Ljubljana

“What’s all this with Slovenia? Address issues that matter to us!” This demand came to me from a friendly, critical reader a few days ago and I must naturally grapple with it. The story of “krompir,” as potatoes are called in Slovenian, is certainly not reason enough for an entire series of articles. Why Slovenia? Many Germans can’t even locate the country on a map. This is indeed a problem that the German institutions in Slovenia are also faced with, as many recent conversations showed. Slovenia is not even well known as a tourist destination, although it has plenty of potential: magnificent mountains, sunny summers, arts, the sea; everything it needs. But that is not my point.

There are also political reasons to deal with such a tiny country. Slovenia is a product of European history, not merely of the collapse of Yugoslavia. It would never have existed without the Second World War and the division of Europe. It is therefore also a product of our history. On its own, such a small country hasn’t a chance. Slovenia – and not just Slovenia – only has a chance as part of Europe. And since the Europe we speak of is still in the making and during a crisis like the present one in particular is always called into question, it is not a bad idea to take a look at this process from an entirely new perspective.