'SLOVAKIANS IN CROATIA' EXHIBITION OPENS IN ILOK

ILOK, Dec 17 (Hina) - An exhibition "Slovakians In Croatia" was staged in the eastern Croatian town of Ilok on Sunday. The exhibition was the result of scientific research, focused on the present-day life and history of Slovakians in Croatia. This research project was conducted by Ljubica Bartalska and Andreja Jancarova from Bratislava, in cooperation with ethnic Slovakians' associations in Croatia. They have gathered data, photographs, materials from families' archives, and social and school chronicles of the Slovakian minority in Croatia. According to the 1991 census, there were some 6,000 Slovakians in the country at that time. Most of them (1,500) live in the town of Ilok. The head of the town museum, which hosted the show, Mato Batorovic reminded that since the mid 19th-century when a mass settlement of Slovakians in Ilok was completed, they had become a part of the cultural heritage of the Croatian people with whom they also shared the war hardship during the Serb aggression and occupation of this part of Croatia. Ilok Mayor Stipan Kraljevic addressed the opening ceremony, while a local Slovakian folk dance group performed a concert. (hina) ms