Prekmurje

The municipalities of Slovenia in Prekmurje

Prekmurje (dialectically: Prèkmürsko^[1] or Prèkmüre) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region settled by Slovenes and lying between the Mur River in Slovenia and the Rába Valley (the watershed of the Rába) (Slovene: Porabje) in the most western part of Hungary.^[2][3] It maintains certain specific linguistic, cultural and religious features that differentiate it from other Slovenian traditional regions.

Name

It is named after the Mur river, which separates it from the rest of Slovenia (a literal translation from Slovene would be Over-Mur or Transmurania). In Hungarian, the region is known as Muravidék, and in German as Übermurgebiet.

The name Prekmurje has been introduced relatively recently. Before 1919, the Slovenian-inhabited lands of the Vas County in the Kingdom of Hungary and Austria-Hungary were known under the name Slovene March or "Vendic March" (in Slovenian: Slovenska krajina, in Hungarian: Vendvidék). The part of modern Prekmurje that belonged to the Zala County (the area between Lendava, Kobilje and Beltinci) was not considered to be part of the Slovenian March. However, until the early 19th century, this region of the Zala county belonged ecclesiastically to the Archdiocese of Zagreb and in the legal documents of the Archdiocese it was called as "Transmurania" or "Prekmurje", that is the "territory on the other side of the Mur river". After 1919, this name was rediscovered and introduced again, now for administrative purposes, by the new Yugoslav administration. It however did not gain much popularity among the locals: the name "Slovenian March" was still used by the local inhabitants till mid 1920s, but was later replaced by the term "March of the Mur" (Slovenian: Murska krajina), which became the most used name for the region till World War II. The current Hungarian name for Prekmurje, Muravidék, still dates from that period and is a translation of the Slovenian Murska krajina. It was only after World War II that the name Prekmurje became predominant and quickly replaced all previous denominations.

Nowadays, the older term Vendvidék still exists in Hungarian, but is used only for the small settlement area of Hungarian Slovenes between Szentgotthard and the Slovenian border, that was assigned to Hungary after 1919.

Geography

The region is divided into three geographical subregions: hilly area to the north of Murska Sobota, known as the Goričko; the eastern flatlands strching between the Mur River, known as Ravensko (literary, "The Flatlands"), and the western lowlands around Lendava, known as Dolinsko (literary, "The Lowlands"). North-east of Lendava, there is a small hilly sub-region, known as Lendava Hills (Lendavske Gorice).

The administrative and commercial centre of the region is the town of Murska Sobota. The only other bigger town is Lendava. Other larger rural centres are Dobrovnik, Turnišče, Beltinci, and Črenšovci.

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  The Ravensko (Flatland) sub-region of Prekmurje near Moravske Toplice, north-east of Murska Sobota

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  The landscape in Goričko sub-region of Prekmurje, in the municipality of Grad

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  The Lowland sub-region of Prekmurje (Dolinsko), near the border with Hungary

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  The Lendava Hills (Lendavske Gorice) in winter

Population

A typical rural house in Prekmurje.

The majority of the inhabitants of the region are ethnic Slovenes. There are also a sizable Hungarian and Roma minorities in the region.

In 1921, the total population of the area numbered 92,295 people, including 74,199 Slovene speakers, 14,065 speakers of Hungarian, and 2,540 German speakers. Since then, the number of Hungarian speakers has been falling slowly but steadily. The German-speaking community, which used to be concentrated in three villages near the Austrian border and in Murska Sobota, was either assimilated or left the area after World War II.

Since the early 1950s, Hungarian has had co-official status in the areas of traditional settlement of the Hungarian minority. Three municipalities (Lendava, Hodoš and Dobrovnik) are completely bilingual, while two (Šalovci and Moravske Toplice) are only partially. Two municipalities, Hodoš and Dobrovnik, have a Hungarian majority.

Prekmurje has traditionally been the most heterogeneous Slovene region regarding religious affiliation. Besides a Roman Catholic majority, there is a significant Protestant (mostly Lutheran) minority, concentrated in the Goričko hills, which represents between one fourth and one fifth of the population of Prekmurje. Three municipalities have a Lutheran majority (Puconci, Gornji Petrovci and Hodoš), while in Moravske Toplice, Lutherans form just under a half of the population.

Before World War II, there used to be a significant Jewish community, as well, mostly concentrated in the towns of Murska Sobota and Lendava (see also: Lendava Synagogue). In the 1930s, two thirds of all Slovenian Jews lived in Prekmurje. Most of them perished in the holocaust. There is also a significant presence of Roma people in the region, making Prekmurje one of the two major settlement areas of Slovenian Romas (the other being Lower Carniola).

History

see also Slovene March (Kingdom of Hungary), Republic of Prekmurje

Principality of Lower Pannonia under prince Koceľ (9th century)

Kingdom of Carantania

The region has had a turbulent history: it has been inhabited since the Stone Age, it was later included into the Roman Empire and subsequently into the Odoacer's Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Kingdom of the Lombards, the Kingdom of the Avars, the Slavic state of Samo, the Frankish Empire, the Principality of Lower Pannonia (9th century), and Arnulf's Kingdom of Carantania (9th-10th century). In the late 10th century it was invaded by the Hungarians and was under administration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary until the 16th century, when former territories of this kingdom were divided between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. Since then, Prekmurje was mostly under administration of the Habsburg Monarchy, with brief periods of Ottoman administration. Following the dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918, the region was firstly included into the Hungarian Democratic Republic and subsequently into the Hungarian Soviet Republic. In 1919, it proclaimed independence as the short-lived Republic of Prekmurje and was subsequently included into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia). From 1941 to 1945, Prekmurje was temporarily occupied by the Axis Powers and in 1945 it was included into the new socialist Yugoslavia. Since 1991, it is part of an independent Slovenia.

During the Roman administration, the region was part of the province of Pannonia. Although, earlier Slavic settlements had existed in the area, the ancestors of modern Slovenes moved from eastern Alps and settled in Prekmurje after Franks defeated the Avars during the reign of Charlemagne. In the 9th century, this area was part of the Slavic state known as the Principality of Lower Pannonia. The center of this state was in the city of Blatnograd near the Balaton lake. The principality was later dissolved and integrated in the Kingdom of Carantania established by the German Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia. This political entity in which all the ancestors of modern Slovenes were united under one ruler was soon destroyed by the Hungarian invaders who conquered the Pannonian plain and who incorporated Prekmurje into the Kingdom of Hungary. The area inhabited by Slovenes shrank to the present extent by the end of the 12th century and has remained stable since. In the 11th century, during Hungarian administration, the region was part of the Kolon county. Between 11th century and 1526, it was divided between Vas County and Zala County. In the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, during the collapse of the central power in the Kingdom of Hungary, the region was part of the domain of semi-independent oligarch Henrik Kőszegi.

In 1526, the region of Prekmurje came under Habsburg administration, although some villages were under Ottoman administration during short periods between 1566-1688. During Habsburg administration in the 16th-17th century, the region was part of the Captaincy between Balaton and Drava within the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. For a short time, Beltinci, under the name Balatin, became the sanjak center of the Ottoman Kanije Province. In 1687, the Vas and Zala counties were restored: with the small interruption from 1849 to 1867, most of Prekmurje belonged to Vas county except for Lendava district, which was part of Zala county until 1918.

Map of the short-lived Republic of Prekmurje (1919)

After the end of World War I and dissolution of Habsburg Monarchy, following brief period of administration of independent Hungarian state and creation of a short-lived Republic of Prekmurje that emerged in midst of the chaos of the Hungarian Revolution of 1919, the region was captured by Yugoslav troops and incorporated in the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). In 1918 the catholic politicians and József Klekl aimed to design an autonomous entity or independent state, with the name Slovenska krajina. Between 1919 and 1922, the region belonged to the Maribor county, between 1922 and 1929 to Maribor oblast, and between 1929 and 1941 to the Drava Banovina with the capital Ljubljana. During World War II, it was occupied and annexed by Horthy's Hungary from 1941 to 1944 and by Nazi Germany between 1944 and 1945. It was liberated by Soviet troops in May 1945. After the war it became part of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, which was one of the newly formed republics of Yugoslavia.

Administrative division

Prekmurje is part of the Pomurska statistical region, also known as Pomurje or "Mura Region", which includes two historical regions: Prekmurje and the Prlekija sub-region.

Prekmurje is divided in 19 municipalities:

• Beltinci
• Cankova
• Črenšovci
• Dobrovnik
• Gornji Petrovci
• Grad
• Hodoš
• Kobilje
• Kuzma
• Lendava
• Moravske Toplice
• Murska Sobota
• Odranci
• Puconci
• Rogašovci
• Šalovci
• Tišina
• Turnišče
• Velika Polana

The languages of Prekmurje

Main article: Prekmurje dialect

Mikloš Küzmič′s Catechism in Prekmurjen from 1804

The majority of the population of Prekmurje uses Slovene, either in its standard form or in its regional variant, the Prekmurje dialect, while notable part of local population speaks Hungarian or Romani.
As the region was for a notable amount of time part of the Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg Monarchy and Ottoman Empire, the Hungarian, German and Turkish language were traditionally used in the area. After the political changes that occurred in the end of the 17th century, the speakers of Turkish language disappeared from the area, while political changes of the 20th century caused disappearance of the speakers of German and decrease of the number of speakers of Hungarian.

The Prekmurje dialect served for a long time as the regional language of the Prekmurje region and of the Slovenes in Hungary. It had a codified standard language, and even a tiny own literary corpus of around 2-300 works. However, after the 1930s, and especially after the end of World War II, the use of the written Prekmurje dialect declined drastically, but it was not entirely abandoned.^[4][5][6][7] It has continued to be used by wide strata of the population, and the region has retained its own specificities against the linguistic infiltrations from standard Slovene. Most of the Slovene speakers in the region thus live in a situation of diglossia. While the minor languages-dialects are still widely used in most spheres of private life, especially in the rural areas, standard Slovene is used in education, media and public life.

Hungarian is used in some border areas, especially around Lendava. In the officially bilingual areas, Hungarian is recognized by the Slovenian governance and is used as the second official language next to Slovene. In these areas, all public signs are written in both languages, and the primary and secondary education is bilingual.

Some of the Roma population in the region have retained Romani. Slovenia recognizes Romani as a minority language, but this official recognition has very little factual consequences. The legal protection of Romani is incomparably weaker than of Hungarian.

Cuisine

The Prekmurska gibanica is a typical pastry of the Prekmurje region.

The region is known for its distinctive cuisine. Among traditional dishes, the best known are a pork, turnip and millet casserole called bujta repa and a layered pastry called prekmurska gibanica.

Notable people

• Mihael Bakoš, Lutheran preacher and author;
• Fabian Cipot, football player;
• Rudi Čačinovič, diplomat;
• Zdenka Čebašek Travnik, Slovenian ombudsmann;
• Evald Flisar, writer;
• László Göncz, historian and politician;
• Andrej Horvat, economist and politician;
• Feri Horvat, politician, Chairman of the Slovenian National Assembly (2004);
• Ferenc Ivanóczy, writer and politician
• Miško Kranjec, writer;
• Vlado Kreslin, singer;
• Milan Kučan, politician, President of Slovenia (1990–2002);
• Števan Küzmič, Lutheran preacher and author;
• Mikloš Küzmič, writer and translator;
• Feri Lainšček, writer;
• Oto Luthar, historian;
• Miki Muster, cartoonist;
• Mitja Mörec, football player;
• Vilko Novak, ethnologhist, writer, poet, teacher, linguist
• Avgust Pavel, ethnologist and translator;
• Mária Pozsonec, politician;
• Dušan Šarotar, writer;
• Cvetka Tóth, philosopher;
• Ludvik Vrečič, painter;
• Radovan Žerjav, politician.

See also

• Prekmurian dialect
• Prekmurians
• Slovene March (Kingdom of Hungary)
• Republic of Prekmurje
• Wendish question
• Međimurje

References

1. ^ Források a Muravidék történetéhez/Viri za zgodovino Prekmurja, 292. p.
2. ^ Zupančič, Jernej (March 2009). "Ob etničnem in državnem robu na slovenskem vzhodu [On the Ethnic and Statal Margin on Slovenian East]" (in Slovene, with an abstract and a summary in English). 20. zborovanje slovenskih geografov: Pomurje: trajnostni regionalni razvoj ob reki Muri (Association of Slovenian Geographers): p. 17. ISBN 978-961-91456-1-6. http://www.drustvo-geografov-pomurja.si/projekti/zborovanje/Zbornik_geografov_POMURJE_2009.pdf. Retrieved 11 February 2011. 
3. ^ "Slovenians in Hungary". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Slovenia. http://budimpesta.veleposlanistvo.si/index.php?id=1801&L=1. Retrieved 11 February 2011. 
4. ^ Lukácsné Bajzek Mária–Mladen Pavčić: A szlovén nyelv
5. ^ Franc Kuzmič: Bibliografija prekmurskih tiskov 1920-1998, Založba ZRC. 1999. ISBN 961-6182-78-1 7. p.
6. ^ Vilko Novak: Izbor prekmurskega slovstva, Ljubljana 1976. 98. p.
7. ^ Szijártó Imre: Murán innen, Murántúl (jelenkor.hu)

External links

• Photos of the water mill on Mur river
• Photos from Prekmurje