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National Rebirth of Slovenes
Until the March Revolution of 1848, the Slovene national movement was largely a language and cultural movement. Its efforts led to, among other things: people increasingly identifying themselves as “Slovenes”; the assertion of the territorial name Slovenia; and the addition of the adjective “Slovene” to the names of clubs and organisations. In addition to Ljubljana and Vienna, Graz with its numerous Slovene professors and students was also a very important centre of the Slovene national movement, and its supporters in Štajerska were both numerous and energetic. Among them, Peter Dajnko and Anton Krempl stand out because of their literary and linguistic activities. In 1848, the first national political programme was published, entitled United Slovenia – and Radgona was one of the centres of its supporters. In 1917 the Slovenes for the first time adopted the stance that their national objectives were above those of the state, and they were joined in this belief by the majority of the Slovene population of Gornja Radgona and its environs.
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From Overturn to Overturn
The First World War started on July 28, 1914. Most of the conscripts from the area of Radgona were sent to the Russian front and after 1915 to the Italian front. The end of the war did not bring peace, as the struggle for the borders continued via military and diplomatic means.
On December 1, 1918 the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) was proclaimed and on the same day an army unit led by Senior Lieutenant Benedikt Zeilhofer occupied Radgona. The Peace Treaty of Saint Germain of September 10, 1919, fixed the course of the Mura river as the new state border. After the treaty was ratified, the Yugoslav Army withdrew from Radgona. Together with its suburbs with a Slovene population on the left side of the Mura, Radgona fell to Austria, while the Apače plain, where mostly Germans lived, fell to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
In a military offensive that started on April 6, 1941, Germany’s army occupied Yugoslavia. This was followed by a period of Germanisation, the forced resettlement of Slovene families, and mobilisation into the German army, which led to the emergence of a resistance movement. In the spring of 1945, defeated units of the German army retreated across Slovenske gorice, while units of the Red Army penetrated to the left bank of the Mura from the north and occupied Radgona. After the war the Saint Germain Treaty border was restored.
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Economy
Before the new border was drawn in 1919, Gornja Radgona was considered a suburb of Radgona, a once important centre of crafts, a market-town, and port. Its economy was largely dependent on the Austrian owners of local castles, estates, shops, crafts, and vineyards. In addition to local shops, most purchases were made at fairs. Until the end of the Second World War the market-town was home to merchants, craftsmen and officials, and the surrounding villages to a peasant population that engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, wine and fruit growing.
These small local fairs developed into the Pomurje Fair. Nearly all the industry of Gornja Radgona developed from these former craft fairs.
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The Winds of Change
The spread of democracy in Slovenia involved the transition from a one-party system to a multi-party system. A plebiscite held on December 26, 1990, confirmed the decision to make Slovenia a sovereign state.
The Slovene parliament declared independence on June 25, 1991. The Yugoslav People’s Army started its attack on Slovenia to reoccupy the border crossings on June 27. In spite of the barricades that were put up, the convoy reached the border crossing in Gornja Radgona on June 28, and held it for six days. The conflict left behind victims and several destroyed and burned down houses in the town.
Slovenia joined the European Union as a full member state in 2004.