meeting of cultures – The home service as a patriotic NGO https://www.khd.at?lang=en Austria's largest non-party patriotic citizens' initiative Thu, 21 Sep 2023 09:43:42 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.16 https://www.khd.at/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/KHD-Logo-Icon1.png meeting of cultures – The home service as a patriotic NGO https://www.khd.at?lang=en 32 32 Meeting of cultures in Bleiburg Kulturni Cathedral https://www.khd.at/index.php/treffen-der-kulturen-in-bleiburg-kulturni-dom/?lang=en Thu, 21 Sep 2023 09:43:42 +0000 https://www.khd.at/?p=1216-en Following the KHD's scientific symposium, people met to lay a wreath at the memorial plaque for the fallen on both sides from the days of the border fighting over the years 1918 and 1919 on the cemetery wall of Völkermarkt. The honorary chairman of the homeland service, Doctor Josef Feldner, recalled this in his commemorative words, that reconciliation, as the Carinthian Consensus Group has been pushing forward for years, must be a lengthy and sustainable process. And the chairman of the General Majster Association Vladimir Ovnic explained, dass die Bereitschaft zu diesem Weg der Versöhnung auch von Seite Sloweniens vorhanden sei.

In the afternoon of the same day we met in Bleiburg/Pliberk, where the Carinthian Homeland Service held its traditional “Meeting of Cultures” for the first time in the Slovenian Kulturni Cathedral. The choice of this venue was also intended by the Carinthian Homeland Service as a sign of opening up to the Slovenian ethnic group, stieß aber nicht überall auf ungeteiltes Verständnis.

On the one hand, some representatives of the German Carinthian majority population apparently stayed away, On the other hand, there was little sympathy for the organizers from the local representatives of the Slovenian minority. This went so far, that an extremely loud private parallel event was allowed in the same building, the musical performances of the cultural groups from the Canal Valley, aus Slowenien selbst und aus Kärnten empfindlich störte.

Nevertheless, this meeting of cultures was also a well-attended and sociable event, the singing is particularly important for their success- und Musikgruppen aus allen drei unterschiedlichen Regionen des Alpen Adria-Raums beitrugen.

Overall, the Carinthian Homeland Service has once again shown itself with these events, dass er einerseits als Traditionsträger von Abwehrkampf und Volksabstimmung eine versöhnliche Aufarbeitung der historischen Ereignisse im Dialog mit den einstigen Gegnern weiterführen und andererseits neue Dimensionen eines zeitgemäßen Heimatschutzes erarbeiten will.

 

Post cover photo: Wikipedia/Neithan9/public domain
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