»Hail to the youngest German town of the Styrian periphery!«

The administrative elevation of Šoštanj from a market town to a town in May 1911

Abstract

The article deals with the administrative elevation of Šoštanj from a market town to a town with an imperial decree of 27 May 1911. It presents the reasons why the elevation took place and how as well as outlines the entailing economic, political, and cultural changes. Thus, the article highlights the economic development of Šoštanj, the administrative division of the Šalek Valley, and the growing Slovenian-German national conflict, which developed in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. In addition, the article aims to demonstrate the complexity of the legal change in the status of the settlement and its elevation during the time of Austria-Hungary.