on which Carantanian princes were enthroned The present-day Slovene-speaking area was initially settled towards the end of the early medieval
Migration Period by, among others, the
West Slavic peoples, and thereafter eventually by the
South Slavs, who became the predominant group (see
Slavic settlement of Eastern Alps). A South Slavic informal language with western Slavonic influence arose. At the end of the migration period, a Slavic proto-state called
Carantania, the precursor of the later
Duchy of Carinthia, arose; it extended far beyond the present area of the present state and its political center is said to have lain in the
Zollfeld Valley. In the mid 8th century, the Carantanian Prince
Boruth, embattled by the
Avars, had to pledge allegiance to Duke
Odilo of Bavaria. The principality became part of
Francia and the
Carolingian Empire under Emperor
Charlemagne, and, in consequence, was incorporated as the
Carinthian march of the
Holy Roman Empire. As a result of this,
German noble families became gradually prevalent, while the rural population remained Slavic. Finally,
Bavarian settlers moved into Carinthia, where they established themselves in the hitherto sparsely populated areas, such as wooded regions and high valleys. Only here and there did this lead to the direct displacement of Slavs (the development of the Slovene nation did not take place until later). A language border formed which kept steady until the 19th century. The local capital
Klagenfurt, at this time a bilingual city with social superior German usage and Slovene-speaking environs, was also a centre of Slovene culture and literature.
Carinthian Plebiscite With the emergence of the
nationalist movement in the late
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, there was an acceleration in the process of assimilation; at the same time the conflict between national groups became more intense. In the course of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of
World War I, the Carinthian provisional assembly proclaimed the accession to
German-Austria, whereafter the newly established
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs for a short time occupied the districts where the greater majority still used Slovene. Armed clashes followed and this issue also split the Slovene population. In the plebiscite zone in which the Slovene-speaking proportion of the population constituted about 70%, 59% of those who voted came out to remain with the
First Austrian Republic. In the run-up to the plebiscite the state government gave an assurance that it would promote and support the retention of Slovene culture. These conciliatory promises, in addition to economic and other reasons, led to about 40% of the Slovenes living in the plebiscite zone voting to retain the unity of Carinthia. Voting patterns were, however, different by region; in many municipalities there were majorities who voted to become part of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (mainly in the south). Initially, the Slovene community in Carinthia enjoyed minority rights like bilingual schools and parishes, Slovene newspapers, associations and representatives in municipal councils and in the
Landtag assembly.
Interwar Period Similar to other European states,
German nationalism in Austria grew in the
interwar period and ethnic tensions led to an increasing
discrimination against Carinthian Slovenes. Promises made were broken, assimilation was forced by dividing the Carinthian Slovenes into "nationalist" Slovenes proper and "Germanophile"
Windisch, even by denying that their language – a
Slovene dialect with a large number of words borrowed from German – was Slovene at all.
Nazi persecution and anti-Nazi resistance during World War II The persecution increased with the 1938
Anschluss and escalated in 1942, when Slovene families were systematically
expelled from their farms and homes and many were also sent to Nazi concentration camps, such as
Ravensbrück, where the multiple-awarded writer
Maja Haderlap's Grandmother was sent to. Following the Nazi persecution, Slovene minority members – including the awarded writer
Maja Haderlap's grandfather and father – joined the only Anti-Nazi military resistance of Austria, i.e.
Slovene Partisans. Many returned to Carinthia, including its capital Klagenfurt, as part of Yugoslav Partisans. Families whose members were fighting against Nazis as resistance fighters, were treated as 'homeland traitors' by the Austrian German-speaking neighbors, as described by Maja Haderlap, On 15 May 1955, the
Austrian State Treaty was signed, in Article 7 of which the "rights of the Slovene and Croat minorities" in Austria were regulated. In 1975, the electoral grouping of the Slovene national group (
Unity List) only just failed to gain entry to the state assembly. With the argument that in elections the population should vote for the political parties rather than according to their ethnic allegiance, before the next elections in 1979 the originally single
electoral district of Carinthia was divided into four constituencies. The area of settlement of Carinthian Slovenes was divided up and these parts were in turn combined with purely German-speaking parts of the province. In the new constituencies, the Slovene-speaking proportion of the population was reduced in such a way that it was no longer possible for the representatives of national minorities to succeed in getting into the state assembly. The Austrian Center for Ethnic Groups and the representatives of Carinthian Slovenes saw in this way of proceeding a successful attempt of
gerrymandering in order to reduce the political influence of the Slovene-speaking minority group. bilingual place-name sign, one of the few in southern Carinthia In 1957, the German national
Kärntner Heimatdienst (KHD) pressure group was established, by its own admission in order to advocate the interests of "
patriotic" Carinthians. In the 1970s, the situation again escalated in a dispute over bilingual place-name signs (
Ortstafelstreit), but thereafter became less tense. However, continuing up to the present, individual statements by Slovene politicians are interpreted by parts of the German-speaking population as Slovene territorial claims, and they therefore regard the territorial integrity of Carinthia as still not being guaranteed. This interpretation is rejected both by the
Slovene government and by the organizations representing the interests of Carinthian Slovenes. The territorial integrity of Carinthia and its remaining part of
Austria are said not to be placed in question at all.
Current developments Since the 1990s, a growing interest in Slovene on the part of the German-speaking Carinthians has been perceptible, but this could turn out to be too late in view of the increase in the proportion of elderly people. From 1997, Slovene and German traditionalist associations met in regular roundtable discussions to reach a consensus. However, the success of
Jörg Haider, former
governor of Carinthia from 1999 to 2008, in making again a political issue out of the dispute over bilingual place-name signs showed that the conflict is, as before, still present. ==Area of Slovene settlement and proportion of the population==