I've noticed a lot of 19th and 20th century references in Slovenian and Yugoslav print to either Austrian Germans or Austria in general that involved the colour green over the years (examples: http://www.maribor-graz.eu/images/1920_lhm_plebiscit_ukm.jpg; http://matejzalar.si.hosting-14.domovanje.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/7357031_09fbb284a07c4b1578432d23ec9b7ecf_large.jpg). Initially, I thought it just had to do with the fact that in the Carinthian plebiscite of 1920, the pro-Austria ballots were green, but I've recently discovered much earlier references of the kind (e.g. the Laibach Casino, a popular meeting point for Germans in Ljubljana was popularly known as "die grüne Insel"). I was wondering how the connection came about and was hoping someone here could shed some light on it.
The main colours of Austria would be the Babenberger "Bindenschild" of red-white-red and the Habsburg colours of black and yellow. Green is the colour of Styria that ruled over the Northern part of Slovenia.
Green is also the traditional colour of woodsmen and hunters, adopted by the light infantry of Jäger (rangers) and later the police. The traditionally green-clad German policemen (though there had always been policemen in blue in certain parts and cities) had to shift to the common European police blue hue (green now is only to be used by military units).
Loden is often dyed green. Could also be that green was the cheapest color to use on prints.
There's a number of places that are called "Die grüne Insel", e.g. Ireland or Iceland. It's nothing associated with any kind of Deutschtum. Colors of the deutschnationale Bewegung in Austria were Black-Red-Gold.
