‘A Bleeding Wound’, How Border-Drawing Affects Local Communities: A Case Study from The Austrian-Slovene Border in Styria

Abstract

This chapter concentrates upon the Leutschach region which borders Slovenia in the south of the Austrian province of Styria (Figure 6.1). It is one of three areas in Styria with a concentration of Slovene settlements (Figure 6.2). The two other areas are the southern part of the village Soboth in the southwestern corner of Styria (Moser/Katschnig-Fasch 1992) and the ‘five villages’ in the Radkersburg triangle in the southeastern corner of the province (Haberl-Zemljič 1997). The following outlines the history of the bilingual Leutschach region from the mid 19^th century until the present time and examines the impact of national integration and cultural assimilation of Slovene population within the German majority. Also socio-economic and political development of the region and the general impact of the border on the development is considered.