German-speaking ethnic community in Slovenia
Members of the indigenous German-speaking ethnic community in Slovenia have lived in the area of today’s Republic of Slovenia for centuries. Today, they live mainly in Styria, in cities such as Maribor, Celje, Ptuj, and Apače, and in the southeast of the country in the Kočevje region, in settlements belonging to the municipalities of Kočevje, Dolenjske Toplice, and Semič, as well as in Ljubljana.
The interests of the German-speaking ethnic community in Slovenia are represented by the Association of Cultural Societies of the German-speaking Ethnic Community in Slovenia (Dachverband der Kulturvereine der deutschsprachigen Volksgruppe in Slowenien). The Association of Cultural Societies of the German-speaking National Community in Slovenia is an umbrella organization of German-speaking cultural societies of the traditional or indigenous minority in the Republic of Slovenia. The umbrella organization includes seven societies and has its headquarters in Občice 9, 8350 Dolenjske Toplice. Urška Kop has been the president of this umbrella organization since 2023.
The association strives to regulate the rights of the German national community by incorporating them into the Slovenian Constitution, as they believe that this would make it easier to achieve their goals, which are to preserve and develop the German national community in Slovenia, regulating its rights through laws and the Constitution in the areas of preserving the German language, teaching in the mother tongue, and certain other rights enjoyed by other constitutionally and legally protected national minorities in Slovenia. One of the main goals of its activities is the recognition of the collective rights of the national community. Since the establishment of the independent state of Slovenia, the German-speaking national community has been supported in its efforts by the Republic of Austria.
The associations represented in the umbrella organization participate in the organization of cultural events such as choir concerts, readings, exhibitions, and dance performances, language courses, and children’s camps. In addition, they also publish newspapers (Bakh – Pot, Laibacher Zeitung) and books.
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