On the development of the Windischentheorie

Abstract

An important factor in the history ofthe minority in the Austrian province ofCarinthia is whatis known as the Windischentheorie. This was developed on the basis of long-held popular belief s between the war s and promulgated by those with faselst sympathies; it was a potent Instrument in the Germanization ofthe bilingual part of the province. The canonical version of the theory holds that the language of the Carinthian Slovenes was quite different from Standard Slovene, and the Carinthian Slovenes themselves were therefore ethnically distinct from Slovenes in Slovenia. The article traces the origins and development of the theory.