Vprašanje domoljubja na Slovenskem v času Kraljevine Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev/Jugoslavije 1918–1941

Abstract

THE QUESTION OF PATRIOTISM IN SLOVENIA IN THE TIME OF THE KINGDOM OF SERBS, CROATS AND SLOVENES / YUGOSLAVIA 1918–1941

In the First Yugoslavia the understanding of the values of patriotism at the intersection of Slovenianism and Yugoslavism divided the Slovenian politics with regard to the extremely important national question into two strictly separate sides. The first, most visibly represented by the liberal politics, argued for the Yugoslav unitarian and centralist viewpoint. Despite individual assurances about the observance of the Slovenian cultural tradition it expressed the renunciation of the Slovenian patriotic feelings, which it replaced with Yugoslav patriotism. The other side supported the autonomist-federalist standpoint. On the basis of a resolute defence of the Slovenian national individuality it demanded a federal transformation of the Yugoslav state and establishment of an administratively united and autonomous Slovenia with its own parliament and government. The most prominent representative of the Slovenian autonomist-federalist patriotic viewpoint was the strongest Slovenian party – the Catholic Slovenian People's Party. When World War II engulfed Slovenia, the circumstances of the perception of the patriotic consciousness changed drastically. Its character and significance were now defined by the war and characterised by the ethnocidal occupation and multi-layered Slovenian actions.