Why dont Slovenes think of themselves as Eastern Europeans?
The question is related to our recent history. Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia, a country ruled by Tito who opposed Stalin in 1948. Yugoslavia opened its borders towards the West in early 1950’s, therefore Slovenians and other Yugoslavs were able to travel freely and trade. Socialism in Yugoslavia was flirting with the free enterprise economy. Many Slovenian companies did business with Germany, Italy, and Austria and also Slovenes went shopping for bananas, washing powder, coffee and chocolate to the nearby cities of Trieste and Graz. We were quite well acquainted with the western style of life. Also in schools children were taught English and not Russian.
