The majority of Slovenes live in a relatively limited area, in the corner of the country at the Hungarian-Slovenian-Austrian triple border, in the region of Szentgotthárd and the six towns South of it (Felsőszölnök, Alsószölnök, Szakonyfalu, Apátisvánfalva, Kétvölgy and Orfalu). Most of the Slovene organisations operate in this area, the Slovene Rába area, in cooperation with town and local minority self-governments and minority NGOs. They work together for the protection of their mother tongue, for education, for culture, for information and book publishing and for the support of institutions and communities and the organization of economic activity.
The institutions of the Slovene minority are mostly based in the Rába area, such as:
- National Slovene Self-Government, Felsőszölnök
- Kühár Memorial House (Slovene folk museum), Felsőszölnök
- József Kossics Bilingual Primary School and Kindergarten, Felsőszölnök
- Bilingual Primary School and Kindergarten, Apátistvánfalva
- Slovene Radio – Radio Monošter, Szentgotthárd
- Association of Slovenes in Hungary – Porabje newspaper, Szentgotthárd
There are isolated Slovene communities outside of this area in Szombathely, Mosonmagyaróvár, Budapest and Székesfehérvár, as well as in numerous Transdanubian towns.
The National Slovene Self-Government was set up in 1995, and its seat is in Felsőszölnök. The National Self-Government represents, protects and supports the nationality it represents at a national level, and, in areas where there is no territorial minority self-government, at the territorial (county/capital city) level.
At the minority self-government elections held on 3 October 2010, 11 local Slovene self-governments were elected, made up exclusively by members of the Slovene community in Felsőszölnök, Apátistvánfalva, Szakonyfalu, Szentgotthárd, Kétvölgy, Orfalu, Alsószölnök, Szombathely, Budapest, Mosonmagyaróvár and Székesfehérvár.
The National Slovene Self-Government cooperates with the Hungarian Association of Slovenes (which coordinates and finances the work of the 17 amateur cultural groups operating in the Rába area and Szombathely, and supports the work of associations and sports and firefighting groups in Budapest and Szombathely and that of the Mosonmagyaróvár Slovene community), town and local minority self-governments, ethnic minority NGOs and national – and even home country – state bodies and institutions.
They work together in the areas of mother tongue protection and education, in culture, information, the development of mother tongue religious activities, the invigoration of economic relations and in the interest of sustaining the institutions and the community.
In the field of Slovenian language teaching, the introduction of bilingual education in József Kossics Bilingual Primary School in Felsőszölnök in the academic year of 2005/2006 and in the Bilingual Primary School of Apátistvánfalva in the academic year of 2007/2008 was a major step forward. On top of that, Slovenian minority education is offered in Szentgotthárd at both primary and secondary school level.
For Slovene organisations, one fundamental goal is to ensure that the Rába area Slovenes – and especially new generations, who are the social basis of the Slovene minority and the key to the future of Slovene cultural heritage – have long-term access to bilingual and Slovenian education and training in the various institutions.
Slovenes living in Hungary protect and preserve their mother tongue and traditional culture, and pass it on from grandparents to grandchildren. In this, they are assisted by: bilingual education, the 17 adult and youth cultural groups operated by the Hungarian Association of Slovenes, the exhibitions held at the Centre of Slovene Culture, the International Art Base and minority self-governments and associations. Those who live in the main Slovene area and those who live in the diaspora all make up ‘one large family’. Apart from individual relationships, they also organize common events; apart from family ties and friendships, they also have ties to the homeland through civil society organizations.
Slovene organisations and institutions work on organizing and supporting events aimed at forming and deepening linguistic identity, improving the conditions for the teaching and learning of Slovenian by ethnic Slovenes and supporting language courses.
The Slovene folk museum (Küharjeva spominska hiša), operated by the National Slovene Self-Government since its 11 September 2010 opening, serves this purpose as well, with the exhibition demonstrating the historical, religious-historical, ethnographical and other cultural values of ethnic Slovenes living in Hungary. The exhibition space also provides an opportunity for holding classes on the Slovene people for students of local schools. The documents and books kept in the research room offer valuable data to Hungarian and foreign researchers.
The opening of the museum was and is a crucially important event from the point of view of the protection of the religious and ethnographic heritage and objects of the Slovene minority.
The event and the institution itself (the Slovene folk museum), with its operation and permanent exhibition will – for a long time, hopefully – contribute to the conservation of Slovene as a minority mother tongue and the strengthening of ethnic national identity and links to the home country.
The Slovene minority has its own terrestrial broadcast radio station in Hungary. The Szentgotthárd Slovene Radio has been broadcasting at 106.6 MHz in Szentgotthárd and at 97.7 MHz in Felsőszölnök – four hours a day since 1 January 2012 . The primary goal of Slovene Radio is to provide information to the Slovenes living in the Szentgotthárd area in their mother tongue and serve the strengthening of their identity and linguistic culture and traditions. The activities of the radio also allow listeners in the home country to find out about the cultural, touristic and other events held by the Slovene minority in Hungary.
‘Slovenski utrinki’, the 26-minute bi-weekly Slovenian-language magazine produced in the Szombathely studio plays an important role in providing information in Slovene and conserving the Slovene ethnic identity.
When it comes to providing information in Slovenian in writing, the yearly almanac ‘Slovenski koledar’ published by the Hungarian Association of Slovenes and the newspaper ‘Porabje’, published with financing from the National Slovene Self-Government's media funds and the support of the Office of Slovenes Living Outside Slovenia, play a very important role.
Another important goal of Slovene organisations is to secure predictable financing for themselves and their institutions and ensure their ability to practice cultural, mother tongue and religious activities, as, alongside education, these represent the historical roots and the cradle of traditions of those of Slovene ethnicity.
To summarize: the fundamental task of Slovene organisations is still the protection and passing on of the Slovenian language, culture and ethnic identity and, although they lack legal and financial tools that would enable them to carry out effective economic development, and certain regulations inhibit active economic development in the region, we still believe that the strategic goal of the Slovene community and – this is not an exaggeration – one of the keys to its survival is the development of the economic situation of the area. The aim is for experts working in the fields of politics and economics to both realize the importance of this issue and take concrete, practical steps in order to form an economic basis for the existence of the Slovene minority as part of society and in order to ensure the livelihood of the population – especially the next generation.
