Historiography or distortion of facts?

Ludvik Toplak, a former president of one of Slovenia's assembly chambers, has penned a response to an editorial by Ali Žerdin in Delo newspaper, accusing Žerdin of distorting historical facts regarding the raising of the Slovenian flag on Triglav in 1991. Toplak contends that Žerdin's narrative unfairly polarizes the relationship between the "state leadership" and the photographers and filmmakers present during the independence declaration.

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He called Ludvik Toplak, president of one of the assembly chambers. What flag will fly during the declaration of independence? Toplak could not answer. Discussions about the flag were still ongoing.

Žerdin's editorial, which discussed the work of photographer Jože Žnidaršič, suggested that the flag's appearance on Triglav was due to a "brilliant command from the state leadership," with media personnel merely being granted permission to document the event. Žerdin characterized such accounts as "historical writing" that constitutes "distortion of facts."

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Ten years later... no one blushes when someone takes an iconic photograph, slightly edits it, and uses it for party propaganda.

Toplak, however, refutes this framing. He states that he was personally tasked by then-President France Bučar to oversee the design of the national flag. While photographer Jože Žnidaršič did approach him with questions, Toplak maintains that no agreement had been reached on the coat of arms for the flag. Consequently, he proposed using the Slovenian national flag, the tricolor, believing it to be a unifying symbol of Slovenian national identity and the foundation of statehood.

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Let's pay attention to the details. Let's pay attention to the claims that the flag on Triglav fluttered due to the brilliant command of the state leadership, and that photographers and filmmakers were graciously allowed to immortalize the scene. Such 'historical writing' is distortion.

Toplak emphasizes that the Slovenian tricolor has a long history, dating back to the 1848 student movements in Vienna and Ljubljana, and has accompanied Slovenians both domestically and internationally for over a century. He argues that this flag, representing national identity, would remain regardless of parliamentary approval for any proposed emblem. Toplak concludes by asserting that during the independence years, there was a sense of unity and shared purpose among all Slovenians, contrasting it with the later polarization that emerged, which he attributes to those who feared losing privileges.

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He called Ludvik Toplak, president of one of the three chambers. It is true, I was the president of the socio-political chamber and a member of the constitutional commission. President France Bučar personally asked me to take care of the design of the national flag.