5
'
Fig 1. The glorified page in honor of Franz Joseph's birthday (Tedenske
slike - Weekly Pictures, August 16, 1916). A photograph with the
grandson and patriotic song May God Sustain Austria. The approach was
similar in all newspapers during his long regime. Till his death and even
afterwards - practically until the end of World War I - Franz Joseph was
synonymous with the so-called "good old times" for the majority of
Slovenes - the same attitude was actually spread throughout the empire. Loyalty
to the Habsburg Monarchy was one of the basic characteristics of Slovene
consciousness, particularly expressed among politicians and the clergy,
but no less among ordinary people. It was systematically built through the
school system, public life, especially through celebrations, holidays,
anniversaries etc.
6
Fig. 2: Slovenes strongly supported the Austro-Hungarian Declaration of War with
Serbia and the corresponding propaganda was very strong. "Serbien muss sterbien" is a
well known motto from postcards and cartoons of that time (published in Hans Weigel,
Walter Lukan and Max, Peyfuss, Jeder Schuss ein Russ, Jeder Stoss ein Franzos,
Wien 1983). In the Slovene oral version this motto was changed considerably into an even
more chauvinistic motto: "Srbe na vrbe”, which means "Hang Serbs on willow trees"
[Serben gehören an Weidenbäumen erhängt]. In Yugoslavia such events later became the
subject of many disputes and one of the proofs for the Serbian side that Slovenes belonged to
the occupiers. According to them, Slovenia was actually saved by Serbia with the
incorporation into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Slovenia was
therefore to be grateful, remain silent and pay the price, both economic and political, for its
attitude.
3
3
Vasilij Melik, Božo Repe, Franc Rozman: Zastave vihrajo. Spominski dnevi in praznovanja na Slovenskem od
sredine 19. stoletja do danes (selection of illustrations and subtitles Darja Kerec). Modrijan. Ljubljana 1999. The
text was originally published in the book Öffentliche Gedenktage in Mitteleuropa, Böhlau Verlag Wien, 1997,
edited by Emil Brix and Hannes Stekl).
7
Fig. 3: When things changed during the war, Austria and the Habsburgs slowly
but surely changed into antagonists and then enemies. One of the first signs was
the announcement that the omnipotent German bridge to the Adriatic coast was
rocking. Cartoon by Hinko Smrekar, published in Kurent's album in 1918 shows
a Slovene farmer, tied like Gulliver, chained to the ground. The tied giant wants
to stand up. Troops of Germans and their adherents («nemškutarji«) are passing over
him, but their carriages and coaches are falling down. The subtitle is Roar, roar
the Adriatic Sea, you were and will always be Slavic.
8
Fig. 4: Simultaneously, a certain distance towards former idols can be
observed. A Slovene soldier before the end of the war in 1918 far-sightedly
subtitled a propagandistic postcard with portraits of Austrian military leaders with the
comment: "Greatness of former Austria" In: Slovenska kronika 20. stoletja [Slovene
Chronicle of the 20th Century], part 1 (Ljubljana 1995) 192.
9
Fig. 5: A very short time later triumphant and ironical feelings were shown, for
instance in this obituary, published in the satirical journal Kurent in 1918, which says:
"After a long, painful disease Austria expired its dirty soul" In: Slovenska kronika 20.
stoletja 1, 201.
10
Fig. 6: And a variation of the same topic. Finis Austriae. In:
Slovenska kronika 20. stoletja 1, 201.
11
Fig. 7: Pro-Austrian or pro-German feelings became something to be ashamed of, they
were slightingly named as "aystrijakarstvo". Slovene intellectuals turned toward France,
while the German language almost ceased to be a school subject between both
World Wars. But on the other side - as is shown by this caricature by Hinko Smrekar
from 1921, before a new, centralist constitution was adopted - expectations from the new
state were great, idealized and naive; in the new state there was little knowledge about the
Serbs and about South Slavic nations in general.
12
Fig. 8: This simple mindedness passed quickly, as is illustrated in another caricature - "United
Yugoslays": In: Slovenska kronika 20. stoletja 1, 223.
Naturally, a negative thought pattern developed concerning the former state; even after
the collapse of socialist Yugoslavia, which became synonymous with 'Balkanism',
'Byzantinism', etc. It was a state, which during the time of its existence, economically and
politically limited the Slovenes and prevented them from attaining independence, and in a
cultural sense kept them on a lower level, i.e. in a different cultural circle, one to which
the Slovenes were not supposed to belong. This was all the easier since Yugoslavia was a
communist, or rather a socialist state and thereby an excellent target for double criticism:
national as well as ideological.
It is already forgotten that Slovenes believed in Yugoslavia for a long time and that they
had invested a lot of energy in its planning and development. But on the other side, the
Yugoslav federation had never been able to function in the course of its existence without
the compulsory cohesive measures from outside or internal factors. When these fell away
(the decline of socialism and the lifting of the Iron Curtain, the disintegration of the party
and of the army) it could not find a democratic alternative for its existence. The fear of
and opposition to establishing any institutional ties with the Balkan states has to be
regarded in the light of this experience. It is a general opinion that such a process might
cause the country to slip from its status of a state "bordering on" the conflict area to that
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