Ehrlich and the Consciousness of Slovenian Statehood

Helena Janežič

Ehrlich and the Consciousness of Slovenian Statehood

Key words: Independant Slovenia, Slovenian problem, Višarje’s Slovenia, Slovenian declaration

Abstract:
Like every nation, the Slovene people were for centuries dreaming of having their own state. The roots of Slovene integration go back to early medieval Carantania; however, after the end of its existence, our Slovene ancestors lived dispersed among different lands and countries for almost one thousand years. The first political requirements for a common entity of all members of the Slovenian nation were first written down in March 1848, during the year of the Spring of Nations. Dr Lambert Ehrlich was the first to unambiguously express the idea of an independent Slovenian state. As early as in 1933, he spoke about an independent Slovenia in his sermon at the mount of Svete Višarje. At the end of 1941, he created an illegal political programme entitled The Slovenian Problem; in one of his options, he envisioned Slovenia as an independent state. This document is the key text of the Slovenian independence thought. With Ehrlich’s murder and the victory of the communist revolution after the Second World War, the idea of independence left for abroad together with Ehrlich’s students and other migrants. There, much earlier than in its homeland, his thoughts for independence became the only acceptable solution for the development of the Slovenian nation.

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