Relations between Austria and Slovenia

The events of the 20th century and their consequences had a fatal impact on the social context, cross-border relations and geographical space spanning Austria and Slovenia. They made a particularly large impact on the Slovene ethnic community in Austrian Carinthia and Styria, and on the German-speaking community in Slovenia.

Historical events that have left the area deeply traumatised and which gave rise to a contradictory and often conflicting culture of remembrance include: the post-World War I border disputes, the so-called “Carinthian Defence Fight” or “Fight for the Northern Slovene Border” on the Slovenian side, Nazism and the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia, the Partisan resistance, the Yugoslav occupation of Carinthia, and the new border disputes following World War II, the post-war massacres and the communist regime in Slovenia, the issue of minority rights of the Carinthian Slovenes, Austrian-Yugoslav (Slovenian) relations during the Cold War, and also the issue of the “German-speaking minority” in Slovenia after 1991.

Stereotypes shape the relations between the neighbouring countries and their policies towards minorities

The negative and even hostile image of Germans/Austrians in Slovenia and Slovenes/Yugoslavs in Austria is the result of interpreting history through a national and/or nationalist prism. In Europe, the notions that developed in the mid-nineteenth century, at the beginning of the formation of modern nation states, still prevail. National stereotypes between neighbouring nations play a big role in this. The “national” understanding of social developments in the Alpine-Adriatic geographical space was reinforced in the twentieth century with the two world wars, and is only slowly and with difficulty receding into the background. When there are certain “disturbances” in the relationship between two neighbouring countries, these feelings come to the surface, mainly in the form of mistrust towards the neighbouring nation. The divergence of political opinions is particularly evident with regard to the issue of the attitude of the Republic of Austria towards the Slovenian ethnic community in Carinthia and Styria and the attitude of the Republic of Slovenia towards the German-speaking ethnic community in Slovenia.

German-speaking community in Slovenia

It is well known that the umbrella organisation of the German-speaking ethnic community in Slovenia is not satisfied with the regulation in the bilateral cultural agreement between Slovenia and Austria, which in its Article 15 refers to the inclusion of cultural, educational, scientific and other projects of the German-speaking population in Slovenia in inter-state relations. In addition, the Austrian Parliament has repeatedly called for the recognition and regulation of the minority rights of the German-speaking community as are already in place for the Italian and Hungarian national communities living in Slovenia.

Currently, the Ministry of Culture has a Working Group for a permanent dialogue with representatives of the German-speaking ethnic community in the Republic of Slovenia, which is important as it gives the community an interlocutor an the national level. I see the fact that the Austrian and Slovenian peoples were unable to find a common language after the tragedy of the two world wars as a historical defeat. The historical and cultural links between the two countries make it essential that the German-speaking community in Slovenia be preserved and nurtured. To this end, rapid steps forward are needed.

The near disappearance of the German minority in Slovenia

After the World War II, the German minority in Slovenia suffered the fate of many German communities across Europe. Because of their Nazification prior to and during the World War II and their collaboration with the Nazis, the Germans in Slovenia have been collectively blamed and often victims of vengeful acts for the crimes committed by Hitler’s regime. After the expulsion of most Germans in 1945 and 1946 (most of them fled for fear of retaliation by the new authorities, but there were also numerous extrajudicial killings, executions, harsh treatment in camps and forced evictions), only a small number of members of the pre-war German national minority remained in Slovenia.

The German community in Slovenia after World War II

The German community in Slovenia (i.e. persons of Austrian and German nationality and persons with German as mother tongue) in the post-World War II period was characterised by its small number, dispersion and, to a large extent, “non-nativeness”, as around 70% of those who declared themselves to be German-speaking or Austrian or German in the 2002 census were not born in Slovenia. In terms of ethnic vitality, i.e. sheer number, group life and the preserving of an ethnic community, the German-speakers do not seem to be in a good position to achieve the conditions for a successful long-term survival.

The dispersed settlement of Germans, Austrians and people with German as mother tongue has “some practical opportunities for preserving their own ethnic and cultural identity”. These include the possibility of learning your mother tongue from primary school onwards, where German is the mother tongue, second or elective language. The possibility of learning German exists more or less throughout the territory of the Republic of Slovenia. This practice continues in secondary schools and some colleges.

Since Slovenia’s independence, the Gottscheer community in Občice has been active, particularly in the field of cultural activities.

Let diversity unite Europe

The 10 or so societies and associations that bring together the German-speaking community in Slovenia or are involved in preserving German culture are not unanimous in their views on what protection the community needs. Nevertheless, I believe that state institutions must provide the conditions for the cultural diversity and the diversity of ethnic composition (e.g. the remnants of the Gottscheers and the Germans) in Slovenia to be preserved and nurtured. The recommendations and opinions of the Commission of Experts on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Slovenia also go in this direction.

Today, the geographical area of Europe includes more than 300 different ethnic, religious and cultural-linguistic national groups, comprising around 104 million people (Europe’s current population totals approximately 900 million). This is why Europe pays special attention to minority issues. Europe’s democratic future lies in recognising Europe’s national communities and its various minorities, and in “generously” addressing the issues involved. Solutions must be found by recognising our common history and the qualities that bind us together and build trust between our peoples. Commitment to rigorous implementation of the legislation adopted ultimately contributes to a more prosperous and attractive Europe for all its citizens.

This article was written within the project The Weight of the past. Heritage of the Multicultural Area: Case Study of Gottschee . The authors acknowledge the project (The Weight of the past. Heritage of the Multicultural Area: Case Study of Gottschee, J6-4612) was financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency.

Read more about the activities of the Gottscheer native sttlers here.

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On the main road through the village of Občice in the municipality of Dolenjske Toplice stands a restored, blue-painted old farmhouse. Since 1998, it has housed the Society of Native Gottschee Settlers. The society was founded in 1992 and promotes and preserves the cultural heritage of the Gottschee region. The main activities of the society include a folklore and singing group, the publication of the newspaper “Bakh – Pot“, German and Gottscheer language courses and children’s workshops. In 2014, an orchard was planted next to the main building, where old varieties of fruit trees typical of the Gottschee region are preserved. The association also actively participates in the Days of Gottschee Culture, an event starting in 2015 alternately organised by the municipalities of Kočevje, Dolenjske Toplice and Semič.

The redesign of the ethnological collection of the Gottscheers in Občice

Co-workers in the arrangement of the Gottscheer collection

Within the framework of the so-called student project for sustainable development “Ethnological collection of Gottscheers and the walking path among old varieties of fruit trees“, funded by the University of Ljubljana, the already existing ethnological collection and the orchard of old varieties of trees were reinterpreted and redesigned. The students who participated in the project, which started in June 2023 and ended in September 2023, were Jana Rajh Plohl, Pika Pipan, Gaja Slapnik, Klara Vrabl and Kaja Večko. The project leader was Dr. Anja Moric from the Department of Ethology and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. Other co-mentors of the project were Dr. Tanja Žigon, Department of Translation at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, and Primož Primec, the President of the Society of Native Gottschee Settlers. Urška Gruden from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana was responsible for the administration and coordination of the project.

The process of setting up the ethnological collection of the Gottscheers

In the attic of the main house, the outbuilding and under the adjacent hayrack, we have set up a collection of objects used by the Gottscheers from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century in their work in the fields and in their daily lives, such as dormouse traps, scales, agricultural tools, beehives, etc. In addition, two models of Gottschee villages made by forester Anton Prelesnik are exhibited in the outbuilding.

The students conducted several interviews with Gottscheers from Občice and the surrounding area and, as far as possible, recorded Gottscheer expressions for the exhibited objects. Nowadays only a few can speak the Gottscheer language. In the interviews we inquired about their daily life, customs, beekeeping, fruit trees, etc. Through the conversations with the locals, we learned firsthand how the people of the Gottschee region used to live. Sometimes the conversation also revolved around the differences between generations. In one of the interviews with Johannes Hans Jaklitsch, the topic of pasture farming came up. We compared how differently young people grow up today. Mr. Jaklitsch regretted that the games that children used to play in the pasture are no longer played by the younger generations.

Translation work

During the project, two students from the Department of Translation translated a section from the book “Abbildung und Beschreibung der südwest- und östlichen Wenden, Illyrer und Slaven” by Balthasar Hacquet. In it Hacquet described the Gottscheers; therefore the texts were also used for the exhibition panels. This was the first time we were confronted with a 19th century German text that had to be translated into Slovenian. Although we updated the text for today’s readers, we tried to keep the original writing style, as we felt it was important to preserve it. Later, all the texts on the exhibition panels, which were originally written in Slovenian, were translated into English and German. In addition, the project produced an information brochure for visitors about the ethnological collection and the orchard, also in three languages.

Anyone interested in the historical and ethnological features of the Kočevje region, such as: dormouse hunting, peddling, waggon driving, fruit growing, etc., is invited to visit the renovated ethnological collection and the orchard with old fruit varieties of the Association of Gottscheer Native Settlers, which was opened on September 18, 2023.

The authors of the article, Klara Vrabl and Kaja Večko, are students at the Department of Translation Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.

In September 2023, 130 years have passed since the arrival of the railway in Kočevje. Read more.

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Church life played a very important role in the integration of the first immigrants from Kočevje in the USA and for their adjustment to life in a new environment. The first meeting center of the New York Gottscheers was the All Saints Church in Brooklyn. Since 1886, when the first Gottscheer couple married there, the number of Gottscheer marriages has steadily increased. They reached a peak in 1907 with 46 marriages, which represented more than half of all marriages in the parish on an annual basis.

Couples would most often marry two or three years after arriving in America, even if they have not yet solved their residence problem by the time they got married. By the end of 1908, 817 Gottscheer marriages had been conducted in All Saints Church. While Gottscheer men married exclusively Gottscheer women, while Gottscheer women sometimes wed an outsider.

Following 1930, the All Saints Church lost its importance for the Gottscheer community, as Brooklyn was just a stopover for many, from where they scattered across the USA. By the 1930s, most of the Gottscheers from Brooklyn had moved to Ridgewood (Queens).

Gottscheer Hall Club House – a community centre: Ridgewood, Queens

The Gottscheer community in Ridgewood grew in numbers, especially after the World War II, when Gottscheer refugees from the old homeland joined their American compatriots. In the 1950s, when America opened its doors to them, the Gottscheers, who had spent the first post-war years mostly in Austrian refugee camps, once again left in large numbers for the Promised Land. The so-called “Gottscheer Hall” Club House became the heart of the community, where members of various clubs and interest groups such as the hunting club, choir, football club, dance group and others still meet.

The clubhouse accommodates rooms for various activities, a large hall for events and dancing, and a bar. The Gottscheer club is full of memorabilia of the “old homeland”. The main wall of the large hall is decorated with an image of the town of Kočevje, a large map of Kočevje hangs in the bar, and there are also images of Kočevje villages. On the street lamp next to the entrance of the society’s premises hangs the symbolic inscription “Gottscheer Avenue”, although this is not the official name of the street.

Today, not only Gottscheers visit the Gottscheer Hall. The ground-floor bar is also popular with other Americans who want to relax with a “Gottschee 1330” beerstein or a Carniolan sausage. The large hall, which is used several times a year for various events (dances, Christmas celebrations, etc.), can also be rented out for weddings and other events. This covers the maintenance costs of the clubhouse. In the past decades, the number of the Gottscheer community in New York has declined significantly due to the assimilation and displacement of younger generations.

Gottscheer Volksfest – Gottscheer Picnic

In June 1947, the Gottscheer Relief Association organised the first ever Gottscheer Picnic in the Franklyn Square to raise funds for the relief of the Gottscheer refugees in Austria. The music and dance event is now held every year on the first Saturday in June. Today, the event is an important element of the social life of the Gottscheers, as it is an opportunity for members of the community to come together in large numbers. It is marked by a procession of flags and colours of Gottscheer organisations, performances by dance groups and a choir, while the crowning of “Miss Gottschee” is one of the most attention-grabbing events After dancing to the sounds of the accordion, visitors also like to refresh themselves at the sausage stall with sausages, pastries or American sandwiches.

Sources:
– Hutter, Martha. 1999. Die ersten Amerika-Gottscheer. Festschrift: 80 Jahre Gottscheer Landsmannschaft in Graz. Gradec: Gottscheer Landsmannschaft in Graz.
– Moric, Anja. 2014. Domovina globoko v srcu: Kočevski Nemci v diaspori. Etnolog: https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:doc-CQV11TNM/6aa9d7f7-e8dc-4f26-acd6-f072cf26c4bd/PDF
– Moric, Anja. 2016. Slovenski Nemci v diaspori : doktorska disertacija. Doktorska disertacija. Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani.

If you are interested in the Gottscheers in New York, you can find the story of the Gladitsch family at this link, and you can read more about the Gottscheers in Cleveland here.

The post Where do Gottscheers Live around the World? – Part II: Gottscheers in New York appeared first on Gottscheer blog.

Emigration from Kočevska region

Although the history of the Kočevska region was tragically marked mainly by the emigration of Gottscheers during the World War II in 1941/42, emigration, as elsewhere in Carniola, was particularly high during the global economic crises. From the mid-19 th century until the 1930s, Gottscheers went abroad seeking one’s fortune. The modest natural conditions (karst terrain, lack of water and arable land, etc.) and the unfavourable economic situation in Kočevska region were the main reasons for the mass emigration to the USA, where it is believed that more Gottscheers lived before the World War II than in Kočevska region. Until the World War II, Gottscheers were leaving for European countries as far away as the Czech Republic, mainly as hawkers. In the major cities of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, some even opened their own shops, while others left in search of an education.

Gottscheers in Cleveland

Gottscheer Kalender from 1926 reports that the first four Gottscheers that came to the USA left in 1853. A little less than 30 years later, around 1880, there were reportedly already a large number of Gottscheers in Cleveland, who were employed in the local industrial companies. In Cleveland, where there was little or no social support for workers from the state, the First Gottscheer Society was founded by Gottscheer industrial workers as early as 1889 – Erster Österreichischer Unterstützungs Verein, literally translated as the First Austrian Mutual Aid Society. After the World War II, in March 1946, the Society, together with another Gottscheer Society, the Deutsche Österreichischer Unterstützungs Verein, also based in Cleveland, founded the Gottscheer Relief Committee. The new organisation was set up to help the Gottscheers in Europe who were left without a homeland after the war. In 1955, the two societies merged to form the Erster Österreichischer Unterstützungs Verein, abbreviated EOUV, which is still active today.

In 1983, with the voluntary work of its members and donations, the society built a new cultural centre or club with a football pitch, a pavilion and a caretaker’s house. At the Gottscheer Park, visitors can stroll through a grove of trees, through which the Gottscheer Weg walking path leads. The club has a brass band, a dance group and a choir.

The Gottscheer women are particularly proud of the society’s Ladies Auxiliary women’s section, which today caters for the cuisine and culinary delights at various events. At the beginning of the 20 th century, women were also politically active, as women in Cleveland, like men, organised to fight for more workers’ rights.

The club’s activities used to include other activities, such as a theatre group and a winter sports group. Founded in 1953, the football club was still active in the 1980s under the name Blau-Weiss Kickers, or the white and blue Kočevje colours.

Sources:
– Sieder, Joseph at al. 1989. 1889-1989 E.O.U.V.
– Ferenc, Mitja. 2005. Kočevska – pusta in prazna. Ljubljana: Modrijan.

In the next article, you can learn where else you can find Gottscheer communities. About the activities of Gottscheer soccer players here.

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Who would have thought that one of the least attractive matches of the championship on paper, between two opponents who are not among the world’s top football teams, would attract the attention of soccer fans in Kočevje. During the 36 th minute of the match between the USA and Wales, when young USA forward Timothy Weah dexterously took a pass from a teammate on the edge of the penalty area and beat the Welsh goalkeeper with the outside of his foot to score the Americans a 1–0 lead. You will say nothing special. And you would be right if the son of the Liberian President, who is also considered by far the best football player in Liberian history, George Weah, was not in question. With this, 20-year-old Timothy recalled the golden days of his legendary father, who in 1995 won the most prestigious individual award in the world of soccer, the Ballon d’Or for the best soccer player on the planet.

And why is this soccer player important for Kočevska region, or how is he connected to it in any way? The answer is simple: he is the first (former) soccer player from the Blau-Weiss Gottschee Soccer Club from New York to score in the biggest football championship in the world! Timothy was a member of the New York club’s youth team from 2010 to 2013, where he learned his first soccer skills. Although he has only played for the club in the youth divisions and has never played for them at the professional level, it is a great recognition of the successful work of this USA team with Gottscheer tradition.

Gottscheer Soccer Club in New York

The Blau-Weiss Gottschee Soccer Club was founded in 1951 by a group of immigrant Gottscheers in New York. The founders set it up to “revive the spirit of their homeland”. The club was already successful in its early years in competitions of German clubs in the USA, and soon won the right to compete in US national championships. From the very beginning, they have focused on the systematic development of young players who have gone on to enviable careers at major clubs.

In the first decades, the club was dominated by players of Gottscheer descent or had at least distant Gottscheer roots. This practice has since changed, and today the majority of the team is made up of USA soccer players. Blau-Weiss Gottschee currently has 26 active teams in different age categories, 20 in men’s and six in women’s competition. As a branch, the club is closely linked to one of USA’s most famous soccer clubs, the New York Red Bulls of the elite American MLS league, where it serves as a talent incubator.

As mentioned above, Timothy Weah is the greatest jewel of the youth school of the Gottscheer club, but among its most outstanding “products” are some players who have made a strong mark in the US and internationally. In particular, Mike Windischmann, who even captained the US team at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Matteo Ritaccio, who currently plays for the youth team of the English giant Liverpool, and Joey Fink, who was a teammate of the famous Pelé in the mid-1970s.

Joey Fink – a Gotscheer Who Played alongside Pelé

The greatest soccer player of all time, the legendary Pelé, has recently left us. Given that the famous Brazilian virtuoso played for only two clubs in his entire soccer career (his home club Santos and the New York Cosmos), there are few former soccer players still alive who can boast of having been his teammates. One of the lucky ones is Joseph “Joey” Fink, an American of Gottscheer descent, who shared a locker room with the King, as the Brazilian was nicknamed, at the New York club for a few months.

Born in New York in 1951, the 71-year-old Fink’s surname suggests that his ancestral roots are in Kočevska region. Fink’s parents moved to the USA from Smuka in Kočevska region in 1950, so that Joey was born just a year later in one of the world’s biggest cities. At the age of eight, as a descendant of the Gottscheer people, he started practising soccer with the Gottscheer club Blau-Weiss Gottschee, where he stayed until the age of 20. He then enrolled to New York University, where he continued to play soccer until, in 1973, he was offered his first professional contract by the New York Cosmos, worth $2,100 per season.

Fink played for the Cosmos as a forward from 1973 to 1975, and in his final season was joined by Pelé, the world’s most famous soccer player at the time. Joey scored 20 goals in the strongest American league, which also earned him six appearances for the US national team. He played 12 games with Pelé. After the New York club brought in Giorgio Chinaglia, a well- known Italian forward, Fink was traded to the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Nevertheless, the honour of playing with the world’s first true superstar is something that even much more famous soccer players than him can envy the American Gottscheer.

This is how Joey Fink remembers the great Pelé: “He was sociable, relaxed and charismatic. He knew how to make us all feel comfortable in his company. He was always smiling, a real people’s man with the quality of a world star. Even though he was already in his mature soccer years when he came to us, at 35 he was still an outstanding soccer player with flashes of brilliance.”

Gottscheers Kicked around in Cleveland as well

Around the same time as in New York, descendants of Gottscheers founded their own soccer club in Cleveland. The Gottscheer Soccer Club was founded in 1953 and Arnold Mausser became its first president. At first, it had only four Gottscheer descendants playing there, but over the decades it has welcomed players from different ethnic backgrounds into its ranks.

The club was conceptualised on the model of the Austrian giant (Austria Soccer Club) from Vienna, and that is why its players initially wore purple jerseys, inspired by the famous team. The Gottscheer team from Cleveland had a good record in the early years of its existence, winning the 1956 Ohio State championship. Many other successes and prizes followed, which also secured the club the right to compete at the US national level.

In the meantime, the club changed its name to German-American Sport Club for sponsorship reasons. In 1985, they moved to Novelty, Ohio, where they have been coaching and playing home games ever since. It currently has a men’s and women’s team, a men’s reserve team and a veterans’ team.

Sources:

• Blau-Weiss Gotschee Soccer Club Facebook page, accessible viahttps://www.facebook.com/BlauWeissGottschee/
• Blau-Weiss Gotschee Soccer Club website, accessible via https://bwgottschee.org/
• New York Red Bulls Soccer Club website, accessible viahttps://www.newyorkredbulls.com/
• Wikipedia site, accessible via https://www.wikipedia.org/
• Sieder, Joseph at al. 1989. 1889-1989 E.O.U.V.
• Online conversation with Joey Fink.

Read more about soccer in Gottschee before the Second World War here.

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We left Austria in 1956 for America, when I was 4 years old. My parents lived in Gottschee until 1938 when my father opened a clothing store in Ljubljana, where he sold clothes made by the Kresse company in Gottschee. When the second world war ended my parents were living in Jesenice and their Slovenian friends suggested that it was best for them to flee the country, so my parents packed up and left. My father drove his “Holtz Gazer” truck across the border with a few personal belongings.

The main cherished items thereof, which I still own are family photographs made by my father in Gottschee and also bound in a book format, original “Gottscheer Kalendars” from 1921 to 1941 which my mother received from her father, who was a teacher and writer, he wrote articles for the “Gottscheer Kalendar.” The “Gottscheer Kalendars” were annual magazines with articles, poems and pictures about life in Gottschee.

Living in a Gottscheer community in Ridgewood, New York

We arrived in the United States and found an apartment in a six family apartment house owned by the Michitsch family who also came from Gottschee 10 years earlier. On our street in Ridgewood, New York, there were other Gottscheer families with the surnames, Kikel, Loser, Tramposch, Jurkowitsch and Urbanitsch. One could hear Gottscheerisch being spoken in the neighborhood on a daily basis.

Gottscheer Club in Ridgewood

Once a week my sister and I would go to the Gottscheer Clubhoose, our community center, to sing in the “Kinder Chor” where we would learn German and English songs for the annual performance in a Brooklyn concert hall. At the community center also called “Gottscheer Halle” there are club meetings for the “Blau Weiss Gottschee Fussball Verein”, “Damen und Maenner Chor”, “Gottscheer Relief” founded to help immigrants from Gottschee, the “fishing and Hunting Club’, and the “Bowling Club.” At the bar in the “Gottscheer Hall” Mr. Samide would bring his accordion and play Gottscheer and Slovenian melodies for the patrons who were drinking beers and talking Gottscheerisch.

In the Clubhouse there is a big room for weddings, dances and parties. By the bar there is a big framed map of Gottschee and near to the entrance there are photos of women who were “Miss Gottschee” at our annual picnic, where thousands of people of Gottscheer heritage still meet annually and enjoy accordion music, eat Roast beef, “Krainerwurst”, “Pobolitzen” and apple strudel. In the spring time every club sponsors a dance where we dance to polkas, waltzes and popular American music.

We moved four different times in Ridgewood, each time to a bigger and better house but what is interesting is that wherever we moved in Ridgewood there were always Gottscheer people living nearby. Some of the surnames of the new neighbors were, Stalzer, Siegmund, Stampfel, Kostner, Stritzl, Lukan, Morscher, Morschner, Petschauer, Hutter, Maurin, Krainer and Stiene.

The Christian Holidays are celebrated in Ridgewood with German Mass at St. Mathias Church, St. Nicholas Day at the Gottscheer clubhouse and Easter weekend with blessing of Easter food at the four catholic churches in my New York City neighborhood.

Keeping contacts with Gottschee

My uncle Albert Loser was a writer for the “Gottscheer Zeitung” newspaper, because I studied photography in college and became an avid photographer, he published my photographs of Gottscheer events in the monthly newspaper. Now I have a Gottscheer internet site: www.gottschee.us where I publish subject matter relevant to the Gottscheer community and my documentary videos can be viewed on Youtube in the “Gottscheerisch” Channel. By travelling to Slovenia every year I also enjoy photographing and videotaping the scenery where Gottscheers lived for 600 years.

I have friends and relatives who also publish information about Gottschee on the internet so therefore our cultural heritage passes on to the next generation who speak and read mainly English. Thousands of people left Gottschee for the new world abroad but many of their cultural activities, customs and language are still practiced and carried on to the next generation, thanks to the democratic aspect of the internet where everyone can broadcast information freely.

John B. Gladitsch shared with us his experience of living in a Gottscheer community in the United States. You can also read Urška Kop’s post about the activities of the Gottscheer – natives from Občice (Krapflern).

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