The study deals with the history of the translation of Slovenian literature into German. It exemplarily outlines its development lines through the translation of folk poetry (as the beginning of significant translation activity in the pre-romantic era) and three authors considered classic in Slovenian literature (Prešeren, Cankar, Kosovel). The observable fact that Slovenian literature was relatively weakly received in the German-speaking world until the 1960s prompts the author to investigate the intellectual and historical contexts in which there was hardly any sustainable mediation of Slovenian literature into the German-speaking area for over two hundred years. The analysis of the presentation styles maintained by editors and commentators reveals characteristic attitudes that long hindered an ideologically unburdened engagement with Slovenian literature.