Band 17, 1-2 (2024) von EJM ist erschienen

30.06.2024 - 30.06.2024

Band 17, 1-2 (2024) von EJM ist erschienen. Es enthält 7 Artikel, 1 Chronik-Beitrag und 3 Rezensionen: biblioscout.net/journal/ejm/17/1-2

Neisser, Heinrich

Austrian ethnic group policy through the ages

Beitrag, page 7 - 18

The essay traces the most important aspects of Austrian ethnic group policy from 1919 on. In particular, the obligations that Austria has entered into under constitutional law are cited. The author takes the passage from the coalition programme of the current federal government to reform minority policy as an opportunity to develop framework for a new understanding of ethnic group and minority policy in Austria.

Zaffi, Davide

Linguistic Minorities in Italy: A Typology

Beiträge, page 19 - 38

On empirical basis and keeping in mind the current linguistic policy of Italy, the paper tries to sketch a typology of the linguistic minorities across the country. Firstly the features that are highlighted justify the grouping of the said minorities under three different headings, for the management of which Rome has applied different approaches. This part also contains some information about their current legal status. In the second part, the experience of South Tyrol is discussed given its model character for a specific idea of minority rights. To end, some cultural trends affecting the perspectives of linguistic minorities in Italy as part of the European context are touched upon in brief in the third part.

Löffler, Marion

‘One Million Speakers’: Wales, the Welsh Language and the Politics of Survival

Beiträge, page 39 - 62

In an epilogue called ‘Walking Naked’ written in 1984 - the Welsh national movement appearing defeated by the loss of the 1979 devolution referendum and Thatcherite policies destroying the remaining Welsh mining communities - historian Gwyn Alf Williams wrote that “the Welsh as a people have lived by making and remaking themselves generation after generation, usually against the odds, usually within a British context”. This article charts that context, from the first mention of the indigenous name of the country ‘Cymru’ in the twelfth century to its manifestation in 2021 as a devolved nation with its own Senedd, two official languages and a variety of Welsh identities. It opens with an overview of Wales’s place in the United Kingdom, engages with the history of a country that retained its identity and language over a thousand years of economic and political incorporation, experienced a cultural revival sparked by its partial industrialisation and declining from the end of the nineteenth century, its resurgence brought about by a pacifist national movement in combination with a distinctive radical labour tradition. The essay closes with an overview of the changes in Welsh identity and politics arising from the establishment of the Welsh national government in 1999.

Arens, Meinolf

The Slovaks as a minority in the successor states of the former Habsburg monarchy

Beitrag, page 63 - 65

This article is intended as a brief introduction to the two articles The Slovaks in the Békés-Csanád region on the Pannonian Plain. Their history from the settlement to the fall of the communism in 1989 by Mária Zsilák and The Slovaks in Vojvodina: Past, present and future prospects by Teodora Živković which are both included in this issue of the EJM. The main problems faced by the Slovak minorities and their continued existence in the successor states of the former Habsburg Monarchy are discussed.

Zsilák, Mária

The Slovaks in the Békés-Csanád region on the Pannonian Plain. Their history from the settlement to the fall of the communism in 1989

Beitrag, page 66 - 99

This article focuses on the history of the Slovaks in what is now south-eastern Hungary, who share a common history and cultural heritage with their compatriots across the border in Serbia, Croatia and Romania. However, there have been different developments since the division of their settlement areas since 1918. As with all other minorities in Hungary, Hungarian has become the everyday language even in the family environment. This is linked to an acculturation to national Hungarian images of identity. The reduction of “Slovakian” to the folkloristic level and symbolic cultural-political events of all kinds continues unabated, despite all the legal measures in favour of minorities over the last three decades. The central tipping points, which could not be reversed, were the expulsion of around 73,000 Slovaks from the region in 1946/48, including the majority of the already small cultural elite, the resulting diaspora situation of all those who remained and Budapest’s assimilation policy between 1867 and 1990.

Živković, Teodora

The Slovaks in Vojvodina: Past, present and future prospects

Beitrag, page 100 - 119

The article is dedicated to the history and living environments of the Slovaks in the territory of present-day Serbia, more precisely the province of Vojvodina which was part of historical Hungary until 1920. Despite the enormous upheavals after 1918, 1941-1945 and since 1991, around 15 of these 20 or so municipalities are still predominantly inhabited by Slovaks with at least a formal Lutheran denomination (i. e. over 90 %). The standard in these municipalities is the use of the Slovak language in everyday life, in the well-equipped native-language school system and in the broad-based association and church system. This explains why they are the only national minority on the territory of today’s Vojvodona as an overall group that is in an excellent position with regard to the active use of their mother tongue, including in written form, and their Slovak identity. Compared to the Slovaks, the situation of all other minorities in the region is much more difficult (Romanians) or catastrophic (Croats, Hungarians, Bulgarians). Finally, the German minority is reduced to a virtual group consisting of a few functionaries and activists. One crucial problem of all these minorities is migration abroad and low birth rate.

Ţîrcomnicu, Emil

Megleno-Romanians. Spatial distribution, number and identity features

Beiträge, page 120 - 135

From the Megleno-Romanian historical community in Meglen county, four communities were formed during the first half of the twentieth century: two in the historical area (most parts of the Meglen area became part of Greece), while the northern part was attributed to Serbia in 1913. The Megleno-Romanian Muslim Community was expelled and fled to Turkey in 1923 and many Megleno-Romanian families emigrated to Romania between 1925 and 1940. Apart from these emigrations, during the last century there was a general migration of the population from villages to towns, which also affected the Megleno-Romanians. Nowadays, the Megleno-Romanian dialect is almost extinct (being spoken only by the older generation) and therefore in the nearby future, it could disappear completely

Fiala-Butora, János

Current confiscations of property based on collective guilt under the Beneš Decrees in Slovakia as a violation of international norms – when the past haunts the present

Chronik, page 136 - 164

The Beneš Decrees, laws punishing the German and Hungarian communities of Czechoslovakia after World War II based on the principle of collective guilt, are considered a historical phenomenon by most authors. This article argues that they give basis to violations of fundamental rights that are taking place currently. After showing that Slovak authorities started applying the decree to confiscating property in 2018 against current owners of property, it analyses how these measures can take place without avoiding international scrutiny, and how the Slovak government tries to justify them. Slovakia as a member of the European Union is bound by its Charter of Fundamental Rights, and is a signatory to human rights treaties that protect the right to property and freedom from discrimination. Confiscations on the basis of ethnicity, applying the principle of collective guilt, constitute a severe violation of these norms. The article argues that it is not the subsequent Slovak governments’ intention to conduct confiscations currently, but their inability to address the historic problem caused by the Decrees led to legal uncertainty which manifests in the current problems.

Horváth, Franz Sz.

Patzelt, Werner: Ungarn verstehen – Geschichte, Staat, Politik.

München: LangenMüller (2023) 477 S.

Rezension, page 165 - 172

Melchior, Luca

Videsott, Paul: Les Ladins des Dolomites.

Crozon: Éditions Armeline (2023) 316+XVI S. [Peuples en péril 7]

Rezension, page 173 - 178

Wolf, Anna

Carbonneau, Jean-Rémi: Fédéralisme et légitimation des langues minoritaires: les cas de la Lusace et des Pays Catalans.

Québec: Presses de l’Université du Québec (2023) 392 S.

Rezension, page 179 - 183