Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia. *Photo from Wikipedia
June 25 is Statehood Day of Croatia and Slovenia. It is a holiday that occurs to celebrate their 1991 declaration of independence from Yugoslavia.
Croatia
In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary and merged into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II.
After the war, Croatia became a founding member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a constitutionally socialist state. On June 25, 1991, Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on October 8 of the same year.
Slovenia
In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the internationally unrecognized “State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs”, which merged that December with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929).
During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi puppet state.
Afterward, it was a founding member of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, later renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a communist state which was the only country in the Eastern Bloc not part of the Warsaw Pact.
In June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country.
In commemoration of the day, we introduce you to Nikola Pavesic, an entrepreneur from Croatia.
*Click the photo below and read his stories!
“I guess Japanese people don’t realize how good their image in the world is.”
*Reference: Wikipedia
