Melania Trump’s humble beginnings in Slovenia: her hometown of Sevnica has just 17,000 people and was most famous for its salami – then its tourism doubled when Donald ran for US president
She calls the small town of Sevnica home
The former first lady grew up in Sevnica, Slovenia.
Sevnica is located along the Sava River in central Slovenia
It has a population of around 17,600, according to its official website.
When Melania Trump (then Melanija Knavs) was born, Slovenia was a communist country ruled by President Josip Tito and known as Yugoslavia.
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Slovenia became independent in 1991.
It’s famous for its salami
Before Trump’s rise to fame first as a model and then as first lady of the United States, Sevnica was best known for its furniture and clothing factories – and its annual salami festival.
Sevnica reportedly produces over 150 kinds of salami. Now, Sevnica produces a salami named after the first lady.
Sevnica’s tourism doubled in the year before Donald took office as interest in Melania grew, a tour guide told Reuters in January 2017. In 2017, the number of foreigners visiting Slovenia jumped 17 per cent when compared to the previous year, with a total of 3.4 million visitors.
The small town capitalised on its claim to fame as the former FLOTUS’ hometown, offering tours, foods and souvenirs named after her, including her very own salami.
Humble beginnings
As a child, Trump lived in this block of communist-era flats.
Her father, Viktor Knavs, worked as a car salesman, according to The New York Times. Her mother, Amalija, worked at a local textile factory as a patternmaker.
Trump attended Sevnica’s Savo Kladnik Elementary School.
Mirjana Jelancic, a friend of Trump’s and principal of the school, told ABC News in 2016 that the young Trump was “an angel” and “a very good student”.
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Her family later moved to a modest house on Ribniki Street.
When Trump and her sister Ines were in high school, the Knavs family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. At the age of 18, Trump signed with a modelling agency in Milan, which eventually took her to New York and, well, the rest is history.
Supporting her supporters – and that statue
Trump remained connected to her hometown over the years, donating US$25,000 to a medical centre there in 2005.
Trump made the donation after her wedding in 2005, according to The New York Times.
Residents of Sevnica gathered to celebrate Donald’s victory in the 2016 election.
Trump is the second first lady born outside the US. The first was John Quincy Adams’ wife, Louisa Catherine Adams, who was born in London.
The wooden statue, modelled after Trump’s blue Ralph Lauren inauguration dress, garnered mixed reviews. Some on social media compared it to a scarecrow.
A bronze statue replaced the original wood one after it was vandalised and burned in 2020.
A plaque at the site says the new bronze statue is “dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Melania, which stood in this location from 2019-2020”.
- Donald Trump’s third wife is the daughter of a car dealer and patternmaker and grew up in the small town of Sevnica – then she became a model, moved to New York, and the rest is history
- Sevnica’s tourism doubled in the year before she became first lady, but a wooden statue erected in her honour was vandalised and had to be replaced by a bronze version