Ljudje ob Muri. Népek a Mura Mentén 1. kötet (Zalaegerszeg, 1996)

Metka Fujs (Murska Sobota): The Formation of National Identity of the Prekmurje Slovenians

Oblikovanje narodne identitete pri prekmurskih Slovencih school and newspapers in mother tongue, economic prosperity and the regualation of the ethnic questions, as being the vital elements. Apart from two newspapers, however, everything else could only be achieved at the time of the Monarchy of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, into which the region of Prekmurje was included in accordance with the Paris Peace Treaty of August 1919. Later, in the time period of the Yugoslav Monarchy, the central figure and the national leader of the Prekmurje Slovenians was Josef Klekl, author if the first programme of self-rule for Prekmurje, first within the Hungarian state and later within the Yugoslav state, based upon the economic, linguistic, religious and other features of the region. During the decades, following the incorporation into the central nation, the Prekmurje Slovenians, have been able to consolidate so now they only have to maintain their national identitiy for mostly they live in their national state or in the states which are supposed to be democratic. Regarding the way of life the people living on both banks of the Mura river are becoming more and more similar to one another, irrespective of the ethnic origin and the historical development. 221