Argentines of Slovene descent, also Slovene Argentines or Argentine Slovenes ( sl, argentinski Slovenci) are the
Slovenes residing in
Argentina. According to Jernej Zupančič of the
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, they number around 30,000.
History
The Slovenes in Argentina are descendants of three main groups of immigrants that arrived from the
Slovene Lands mostly in the 20th century. The first were economic immigrants from the
Prekmurje region and the
Hungarian Slovenes. The second, much stronger wave was represented by Slovenes from the
Julian March who moved to Argentina in the 1930s to escape the
Italian Fascist persecution; they came mostly from the
Vipava Valley and the
Kras plateau. Their number was estimated at around 30,000. The third wave was composed of Slovene political immigrants that settled in Argentina after 1945 to escape
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
persecution. Their number was between 6,000 and 8,000. Most of the descendants of the latter group still use
Slovene, including second- and third-generation immigrants.
They are concentrated mainly in
Buenos Aires and
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...
,
San Carlos de Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche (), is a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located within the Nahuel Huapi National Park. ...
, and
Mendoza, with some smaller communities settled in
Rosario
Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...
,
San Miguel de Tucumán and
Paraná.
Slovene Argentines built social clubs where they meet regularly. These clubs act as cultural, sport and religious centres. There is usually also a Saturday
primary school in
Slovene for children from 5 to 12 years of age in each of these centres. Three of these centres also hold a Saturday
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
for youths of ages ranging from 13 to 18. At the end of this course, the students usually travel to Slovenia where they attend to a two-week course of language and they know their ancestors' homeland.
They have many cultural, social and religious organizations, almost all of them associated in the Zedinjena Slovenija (United Slovenia) association. These organization edits a weekly newspaper in Slovene called ''Svobodna Slovenija'' (Free Slovenia) in which news from Slovenia, the Slovenian community in Argentina and the Slovenian diaspora around the world are published. There are also other publications of cultural, social and religious content. The weekly religious paper Oznanilo (Notification, Announcement) has the highest edition of all publications. Many of the events in the Slovene community in Argentina are published in these paper.
Youths have their organization too, called SDO-SFZ, which was created in March 1949 and accepts Slovene Argentines from 15 to 35 years of age. Their main activities are sport tournaments, cultural acts, leisure activities, and religious and intellectual meetings, which are all held in Slovene. In spite of normally speaking
Spanish among themselves, the majority of the youths speak Slovene quite fluently.
Notable personalities
*
Andrés Kogovsek
Andrés Kogovsek (born 7 January 1974) is an Argentine handball player. He was born in San Isidro, Argentina, and plays for the club Villa Ballester. He defended Argentina at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, and was a gold medalist at the 201 ...
, handball player
*
Cristian Poglajen, volleyball player
*
Alojz Geržinič, composer
*
Andrej Bajuk, banker and politician
*
Anton Novačan, author, politician and diplomat
*
Bernarda Fink, opera singer
*
Emilio Komar
Milan Komar, also known as Emilio Komar (4 June 1921 – 20 January 2006) was a Slovene Argentine Catholic philosopher and essayist.
Life
He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, to a Slov ...
, philosopher
*
Franc Rode,
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
of the
Roman Catholic Church
*
Ivan Ahčin, journalist, sociologist and politician
*
Juan Vasle
Juan Vasle, (born 31 August 1954) is a Slovenian operatic and concert bass baritone and a journalist.
Biography
Singing career
Vasle was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he received his diploma as a singer at the Superior Institute of A ...
, singer and journalist
*
Lucas Mario Horvat
Lucas Mario Horvat (born 13 October 1985) is a footballer who plays as a midfielder for Austrian club SC Eibiswald. Born in Argentina, he represented Slovenia internationally.
Club career
Before starting his professional career, Horvat went th ...
, football player
*
Marcos Fink
Marcos Fink (born 26 November 1950 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a Slovenian
Slovene or Slovenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe
* Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken ...
, singer
*
Pedro Opeka, missionary
*
Tine Debeljak, literary historian and essayist
*
Viktor Sulčič, architect
*
Brenda Asnicar
Brenda Asnicar (born 17 October 1991) is an Argentine actress, singer, model and dancer who gained international popularity for her debut role as Antonella Lamas Bernardi in the Disney Channel television series ''Patito feo''.
Life and career
...
, actress
*
Luciano Pocrnjic, football player
*
Andrés Vombergar
Andrés Vombergar (born 20 November 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for San Lorenzo. Born in Argentina, he plays for the Slovenia national team.
Early life
Vombergar was born in Argentina to Slovenian parents and grew u ...
football player
References
External links
Zedinjena Slovenija - Association of Slovene Organizations in ArgentinaSDO-SFZ - Slovene Youth Organization in Argentina
{{Immigration to Argentina
European Argentine
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...