Croatian-Slovenian Relations in the Eastern ？umberak Area

Sa？etak The authors provide information on Croatian-Slovenian relations in the ？umberak. The area of the border in scientific terms has been very rarely viewed through the testimonies of people living in the border area, and therefore this research is different, since it is based on the experience of people living along the Croatian-Slovenian border. The study found that residents on both sides of the border were much more oriented towards each other than connected to their regional centers. The border has greatly disrupted relations between Croats and Slovenes on both sides. This paper seeks to show in what ways there were links between one space and another, and how much those links were broken after the 1991 border was established. The research applied the historical and ethnological approach that is evident from the collection of data from the registers of the deceased and the married, or from the method of oral history and storytelling. Based on the registers of deceased and married parishes in Stojdraga, Mrzlo Polje, So？ice and Kalje, the author provides information on the intensity of contacts between Croats and Slovenes in the border zone of ？umberak. It can be seen that these links have been tight over a nearly five hundred-year history in the common state, but that marital relationships were limited because of differences in religion. Interviews conducted in the area of the City of Samobor and the Municipality of ？umberak show that the inhabitants of the border zones have always been economically, socially and family-related to nearby Slovenia