrosanct rights, and of what they hold most dear and vital, the religious instruction.

There was forbidden the reprint of their Slovenian text of religion and the copies of the previous editions were confiscated, even if they were fittingly approved by the Church authorities. It was imposed on them the instruction and the preaching in the Italian language, a language which, in spite of any contrary affirmation, is ignored by the largest majority of them; it was forbidden to pray and to sing in the church in the language, which God gave them and which they always used, since the ninth or tenth century.

Now, after these radical and unjust changes, sad to say, the things of which we were most afraid began to happen, and what was foreseen as the inevitable consequence of the fatal abolition of the mother tongue in the church. The children are growing up ignorant of the most elemental truth of the faith and of moral principles; the youth of both sexes, without the habitual religious directives have begun to disband and immorality is penetrating them rapidly. The parents, who do not understand the admonitions and incitements of the priests, do not sufficiently grasp the importance of the obligation to take care of their children; the priests are discouraged by the sterilities of their efforts and they do not say what to do, for they are watched and have already had infinite admonitions and persecutions from the side of the police.

The churches that, until recent years resounded with ancient devout songs (some of them dating back to the XV and XVI century) and which were filled up with prayers in common, are now dumb with the desolation. The people have no motif to participate, because it is not possible, neither the Rosary nor the Stations of Cross, neither the telling of one's beads, nor other devotions which since time immemorial were made in the unique language known by the grand mass of the faithful.

During the same Mass, the male element is indifferent and remains outside the church, while the women, during the preaching, are drowsing or reading, if they have their Slovenian prayer-books.

The spiritual exercises cannot be carried out any more, nor the Catholic Action, because it is requested that all of it be done in the Italian language. There remains the confession only, where the priest can freely speak in the language of the people; but the frequency of the sacraments is diminishing in a noticeable way.

The good people, who are still in the majority, have begun to lament out loud and without fear regarding their sad religious conditions. They feel persecuted and injured, in living and seeing how the Friulian priests were imposed on them and who wholly ignored the local language, while their Slovenian priests are sent to Friuli. Thus, even the Holy See, after laments from some years ago, had guaranteed that this would not occur until priests were available who could speak the people's language. Even among the complacent can be found a deaf bad mood and irritation, which makes them speak badly about the Church and the Pope and ask, if the churches have become the schools of the Italian language instead of places of prayer.

Most Holy Father, Father of all faithful, come help the Slovenians, because they do not flee in faith and customs and because they, in these very sad times, do not become a terrain of plots and easy conquests from the side of subversive elements, who have already made attempts at penetration. These poor people, persecuted from the one side and abandoned from the other, will finish with hatred for the authorities - political and religious - and one already notes a living resentment and a sensible alienation of the souls, harmful to both religion and patriotism.

Holy Father, do not allow these hidden calamities, remove the reasons which produce them, and give back to our people the right to hear and to pray to God in their own language.

With greatest confidence in Your help, prostrated on Your Sacred feet, I kiss them and implore you, for me and for all those who represent your apostolic benediction.

Udine, September 18, 1936

Of Your Holiness most humble and most devoted servant

pr. Giovanni Trinco, honorary canonical and professor at the Seminary of Udine

All this occurred under Pope Pious XI, who already in 1931 published the encyclical Quadrogesimo anno, and in 1937 another encyclical called With deep anxiety (Mit brennender Sorge). Their contents were disseminated through the Catholic apparatus. In the encyclicals Pope Pious XI summonsed to the "rightness", and people all over the world understood his words as a condemnation of both the Communist and Nazi ideologies. Ironically, he did not follow the directions contained within his own encyclical, as evidenced by Benecija, where this rightness was violated in a very brutal way. It can be not true that Pious XI was not aware of the situation there, because in 1931, in a compromise with the Fascist regime, he deposed the Archbishop in Gorica and in 1936 the Bishop of Trieste.

After the Second World War and after the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, Archbishop Nogara († 1955) continued to appoint non-Slovenian speaking priests to Benecija and to deploy the Slovenian-speaking ones in Friulian parishes. So too, did his successor Archbishop Zaffonato. With rare exceptions the terror continued. For example, in 1961 in the parish of St. Lenart (San Leonardo) pr. Gorenszach was fined 50 lire by the Archbishop after giving a funeral eulogy for pr. Luigi Faidutti during the Mass, marking the 30th anniversary of his death. (cf. Ferruccio Clavora and Renzo Mattelig, "Slavia", Cividale 1994, p. 47).

These sad events were never reported by the Catholic press, in fear that the faithful could have lost confidence in the Church. If it was so, why did the Vatican sit quietly in view of the events in Benecija without taking measures contained in the Pope's own encyclicals?

Even to this day, of all the Pope's speeches or apologies, which have addressed all manners of bad deeds perpetrated by the Church hierarchy, none has ever addressed the crimes, which occurred in Benecija or excused them. Moreover, only in the local church bulletin called "the Dom", appeared an article in memory of the 70th anniversary of this catastrophic event. Of course, without making accusations of the archbishopric of Udine and of the Vatican.

Trgovska akademija - Handelsakademie

The bilingual Slovenian-German commercial college

in Klagenfurt - Celovec (Austria),

a role model for a bilingual Europe

	Klagenfurt - Celovec, chieftown of Carinthia (Austria) and home of the Bilingual Commercial College, "Handelsakademie - Trgovska akademija" (HAK - TAK), that attracted international attention because of its unique pedagogical model of instruction.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

In no other country except in Carinthia (Austria), the German-Slav ideological conflict was in full swing during the decades prior to WW1, causing heavy consequences. After the WW1, in 1920, a plebiscite was held in the Slovenian speaking territory in southern Carinthia. The population went to the polls and voted to either remain in Austria or associate with the new constituted Yugoslavia. The majority of five percent decided for Austria, which, after WW1, shrank from its former empire to a German speaking territory.

The German national circles in Carinthia welcomed this decision as a triumph of the German national idea. Since then, Carinthia's entire structure of official politics was more or less directed to gradually suppress the Slovenian language in the country. It is true that public schools offered a course to learn Slovenian, but parents had to register their children for the program. However, those mothers and fathers, who depended on their job, felt the intense pressure applied on them by their employers, and they did not dare to enrol their children in the Slovenian language class. Not even the Catholic Church persisted on a Slovenian catechizing, albeit they had the possibility. The catechizing was carried out in German.

Only the independent farmer had the courage to register his child for the Slovenian language lesson. The labour class gradually became Germanized. Moreover, for decades, the German national propaganda incessantly operated through the mass-media in sense of publicly humiliating of Slovenian language. It was scornfully called "Karawankenfranzösich" (Karavanke-mountain French). Living in such an atmosphere, people did not dare to speak Slovenian in public.

After the WW2, when Austria was occupied by the allied forces of America, Great Brittain, France and Russia, a bilingual German - Slovenian elementary school was introduced in southern Carinthia. At the Austrian International Treaty in 1955, the country regained its independence and declared neutrality. Soon after, bilingual schools in southern Carinthia were suppressed again. It became law to register all children, who enrolled in the Slovenian language program.

Nevertheless, a Slovenian gymnasium was founded in Klangenfurt - Celovec. The Slovenian community demanded a bilingual gymnasium, which only was functional in relation to the subsisting conditions. However, in 1957 the Department of Education granted the foundation of a gymnasium in which the basic language for teaching should be Slovenian. In their opinion the institution would soon dissolve due to insufficiency of enrolments. Nevertheless, the gymnasium lived up to its expectations and developed very nicely.

In the decades to come, the only humanistic education given at the Slovenian gymnasium did not suffice anymore the needs of the Slovenian community. It was in the 70s, when they requested the foundation of a Slovenian commercial college. In that period, bilingual German - Slovenian inscriptions were put forward by the board in several villages in southern Carinthia. It dealt with the obligations contained in the aforesaid Austrian International Treaty. The German nationalistic circles organized a protest march against the bilingual inscriptions and succeeded to have them removed.

	On the right: the entrance to the building, which is housing both, the Slovenian Gymnasium and the Bilingual Commercial College.

	On the left: the tract pertaining to the bilingual commercial college, and in the centre a photo of its directress, Mag. Maja Amrusch - Hoja.

The nationalistic atmosphere heated up anew and the Department of Education was not willing to grant permission for a Slovenian commercial college. Nearly two decades later, the commercial college was finally founded in Klagenfurt - Celovec, in 1990. It was a bilingual Slovenian - German institution with a prosperous future. The direction was entrusted to Mag. Maja Amrusch - Hoja. It was not an easy task that she took on. In Carinthia, there were already several commercial colleges, two of them existed also in Klagenfurt- Celovec. The most important thing in such a situation is to assure a sufficient number of enrolments.

A great echo

Cover page of Report, i.e., the yearly report of the Bilingual Commercial College (HAK - TAK)

With specializing in educational programs, the bilingual commercial school broke the ideological and nationalistic barriers. Instructions were given in Slovenian and in German at the same time. In which way? The teacher started out by explaining the subject in Slovenian (or in German), after a certain time he continued in German, then again in Slovenian... The linguistic way of expressing oneself was completely free. Apart from commercial subjects, special attention was also paid to Italian and English. The bilingual HAK - TAK (Handelsakademie - Trgovska akademija) entered with its hi-quality trade experience the Alpe - Adria area.

The bilingual HAK - TAK school model soon provoked attention in neighbouring countries: in Friuli (Italy), Slovakia, Czech, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland... Indeed, with this institution of economic studies Austria appeared in the forefront of Central Europe. Its voice reached also Brazil, where the federal province of Minas Gerais founded a bilingual commerce college designed after this model, with languages of instruction in Portuguese - Italian, and Portuguese - English. All over the world, the bilingual college of Klagenfurt - Celovec received recognition as the sign of a modern and efficient Austrian school system.

Nevertheless, within the country there existed also conservative nationalistic circles in the Liberal Party (Freiheitliche), who opposed. In 1994, they filed a formal charge against the directress, Maja Amrusch-Hoja: she should have misused her position by accepting enrolments of several students from Slovenia at the college, creating in this way unecessary costs for the Austrian taxpayer. The inquest lasted several months. Finally, the investigations brought the results that the directress did not proceed in an illegal way. The Minister of Education, Mrs. Gehren, gave the respective declaration also before the Austrian parliament, in June 1995.

After this episode, the idea of a common Alpe - Adria area and a common Europe gradually prevailed in the public mind of Carinthians. Nevertheless, the lack of information in regards to their Slovenian neighbours remains in the minds of the German speaking majority. In the past, enormous amounts of material about the nationalistic ideological legacy were written in German language. These materials, which are still in use in the school system and in the mass media, make Carinthia lag behind the European trends.

After the decline of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the HAK - TAK college with its bilingual education acquired a new, a more advanced role on the European extent. In Eastern Europe Slav languages are prevailing, and Slovenian forms a bridge of knowledge for them. In this way, the image of Carinthia plays an important role even for the bilingual college.

History of Carinthia

Alter Wein in neuem Gebläse?

Dr. Jožko Šavli

In all sincerety, I hardly could wait to get my hands on the great volume entitled "Geschichte Kärntens - das Mittelalter" (History of Carinthia - the Middle Ages), written by Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld and published in Klagenfurt in 1984. This sounded like a very good book. But after reading page after page, I remained somewhat disappointed.

First of all, the authoress is unable to distinguish between the conception Slavs and Slovenians. It is unknown to her that, at least in the Early Middle Ages, Slovenians were already present on this territory. Therefore, she wrote only about "Slawen" (Slavs). Thus, the reader imagines that the "Slawen" of early Carantania were the same as those under the Ural Mountains or anywhere else. Opposite to this, the authoress distinguished very well the Bavarians, and she did not confuse them with the Germans in general. I think, such a denial of Slovenian national identity can only have an ideological reason, similar to the classic nationalistic times of the ancient Austrian Monarchy.

With regards to Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld's chapter (p. 49) entitled "Das slawische Fürstentum Karantanien, bis 740" (The Slav Principality of Carantania, until 740 AD) she creates the impression that the Carantanian princes and dukes of this period are not of Slovenian origin, but they are Slavs in general. Nevertheless, she let govern some of them also after 740 AD, i.e., in the "German" period of Carantania, when this state associated with the (European) Frankish Empire. Soon after, this empire (since 800 AD) was called the Roman Empire, and later the Holy Roman Empire, as to emphasize, that it was first of all a community of Christian kingdoms and duchies, in defence against the Islamic threat to Europe.

Second, she does not understand Slovenian words and names. So, on the same page she repeats the completely unverified statement that the Slovenian word "kralj" (king) derives from Karl (Charlemagne). She is unable to distinguish between the roots of such Chauvinistic interpretation before WW1 and true history. During that period falsified Slovenian history was written by Germany historians. They officially denied a Slovenian statehood and dukes of Slovenian origin. According to them, Slovenians were only tribal herds without history and without a king. The first known king to them should have been Charlemagne, the powerful king of the Frankish Empire, whose German name Karl they adopted in the form kralj. Nevertheless, the etymon "kralj" (it means "elected") was also known to other Slave peoples, who never were under the sovereignty of Charlemagne and the Franks (?)!

The Slovenian names represent a very problem for the Carinthian historian lady. She does not know Slovenian, but she evidently thinks, that she is able to interpret some of them at least. For example, she feels qualified to explain the name of the mountain ridge Dobrac (in German writing Dobratsch, now Germanized as "Villacher Alpe"), found in the background of Villach - Beljak. Obviously, the name derives from the Slovenian word "deber" (in dialect also pronounced as "dober") meaning a rocky precipice. Indeed, such precipices appear on the southern side of this mountain ridge. The authoress but explains the name Dobrac as "pertaining to the Good Village" (der zum Gutendorf Gehörige), confusing the word "deber" with "dober" (gut, in German), which in Slovenian really means "good". Thus, she cannot imagine the original form "deber" and its very meaning.

Other Slovenian names do not make minor difficulties for Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld. She adduces, for example, the name Heunburg (Haimburg) in eastern Carinthia, in Slovenian Vovbre (she intentionally writes: v'Obre, interpreting it with "to the Avarians"), and the name Abriach, Obrje in Slovenian, situated in the Juna Valley. In her opinion such names provide proof of Avarian domination over Carantania in its early period (until Samo, in 631). The name Obrje is simply a reduction of the more original Obbrdje (a site close to a hill), and has nothing to do with the Avars.

	View of Obir (Hochobir), whose summit is called Ojstrc (1241 m). The German Austrian nomenclature explains this name as Ober (Avarian) and provides it as "proof" of early Avarian occupation of Carantania (Carinthia). What should the Avars have done on this mountain with their heavy cavalry?

Anyway, the Avarian domination was never proven by any historical sources and not even by archaeological findings. At the utmost, the name Heunburg - Vovbre could be explained as a stronghold for marches toward the Awars, who menaced Carantania from Pannonia. The authoress tries to "proof" the Avarian domination with another name: Obir (Hochobir, 1241 m), explaining it in a naive way as Ober (Avar, in Slovenian). For the authoress, the early Avarian domination is "confirmed" by such names. But one has to ask himself, what could the supposed Avars, the people from the steppe with heavy cavalry, have done at the high mountain called Obir? Bequeath their "name" there? Count the stars?

Obviously, the Carinthian historian lady adopted the thesis of the Avarian domination over Carantania together with "proofs" of older historical material, issued by authors, who wrote their papers from the anti-Slovenian ideological standpoint. But nowadays, writers make certain that their papers do not appear as "ideologie-verdächtig" (suspect of ideology). With regards to the Avarian domination and its "proofs", Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld is only able to copy from ancient materials without taking a critical approach. Thus, a simple bias.

Third, the "Slav" mania pursues the authoress throughout her book. She is not able to pronounce the word "Slovenian". Not even, when it comes to a simple Slovenian name. For example, she quotes the name Priewald (p. 184) and states that it descends from the Slav (in fact Slovenian!) prevalje. Better said preval, i.e., a passage between two valleys. Further on, she adduces (p. 263): ... the predicate "von Drauburg" (Unterdrauburg, today Yugoslavia). But the site Drauburg, in Slovenian Dravograd, is found only a few kilometers from the Carinthian/Austrian border in Slovenia (then still under Yugoslavia). By quoting "Yugoslavia", the site could be also located in Macedonia or Montenegro, pertaining at that time to Yugoslavia, too. - On the other hand, when she quoted the name of the site Moggio, she did not simply write that it exists "in Italy", but she correctly said "in Friluli". - Evidently, Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld refuses everything in context with Slovenia, so that she will not even pronounce its name. Such ideological attitudes are not permitted in a modern scientific style.

Further, another weak part of the book is also the genealogy. In this regard, the authoress copies only the ancient ideological explanations. For example, when she says:... a Frankish family of Spanheim, originally from the middle Mosel Valley, gained a foothold in Carinthia (p. 135). Completely wrong! Only one member of this family, Siegfried Spanheim, married Richgard, a Carinthian lady. Thus, he only became a son-in-law of the consort's family. But their son Engelbert married Hedwig from the Carinthian ducal family, and Hedwig's and Engelbert's son Henry IV succeeded the ducal throne, in 1122.

On another occasion, the authoress adduces the source Vita Chunradi (ca. 1170) and she is surprised herself to find out, that this unique source does not quote, that with Henry IV "another family" took over the ducal throne in Carinthia. There was only one and the same unique ducal family, which in this case was succeeded by Henry IV, the son of Hedwig and Engelbert. This was legal in sense of the Carinthian law (institution Sclavenica), which, in confront to Germanic laws, made succession also possible in the female line (Hedwig's son). Obviously, Claudia Fräss-Ehrfeld does not get the idea. A historian must be aware of these facts, and should not try to Germanize the Carinthian history in search of "importing" a line of the Sponheims (Spanheims) from Rhineland to Carinthia.

Historian publications like this one, containing enormous paranoid attitudes toward the Slovenians, who are closely bound with the Carinthian history, cannot be a serious contribution to a common European idea. In particular, it does not help in the creation of a common Alpe-Adria area, of which even in Carinthia one is so willing to speak and to write. What a pity!

Power of Patriotism

	(Moc domoljubja)

	•	A new book was issued, concerning the movement of the Slovenian patriotic resistance in Littoral against the Italian Fascist regime between WW1 and WW2. The movement, called TIGR, collaborated with the British "Secret Intelligence Service".

	•	On the right, Rutar's monument which was inaugurated in Nova Gorica on April 27, 2003.

Dr. Jožko Šavli

A book was published in Koper/Capodistria concerning the TIGR movement, a patriotic resistance against the Italian Fascist regime before WW2. The denomination TIGR is an abbreviation for "Trst, Gorica, Istra, Reka" (Trieste, Gorizia, Istria, Fiume), i.e., the provinces, where the majority of people is of Slovenian origin. The Fascist regime strongly prohibited to speak Slovenian in public, in order to Italianize the Slovenian population as soon as possible.

Concretely, the book, written by Dr. Mira Cencic, is based on notes collected by Anton Rutar (1901 - 1996), and is dedicated in his name. He originated from the mountain village of Cadrg, which is found above Tolmin in the upper Soca (Isonzo) basin. By profession he was a teacher. Above all, the recent book presents the patriotic activity of this man throughout his long life. He was a member of TIGR, whose leaders collaborated with the British secret services. However, the main purpose of his mission was to be active among the Slovenian people of Littoral in their effort to withstand the violent policy of Italianization carried out by the Italian Fascist regime.

It is very interesting to know, that the TIGR movement fought for annexation of Littoral, Trieste and Istria to Yugoslavia. This aim, except for the cities of Trieste and Gorizia and their surroundings, was accomplished after the WW2 with the peace treaties of 1947 (Paris) for the province of Gorizia, and 1954 (London) for the province of Trieste. But in post-war (Communist) Yugoslavia, members of TIGR did not receive any recognition what so ever for their fight against the Italian Fascist regime, although their goal was to annex the occupied territories to Yugoslavia. Moreover, it was impossible to publish books, erect memorials or write articles about the TIGR movement.

In this connection, it was rumoured, that the Communist Party was the only organization that successfully fought against the Fascist regime. Therefore, the Yugoslav Communist regime acknowledged only fights that were fought by Partisans from 1941 onwards, whereas members of TIGR fought against the Fascist regime already since 1924. In the post-war Yugoslavia, the reigning Communist Party should have the priority in the anti-Fascist resistance.

For many years total silence prevailed over the TIGR movement, not even a hushed conversation could be heard. That was the time, when Anton Rutar went by bicycle from house to house and untiringly collected and registered testifying statements from ex-members of TIGR. Living in an atmosphere of terror, he had to surmount first the general mistrust, before he could collect data about their activity. Only after Slovenia's independence in 1990, was it possible to make free statements about TIGR. Nevertheless, by that time only a hand full of TIGR members were still alive. In the same Littoral, two or even three generations grew up without any knowledge concerning the fights of their ancestors for freedom and against the denationalization under the Fascist regime. In that time, the collected material from Anton Rutar became a precious document.

One is asking himself, why did the Communist regime in Yugoslavia totally suspend the information about TIGR after WW2? - There were rumours, that around 1947, or soon after, a contract was signed between Belgrade and Rome. In sense of this contract, Italy should not make any official demands of retribution on Yugoslavia concerning the victims of war during the brief occupation of Trieste by the Yugoslav army, in 1945. On the other hand, the Yugoslav regime should not present requests of retribution in regards to war damages and war crimes caused by Italian occupation on Yugoslav territory during the WW2. This agreement should also include total suppression of the Slovenian patriotic TIGR fight from the public.

Another reason why TIGR should not get any publicity was, that the TIGR leaders and the politicians from Littoral, who were connected with this movement - most of them exiled in Yugoslavia between WW1 and WW2 - collaborated with the western secret services, above all with the British Secret Intelligence Service. From the several groups of this service, Section D collected the most data from the TIGR members. In Slovenia, before the WW2, the Section D representative was A. C. Lawrenson, professor of English studies at the University of Ljubljana.

The head and ideological leader of the TIGR movement was Albert Rejec (1899 - 1976) from Tolmin. Dr. Lavo Cermelj (1889 - 1980) and Dr. Ivan M. Cok (1886 - 1948), both from Trieste, and Dr. Ivan Rudolf (1898 - 1962) from Št. Vid (Podnanos), were the most important politicians, who represented Slovenians of Littoral in the exile of Yugoslavia. The leader of armed activity was Danilo Zelen - Blondi (1907 - 1941) from Senozece, whose family too was exiled in Ljubljana. The TIGR members received from the British army explosives and other materials, and carried out several actions of sabotage, particularly on railways, even in Austria (near Judenburg), which since 1938 was occupied by Germany. In Littoral, they burnt several Italian schools on Slovenian sites. But they avoided to provoke human victims. In 1941, when Italy occupied Ljubljana and its surroundings, Danilo Zelen and two of his comrades were encircled by the Italian army in the proximity of Ribnica. In the fight, Danilo Zelen was shot to death.

These data are not mentioned in the recently published book "Moc domoljubja", but they are in other publications, as the magazine "Rodoljub" for example, which appears twice a year in Koper. Of particular interest is the book by Gorazd Bajc called "Zapletena razmerja" (Complicated Relations, Koper 2000), from which we learn, among others, that in 1940 the British secret services were re-organized. It founded a Special Operations Executive (SOE), which included as collaborators also some TIGR members.

During the WW2, the majority of the TIGR members passed over to the Partisans. However, because of their Slovenian patriotism, they were constantly seen as suspects by the Communists, who held the control over the Partisan resistance against the Fascist and Nazi occupation of Slovenia. They were faithful to Stalin and Tito, and therefore, their regime in post-war Yugoslavia was hostile toward the western Allies. Indeed, the one-time relation with the British secret services became a reason to persecute several of them. Albert Rejec, the TIGR leader, was arrested in Belgrade under the accusation to be a British spy. Only the intervention of Ivan Regent, a high Communist functionary, originally from Trieste, saved his life. And so on...

The present book, in fact a biography of the TIGR member, Anton Rutar, is only a piece in the great mosaic of numerous men and women from Littoral, who made every effort for a better life and freedom. A mosaic, which the Yugoslav Communist regime covered with silence for decades. Nevertheless, the cultivation of this field is not finished yet.