CURRENT EVENTS
25th St. Martin’s Day in Banja Luka
We spent this year’s 25th annual St. Martin’s Day in a somewhat different, yet still uplifting atmosphere. On the third Saturday in November, we gathered with many old and new friends to celebrate the day of wine at the Aquana restaurant in Banja Luka. President of the association Mladen Lunič opened the event by addressing the attendees, which was followed by a the Davorin Jenko Mixed Choir and then the children’s folklore group, with the latter receiving a massive applause. The traditional baptism of wine was performed humorously by the association’s old friend Peter Kirič from Ormož and winegrower Miran Trop together with his son.
A new book by Dr. Marjan Štrum presented
On the first Monday in November, he Slovenian Association for International Relations, the Institute for Ethnic Studies and the Slovenian Emigrant Association held an event on the premises of the Slovenian Emigrant Association at Linhartova 13. Those attending could listen to the presentation of a new book by Dr. Marjan Štrum entitled Identity without an enemy: From confrontation to peacekeeping (Identiteta brez sovražnika: od konfrontacije do mirovnega posredovanja in Slovene) and a debate dubbed Austria after the election – The power of freemen. As stated in the introductory address by Daniel Grafenauer from the Institute of Ethnic Studies, the author tackled a difficult area of relations between the Slovenian minority and the German-speaking majority in the 1970s. Dr. Boris Jesih voiced his belief that Šturm’s dialogue culminated in a favorable atmosphere in Koroška, while his success within the minority was not as pronounced.
GENERATIONS
Dr. Matjaž Klemenčič, “A researcher should never check the time.”
Dr. Matjaž Klemenčič is a professor, historian and publicist with an exceptional oeuvre of publications as well as scientific and academic articles. He studies the history of Slovenian emigrants and their ties with their homeland, focusing particularly on the history of Slovenian settlements in the USA. In his interview for Rodna gruda, he touched upon his research, educational work, preserving national identity among Slovenian emigrants in the USA and his take on the fate that struck Carinthian Slovenians.
CULTURE
The only place I feel at home is in Slovenia
Ksenija Majcen spent half of her life living abroad, namely in four countries spanning across two continents. She lived in Yugoslavia and Slovenia, the German Democratic Republic, the USA and Austria. She recounts the part of her life that she spent in East Berlin in her autobiographical story entitled An escape without limits (Pobeg brez meja in Slovenian), which was published this year by the Slovenian Emigrant Association. But there is a continuation to her story. In this edition of Rodna gruda, she talks about the events that followed her escape from Berlin – from school and work in the USA and her return home to the publication of An escape without limits.
SLOVENIAN WONDERS
Mystical landscape of the Cerknica Lake
»I can say without an ounce of modesty that the Cerknica lake is a wonder of nature – without any bias, the lake can be classified as one of the greatest wonders of nature nature,” Johann Weikhard von Valvasor wrote in the year 1686 to put on paper the greatness of the Cerknica lake – the largest intermittent lake in Europe – alongside the wonders of the world. To learn why it is so worth visiting, we asked around at the Notranjska Regional Park.