Amalija Knavs
| |
|---|---|
| Born | Amalija Ulčnik (1945-07-09)July 9, 1945 |
| Died | January 9, 2024(2024-01-09) (aged 78)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
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| Citizenship |
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| Spouse |
Viktor Knavs (m. 1966) |
| Children | 2, including Melania Trump |
| Relatives | Barron Trump (grandson) |
Amalija Knavs (née Ulčnik; July 9, 1945 – January 9, 2024) was a Slovenian-American woman who was the mother of Melania Trump, the wife of former U.S. president Donald Trump and First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021.[1][2]
In 2018, Knavs and her husband, Viktor, obtained green cards and then became naturalized U.S. citizens using the U.S.'s family-based immigration program, which Trump had denounced as "chain migration".[3][4]
Amalija Ulčnik was born on July 9, 1945, in Judendorf-Straßengel, Austria. She was raised there and in Slovenia, which was at the time part of Yugoslavia. Her mother, Amalija (Gliha) Ulčnik, was a seamstress and homemaker and her father, Anton Ulčnik, was a cobbler and later a red-onion farmer.[1]
In her youth she worked on her family's onion farm. From 1964 to 1997, she worked at a state-owned children's clothing factory where she created and monitored textile patterns.[1]
Knavs met her husband, Viktor, a member of the Sevnica Communist Party in 1966.[5] After marrying, they lived in Sevnica, Slovenia.[6] The couple had two daughters: Ines (born 1968) and Melania (born 1970).[6]
By August 2017, Amalija and her husband were living in New York City.[7] It was later confirmed that Melania sponsored their green cards.[8] In May 2018, Amalija was in attendance for the White House Rose Garden ceremony which saw Melania launch her Be Best public awareness campaign.[9] In August 2018, Amalija and Viktor Knavs became U.S. citizens after taking an oath at a New York City courthouse.[8] The New York Times described her as not adhering in public to the "stereotypes of an American grandmother".[10]
On January 9, 2024, Knavs died at a hospital in Miami, Florida, at the age of 78.[11] She had been "very ill" since late 2023, with sources confirming to People that Melania skipped a Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party to attend to her bedside.[12]
