The History of
"The Slovenian Cultural Society Triglav"
At the end of World War II, on May 8, 1945, with Yalta's agreement with the
Russian army, we were forced to leave Slovenia and move to Vetrinje in Austria.
In order not to be killed, many men, women, and, children took very few
possessions and fled. Due to England, a Slovenian holocaust took place, when
12,000 Domobranci were forced back to the now communist Slovenia and were
massacred. Thanks to help from Slovenian Dr. Valentin Mersol and Canadian
Major Paul Bary, the remaining civilians did not return to Slovenia, therefore
sparing their lives.
After 4 hard years and sad living conditions in camps in Austria and Italy, we
came to Milwaukee in 1949 as the first political refugees. Here we quickly
found work and our lost freedom, along with a different lifestyle, unknown
language and worst of all, homesickness. We started to think of how we could
keep our ties with one another, where we could feel as if we were home amongst
our own. Our wishes came true when John Grum, Frank Rozina, and, Ivo
Kunovar called the first meeting of the newest political refugees on November
17, 1950 in the church hall at St. John's. This was the beginning of our
society, when in February 1952, close to 30 families gathered for a meeting and
the name "Slovenian Cultural Society Triglav" was chosen.
On March 14th, 1954 Fr. Claude Okorn was named our spiritual advisor. He
also was a political refugee, so he understood us very well and we received much
support and backing from him. Our society had monthly meetings with a variety
of lectures, along with Slovenian school. Many yearly events were also held and
under the direction of Vladislav Kralj and Louis Galic, the society would put on
two plays each year with a large attendance numbering close to 350 people.
This continued until 1960. The chorus was under the direction of Ernest
Majhenic until his death in 1984. The society also sponsored and gave whatever
they could from these events to needy organizations.
Our families grew quickly and the society started to look for a convenient
meeting place where members could come together in the warm months. After
searching for a long time, with much delight, President Frank Mejac and Vice
President Frank Rozina found, in the town of Norway, 15 acres of overgrown
woods with many large oak trees and a small lake. On March 25th, 1961 the deed
to this land was signed.
Now started the hard manual labor of clearing the land without any modern
machinery, but everyone worked hard and in 1962 the park was ready for guests
and the first picnic was held. There was always need for improvements and so each
year some new facility was built, one of them being our beautiful St. Ciril &
Methodious Chapel where each picnic starts with Mass and is celebrated by our
spiritual advisor Rev. Dr. Joze Gole. Hard work continued, but on Sundays we
enjoyed the park. Sunday was Our Lord's Day and we can honestly say that He
blessed our work because after 44 years ther has never been any major accidents.
We can be very proud of our Triglav Park, this small piece of land within our
second home, America. To the next generation, we wish you much success and with
God's help, Triglav Park will remain in Slovenian hands for many, many more years.
God Bless The Slovenian Cultural Society Triglav!
..... Franjo Mejac