The scientific conference “Commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the last national population census in the Austrian Littoral in 1910 – language, nationality, border”

The scientific conference will deal with various aspects of population censuses conducted by the Austrian state since 1857. From 1869 onwards the population censuses were carried out every ten years on the critical date of 31 December. The total number of such censuses was five. The last one, which we shall remember on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary, was dated 31 December 1910. Censuses recorded the actual population. However, from 1880 onwards they also surveyed the language of communication in order to determine the ethnic composition of the state. Nevertheless, serving merely as an indirect means to determine the ethnic structure of the population, such questions failed to yield precise results. The Slovenes, as well as other Slavic peoples in the monarchy, were critical of such a manner of conducting censuses and expressed their concern over fact that the requirement for the elimination of the language of communication (lingua d’uso, Umgangssprache) and the introduction of a new nationality or mother tongue was more pronounced before the census of 1910 than before any of the previous censuses. They maintained that the surveys carried out in compliance with the existing criteria would not render a realistic representation in nationally mixed regions. And finally, they also alerted to surveyors’ misuse of the procedure.

The last Austrian population census held in 1910 was a highly characteristic and important event for the history of the Slovenes in the (Austrian) Littoral. It was characteristic because of the manner in which the city authorities conducted the census, and important because it represented the political victory of the Slovenian population, since the authorities had to order a revision of the census due to established irregularities. According to the official statistics, the Austrian Littoral counted 827,269 Austrian citizens in 1910. The surveyed population included 356,495 Italians, 266,614 Slovenes, 170,773 speakers of Serbo-Croatian, 29,077 Germans, and 4,310 others. Slovenes and Croats (including Serbs) amounted to altogether 437,387, thus constituting 52.87% of the population, whereas Italians constituted 43.09%. The population census of 1910 was used by both the Yugoslav and Italian side as evidence on the basis of which they formulated their respective territorial claims at peace negotiations after World War I and II.

The conference will be opened on 6 December 2010 at 10 a.m. at the University of Nova Gorica (lecture hall 201), Via della Croce 3, Gorizia, Italy. The opening speeches will be delivered by:

• Doc. Dr. Franc Marušič
• Doc. dr. Petra Svoljšak
• Prof. dr. Branko Marušič

Contact

Andreja Leban
Public Relations
T: +386 5 3315 397
E: andreja.leban@ung.si