NOVA GOVORICA PROSTORA: PREIMENOVANJA NASELIJ NA SEVERNEM PRIMORSKEM PO DRUGI SVETOVNI VOJNI (1948-1954).

The paper deals with the ideologically charged toponomastic policy of the Slovenian communist authorities in the Primorska region. As part of the establishment of a new political and social order, the communist authorities renamed many settlements in the area. This process can be understood as part of a wider cultural revolution, which was supposed to establish a new form of society. The renamings took place on the basis of the provisions of the Act on the Names of Settlements, which was adopted by the Assembly of the then People's Republic of Slovenia in mid-February 1948. The renamings mainly affected settlements whose names originated from the Catholic heritage, as well as toponyms with German origins. Despite the clear limits of ideological acceptability and the Communist Party's monopoly of rule, the process of renaming underwent several changes, and it cannot be characterized simply as a bare imposition by central state bodies. The original large-scale renaming plan was partially abandoned after the conflict between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The renaming process then dragged on until 1955. In addition, local communities also actively participated in the process, which could at least to a certain extent influence the choice of new names, and in rare cases even represented the leading force in efforts to carry out renamings. It seems that the nationalist element of the communist toponomastic policy enjoyed a lot of support, while the confrontation with the Catholic-marked place names was met with less enthusiasm. The process thus shows the continuity of some elements of ideologically marked spatial policies in the border area of the northern Adriatic, which, despite slogans about a break with the past, continued even in the new political system after the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]