Melania Trump's Slovenian Birthplace Is 'Very Proud' of First Ladynbcnews.com, Nov 10, CARLO ANGERER and VLADIMIR BANIC
SEVNICA, Slovenia — When Melania Trump was born in 1970, her small industrial hometown on the banks of the Sava River was part of Communist Yugoslavia.
Forty-six years later, she is married to the next leader of the free world and the rural Slovenian town of Sevnica is embracing the success of its most famous citizen.
"I feel very happy for her," Mirjana Jelancic, a childhood friend of Melania who is now principal at the local school, told NBC News on Thursday.
Residents are stunned that Melania will move into the White House, becoming only the second first lady not born in the United States.
Jelancic hopes that Melania will soon make an official visit to her birthplace, where 5,000 people are overlooked by smokestacks, church towers and a historic hilltop castle.
Sevnica has striking similarities to the American Rust Belt communities where working-class voters helped carry her husband to victory.
In the past two decades, many of its plants have shut down, including the Jutranka clothing factory where Melania's mother once worked. Locals say her father sold car parts in a parking lot.
Both her parents now spend most of their time near their daughter in New York, but they still own a house in Sevnica.
Today, the town's largest factory produces lingerie.
Srecko Ocvirk, the town's mayor, told NBC News that factories have recently become competitive on the global marketplace again and unemployment has fallen below 10 percent.
He hopes that Melania Trump's new role will provide a further boost.
Read more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/melania-trump-s-slovenian-birthplace-very-proud-first-lady-n682046
