| Articles by Dr. Jožko Šavli: |
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| Some of the books have been published by Založba Humar. |
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At the Block - Angelo Leban | |
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Thoughts and Words - Angelo Leban | |
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Odkritje neevidentiranega krsta pri Savici | |
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Drevnie i nynešnie Slovene - Ancient and today's Slovenes, by Jurij Venelin | |
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Censorship and an Island of Freedom - Drago Jancar | |
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Ljubljana to Become World Book Capital - The Slovenia Times | |
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2008: The year of Primož Trubar | |
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Zvonovi so zapeli - Zborovske skladbe na besedila Gregorja Malija | |
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Slovenian saga of beauty and cruelty | |
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Simon Gregorcic - 100th anniversary of his death | |
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Ko misel sreca misel - Petra Košaka | |
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Memoirs of Death & Survival after World War II - John Corsellis - Marcus Ferrar | |
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Special Battalions - Battaglioni Speciali - Branko Cermelj and Sara Perini | |
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Kocbek's Poetry | |
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Joseph Stefan | |
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Herman de Carinthia | |
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Herman Potocnik - Noordung | |
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Jurij Vega (Inventor of the Logarithm Tables) | |
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Albin Belar | |
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Dr. Frederic Pregl | |
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Louis Adamich | |
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Josef Friedrich Perkonig | |
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Jan Ignacy Nieceslaw Baudouin de Courtenay | |
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Ukraine - Slovenia | |
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Poziv za domovino - Milan Bolkovic Bole | |
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Iz primorske epopeje (From the Littoral Epopee) - by Borut Rutar | |
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Monumenta Frisingensia | |
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Urban Jarnik | |
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Srecko Kosovel - The Kosovel Year 2004 | |
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Kosovel's Poems Published in UK |
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Narte Velikonja | |
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Alma Maximiliana Karlin | |
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Karel Destovnik - Kajuh | |
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Fulvio Tomizza | |
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Francè Balantic | |
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Ivan Pregelj | |
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Vladimir Bartol (1903 - 1967) | |
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Alamut |
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Dr. Julius Kugy 1858 - 1944 | |
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BALANTIC ( IN DESTOVNIK - KRIK RAZKLANEGA LJUDSTVA) | |
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| Angelo Leban |
| Angelo Leban |
| translated by Ermens Angeretti |
| This short story the author experienced as a child, when he made his first journey from Italy to Slovenia (Yugoslavia) at the beginning of the 50s. It was a passage from the free West to Communist East Europe. In today's Slovenia, which is now an independent State and a member of the European Union, such episodes are already forgotten. The story itself provides precious evidence of the one-time conditions, under which the people at the border zone had to live after the WW2. The word "block" means the check point at the border between Italy and Slovenia (Yugoslavia) (Observ. of the Carantha ed.). |
| My grandfather Ivan Leban lived in Tolmin, where he passed away at the age of 80 in 1947. My mother could not attend the funeral because she didn't have a passport. In 1950 my grandmother Majka was not well at all, at that point my mother applied for a passport immediately, so that she could visit her family. |
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Tolmin (Slovenia), where Angelo Leban from Milan spent his holidays in the 50s. At present-day, the one-time small town has grown into a bustling small city, but it never lost its ancient charm. |
| She had all kinds of problems to get the document, because the birth registry office in Tolmin was burnt down during the war. It was impossible to obtain a copy of the birth certificate, which was needed for the passport application. My mom, thanks to a lorry driver from Gorizia, who worked for the RIBI company, obtained an amended birth certificate through the archbishopric of Gorizia, and finally she received the passport from a man, who was familiar with the "Questura affairs". But that was not enough. In order to enter Yugoslavia you needed a visa. The Yugoslav Consulate had at that time its headquarters in a small villa in Pirandello Street. The waiting room was always overcrowded. You had to fill out a form specifying why you wanted to go to Yugoslavia, the duration of your visit, and your whereabouts. |
| A few days later you had to go again to the Consulate and pick up your passport with the visa stamp, which was as big as the entire page. They provided you also with a card, which you had to show to the village authorities at the place of your destination. This small card indicated the date of arrival and departure from Yugoslavia. |
| My mother started preparations far in advance. Her relatives asked her to bring medicines, clothes for the children, needles and cotton thread. Once ready, there were four full suitcases packed with everything, sweets, coffee, and most of all the famous Panettone Motta. Mom was very proud, because this gift came from the shop where she was working. The day before our departure we went to the railway station to get tickets and to look at the timetable. |
| The evening before we were all really moved. Then the suitcases had to be carried out on the street, and we had to make at least two trips from the house. From there we dragged the heavy baggage to the bus stop and loaded it on the bus line 91. At that time, busses had a conductor, who sold the tickets. He wanted us to pay for the luggage, but we never did! |
| Once at the railway station (you had to be there an hour in advance), we sat in the waiting room, which was always very crowded. The train for Venice was scheduled for 10 a.m., but since the train came from Turin at 10.00 p.m. it was parked on another track. The locomotive had to be taken off the wagons and moved to the train destined for Venice. |
| My mother knew the procedure by heart, that's why we always took the last two compartments of the train, those with the identification TORINO-VENEZIA S.L. (the railway station of Venice is called Santa Lucia, abbrev. S.L.). These two wagons were not crammed with people, but the rest of the train was a complete mess. They were shuffling and pushing to get a seat. But we had settled down quite comfortably near the window and a small table was at our complete disposal. |
| One thing my mother could not understand: On the compartment was indicated VENEZIA - SANTA LUCIA. She thought that the train would go directly to Tolmin. Indeed, under the Italian regime, until the end of the WW2, Tolmin's railway station was called Santa Lucia di Tolmino, maybe it was only a wishful hope. |
| The train arrived in Venice. It was dawn and I had a wonderful experience when I saw the sea for the first time, the Laguna of Venice. I was amazed how large the bridge was, the link between Mestre and Venice, and it was hard for me to imagine how it could stand on the sea without support. I didn't know that the Laguna had a very low draft and that all bridges were firmly fixed on the ground. Once in Venice, we had to change for the train to Trieste, get off in Monfalcone and then take the train to Gorizia, which was pulled by a diesel engine. |
| At that time the trip from Milan to Gorizia took 8 hours, because trains were few and slow. They made many stops on the way. We always took the express with frequent stops en route: Milano Lambrate, Milano Smistamento, Melzo, Treviglio, Rovato and so on. The train was mainly used by the working class living outside of Milan. |
| Gorizia was full of military. A man drove us in his car (not a regular taxi) to Casa Rossa, Rožna dolina in Slovenian language, a place near the border. All border points were called "NA BLOKU" (At the Block). Probably because of the enormous concrete blocks at the border, whose function it was to prevent trespassing, and to prevent tanks from moving in or out. In fact, the army was everywhere; in those days Gorizia swarmed with soldiers. Not even a bicycle could have passed through these blocks! |
| At that time the border was not agreed upon (it become official with the Treaty of Osimo, in 1977), this was the reason why Italy and Slovenia put these controls into place. |
| The Yugoslavian railway bridge on the border linked Sežana with Nova Gorica. From far away you could read TUKAJ JE JUGOSLAVIJA (Here begins Yugoslavia) and on the Sabotin mountain, just in front of the border, on a grassy part of the mountain, there were big letters made out of stone, which said ŽIVIO TITO (Viva Tito, long live Tito). |
| The controls of the Italian and Yugoslavian army did not allow to bring newspapers into the country, not even children's' literature, like Topolino. I had in my little suitcase some Topolino, which fortunately was overlooked by the soldiers. Once we passed customs we had to ask for help to reach the Nova Gorica railway station, which was two or three kilometres away from here. |
| A man with a small dray and a horse was willing to take us there, so we jumped on the wagon. The road to Nova Gorica was a nightmare, because of the smelly horse and its poo, the slowness and the dirt. |
| Finally the train station came in sight. Despite being tired and all, I was fascinated by the size of it. That was the railway station of Gorizia - Monte Santo, built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to link Prague and Trieste. When the Yugoslavians occupied the city they also took over the station. The front part of the station was divided by barbed wire and a full line of trees marked the Italian territory. |
| It was early afternoon and we were waiting for the train from Sežana that was scheduled for approx. 5.00 pm. I was very tired and tried to sleep, but the waiting room was crowded and noisy. People were sitting on the floor. While waiting for the train, I opened my small briefcase filled with cartoon books, so that I could pass the time reading. The moment I started to look at the cartoons many children gathered around me, they wanted to see my books. I remember that I gave some of the old copies to the children. All the sudden a nurse of the Yugoslavian Red Cross appeared. She asked my mother and me to follow her outside of the waiting room. I was a little worried. So was my mother. The nurse took us to the infirmary where I could sleep. She came to get us when the train arrived. |
| The short train, consisting of the locomotive and a few compartments, was on time. We had some difficulties to border. That train was gorgeous, it was like being in the Wild West. Finally the train pulled out of the station, and in Solkan we passed over a stone bridge with a very big arch. It was, and still is a jewel of Austrian engineering. The railroad was built along the Isonzo river, which came into full view outside of the tunnels. |
| For the first time in my life I saw a real river, incomparable to what I have seen before in movies, on pictures and in books. This incredible emerald green colour rendered the river a very spectacular image, it was a true experience for me. Along the road we noticed houses and stations burnt to the ground and destroyed during bombardments. |
| I was so fascinated by all this, that I spent the whole time at the window. When I finally sat down my face was black from the smoke of the locomotive, and my eyes were red. |
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The railway station Most na Soci (Slovenia). In the period between the First and the Second World War it belonged to Italy and was called Santa Lucia di Tolmino. The station preserved its original appearance. |
| After spending 18 hours on the train, we reached Most na Soci (ex Santa Lucia di Tolmino) at about 6.00 p.m. First I met my aunt Štefanija. She knew me already. When I was younger she came to Milan. Then we walked towards Tolmin, carrying the entire luggage with us. There was not even a small dray in sight, so we had to walk. It was 2 km from the railway station to the centre of Santa Lucia, and a further 5 km to Tolmin. |
| It was a beautiful summer evening and the full moon was shining in the sky. The moon light reflected on the calm surface of the river. All the sudden I heard some noise in the waters and I got a little bit scared. The river was full of trout, and they probably made that noise. But mother said, these are the souls of the dead soldiers, which were thrown into the river (what a macabre fantasy). |
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On the left: The Soca river between Most na Soci (Santa Lucia) and Tolmin. Angelo was told, that the noise coming from the river is the sound of souls of slaughtered people. | |
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On the right: The gorge of Korita not far from Tolmin. According to the legend, Dante Alighieri was inspired by the wild abysms of the Tolminka canyon, when he wrote his poem Inferno. | |
| After a 20-hour trip, we finally reached Tolmin, where we were the guests of Angela Nuk. My mother was Angela's godmother at her confirmation. |
| Angela's husband Anton, had a hobby besides his traditional job, he used to go out and look for metal with his metal detector Geiger. The area was full of residual war material from the WW1, and old metal was a source of extra income. It was a risky job as well. There was always the possibility of stepping on a mine or to find an unexploded weapon. |
| Anton showed me his equipment and an article from a Slovenian newspaper, in which he appears holding a big meteorite in his hands, that he found on the mountains in the area. This meteorite is still on display in the Tolmin Museum. |
| The Nuk family gave us their bedroom, and honestly said, I still remember how beautiful it was, a very soft eiderdown pillow and a coverlet made of pink raso with white. I never slept in such a beautiful and comfortable bed, and it was not only due to the fact that I was tired, but also because back home in Milan I had to sleep on a small sofa. |
| The next day we reported our arrival to the city hall in Tolmin. We gave them the address of my aunt Kristina (called Zinka). She received this nickname during the WW2. She was married and lived in a big house in Zatolmin. |
| The procedure of notification was compulsory and required by the police. As guests of our relatives we had no possibility to spend our Italian currency. People had to report how many Italian Lire they had at point of entry to Yugoslavia, and they had to show the same amount of money to the authorities at point of exit from Yugoslavia, as proof that nothing was spent. This situation made us hide the money in our clothes. You could not exchange money at that time, even the banks did not convert any currency. But it was important to have some Dinars to buy daily food. Therefore we exchanged Lire for Dinars on an irregular basis with the local people. In fact, they welcomed Italian Lire to purchase much needed items in Gorizia. |
| My aunt was the first one to exchange Dinar for Lire, because the shops in Gorizia speculated and charged a high commission for foreign (and furthermore unsure) currency. |
| At that time, many women in the valley worked in Stara Gorica, the old Gorizia, as the Italian part of the city was called. These women were paid in Italian Lire, but they were not allowed to bring Italian money into their country. Consequently, every employer kept a register of money belonging to his employees. That money was used to buy necessary things which were not available in the shops at home. It was also used to pay people, who bought and sent goods to the workers' house. My mother frequently sent packages to the home of workers, who gave her their address. |
| The women went to the border with baskets of food and sold cheese, eggs, meat etc. In this way they earned some money and purchased necessities which were not available in Yugoslavia. This kind of commerce was allowed. |
| In the coming years, the RIBI company of Gorizia started a bus service between Italy and Yugoslavia, it covered the route from the valley of the high part of the Isonzo river to Bovec (Plezzo), with stops in Kanal (Canale di Isonzo), Tolmin and Kobarid (Caporetto). The borders were opened to commercial traffic. |
| RIBI's bus was brand new and very modern for that period. It provided lots of room for the passangers. The luggage was stored in a luggage van below the seats. RIBI's bus was a de luxe version compared to those from Yugoslavia, at the same time it was also meant to show the difference in life style between Italy and Yugoslavia. It was a political propaganda, I would say. |
| The bus depot was at RIBI's headquarters, close to the railway station (Gorizia - Monte Santo). The problems started when the bus reached the border of Casa Rossa. All passengers with passports had to get off the bus, which most of the time concerned only my family. The majority of passengers were citizens of Yugoslavia, who worked in Italy, and they had a special pass. But we had to go through customs with our luggage. On the other hand, when we bordered the bus, we had to present our pass and declare the goods that we bought. But finally everybody was comfortably seated again and the trip continued. We had to go through this degrading process every time we crossed the border. The bus could not leave without us, and the other passengers from Yugoslavia got quite fed up and impatient, that they had to wait for us such a long time. |
| My mother always collected used clothes for her relatives; they were donations from colleagues and some came from us. When mom had to open all her suitcases, hold together with rope, otherwise they would have exploded, the custom agent did not want her to enter Yugoslavia with these old garments. According to him they were nothing more but rag-tatter, which the people of his country did not need, they would feel offended. Moreover, they didn't need Italian clothes. |
| Another major issue at the border crossing was the fact, that my mother was born in Tolmin but could not speak the language. (In fact, she did not like to speak a very difficult dialect of the Tolmin surroundings). |
| "You can't forget your mother tongue," they said. - She always replied: "I speak the language that allows me to make a living". |
| This answer always caused more problems. But that was not all. My mother placed two chamber pots on his desk, a bigger and a smaller one in white and blue. The expression on the agent's face was like saying: "You don't even have toilets in this country". |
| I felt embarrassed when she unpacked the chamber pots in front of other people. Mom had to explain to the agents, that there was no toilet inside the house of her grandparents, and the chamber pots would make it easier for the old people at night time, when mother nature was calling. At this point it was a complete mess. |
| The agent's usual answer was: "Take all your stuff and get out of here". - This was the sentence my mother was waiting for. The same thing happened year after year. |
| Once I noticed a boy being hassled by the custom's agent about some triangular flags that he had on his green Vespa 125 cc. Piaggio. He was forced to remove the flags in order to cross the border. The boy gave his flags to me; I quickly stashed them secretly into my pocket. |
| The very moment we reached my grandmother's house I took out the flags and inspected them. They were of different colours. One was the Italian flag, the other one was red with an alabarda and the seal of the city of Trieste. Another one displayed the military cemetery of Redipuglia. One was light blue and carried the words BIANCHI, the famous bicycle producer. There was another one with the face of Fausto Coppi, the champion. I immediately displayed them outside the windows of my grandmother's house. Grandma Majka and uncle Andrej saw my exposition, but they said nothing. They thought the flags belonged to me. |
| At that time, villages close to the border were highly controlled by the military. Every single day there were some Yugoslav soldiers passing by my grandparents' house. They happened to see my flags outside the window the same day I displayed them. Three militaries came into the house and forced my uncle to remove the flags, because it was against the law of the government. There were no further incidents, but they kept us under control during our stay. |
| When the holidays were over, we went through the same procedures again at the border. Out of gratitude for all the clothes and goods we had brought for our relatives, we received food and bottles of grappa (brandy). Furthermore, my mom bought cigarettes for her colleagues, thanking them in this way for their donations. You were allowed to bring back 1 litre of grappa and 5 packs of cigarettes per person, but we had 5 bottles of grappa and about 50 packs of cigarettes (Drava, Sava, Ljubljana, Bled and other trade marks), I don't remember. |
| I, as a registered child on my mother's passport, was not permitted to bring anything into Italy according to the Italian customs' law. I was really surprised when I heard mom saying that I drank and smoked. Now we had a real drama on hand. They said: "if the child is drinking and smoking then a doctor will pay a visit to your house and you will be sued". She took back what she said (the custom's agent did not believe her anyway), and we were allowed to bring our cigarettes over the border but not the grappa. My mother took the bottles and poured the grappa into the gutter, making sure that none of it was left for the customs officer. At that point the Italian agent told her to get out of here. |
| All the above repeated itself year after year, always the same story, the same problems, the same hassle, until I got my own passport at the age of 14. |
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| Thoughts and Words |
| (Pensieri e parole) |
| Angelo Leban |
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| Il sogno di quando ero bambino era rivolto ad un futuro meraviglioso, ma quando gli anni passano ed il futuro diventa presente o passato prossimo, con tutte le vicende vissute, alcune belle ma molte tristi, il mio attuale sogno sarebbe salire sulla macchina del tempo e ritornare bambino, rivivere quei difficili ma meravigliosi momenti di cui non si è mai consapevoli abbastanza. |
| Thoughts and Words (Pensieri e parole) is the title of the Diary written by Angelo Leban, born in Milan (Italy) in 1942. He, in his mother's line, is of Slovenian origin, and he still speaks his mother's tongue, or better said, the Slovenian dialect of the surroundings of Tolmin in the Soca (Isonzo) Valley, Slovenia. His diary of 160 pages is written in Italian, because he grew up in Milan and attended only Italian schools. Says the author in the motto to his work: |
| My dream, the dream I had as a child, was about a wonderful future. But now that years have gone by, and the future turned into present and past, I dream of taking a ride on a time machine back to my childhood days. I want to live over and over again those wonderful moments which I had, without realizing how precious they were while I lived them. |
| So much will to live and so much optimism, even though his youth was not an easy one. In Milan, during the WW2, he and his mother survived on their own. During a bombardment in 1944, in which 300 children of his school were killed, he suffered a head injury. Then he experienced the desperate poverty of the post-war period. Since the beginning of the 50s, he spent for many years in a row his summer holidays in Tolmin, where his uncles and aunts always welcomed him with open arms. The memories from those days have enriched his life and he describes them in his diary. His writings, it is true, are not only a literary work. They are a touching document of a period, he experienced as child, since his very 8th year. |
| His short stories, which occurred in the area of Tolmin and Littoral, are not only his personal episodes. They are life pictures of people, who lived on both sides of the frontier and who, after the WW2, were divided between the western or Capitalist world and the eastern or Communist system. They revive life passages of simple people, who longed for right and felicity, but who also knew how to endure many disillusions. Far away in Milan, Angelo Leban left us a valid document about these post-war conditions. Despite all the poverty, people nourished hope, serenity and life optimism, and that is what he would like to relive once again. |
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| Odkritje neevidentiranega krsta pri Savici |
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Razstavo Slovenskih knjig iz knjiznice Ruske akademije znanosti je nadaljevala: | |
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Predstavitev "Kataloga Slovenskih Knjig" v knjiznici Ruske akademije znanosti in, | |
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Tretja predstavitev dvojezicne knjige "Ziga Herberstein" prvi dve sta bili v Moskvi in Samari | |
| Med pripravami za razstavo in katalog je bil najden doslej neznani in neevidentirani izvod Krsta pri Savici. Ismail Ivanovic Sreznjevski (1812-1880), sodobnik in prijatelj Jerneja Kopitarja, ki se je leta 1841 na svojem studijskem potovanju po slovanskih dezelah dalje casa mudil tudi v Ljubljani, velja za utemeljitelja ruske slavistike, prvega doktorja slavisticnih znanosti in prvega predstojnika l. 1847 ustanovljene ruske slavisticne katedre v St. Peterburgu. Med njegove velike zasluge lahko stejemo med drugim tudi prvo studijo slovenskih dialektov, ki jo je pozneje tako uspesno nadaljeval njegov ucenec Baudouin de Courtenay, katerega Slovar rezijanskega jezika je leta 2000 izsel pod redakcijo Milka Maticetova pri SAZU. |
| Tudi sicer se je zahtevni projekt pokazal kot nujen in koristen, saj je odslej ruskim slovenistom in slov. raziskovalcem na voljo vec kot 950 evidentiranih naslovov knjig, brosur, revij in drugih publikacij, ki jih hrani Knjiznica. Nekaj deset naslovov se nahaja izkljucno v njenem fondu in niso evidentirani drugod po svetu. Dva naslova pa sta evidentirana sploh prvic - prej jih v katalogih Knjiznice ni bilo. |
| Nosilca projekta sta bila Drustvo dr. Franceta Preserna za promocijo stikov med Slovenijo in Rusijo, ki je dalo pobudo za projekt in ga v celoti financno omogocilo ter seveda Knjiznica Ruske Akademije znanosti (O. Guseva, J. Komissarova) in katedra slovanske filologije Peterburzske univerze (M. Bersadskaja). |
| To obvestilo tudi zato, ker se je od takrat, ko smo ga prvic poslali v eter, stevilo prejemnikov e-poste potrojilo, drzavna RTV Slovenija in osrednji slovenski casopis Delo pa o tej, po nasem mnenju, zanimivi in vazni zadevi tudi po letu dni, iz neznanih razlogov, nista niti crhnila, ceprav nekajkrat obvescena. Ce bi v Rusiji nasli izdajo del Puskina z posvetilom pesnika bi se o tem porocalo po vsej Rusiji in cez. Ker to Ruse zanima! Preprican sem, da tukaj mi Slovenci nismo nic drugacni. |
| Ob izvedbi projekta so Primorske novice natisnile clanek z sliko, lepo bi bilo, ce bi tudi zdaj kak nas elektronski medij posredoval novico obcanom in mogoce poizvedel in dodal tudi kako informacijo tem koliko je sploh evidentiranih Krstov in kje se hranijo. |
| Cenjeni rusisti, vabimo vas, da se angazirate v izdaji naslednjega kataloga slovenskih knjig iz fonda Knjiznice Ruske Akademije znanosti, ki bo zaobjemal obdobje od 1930 do danasnjega dne. Neevidentirane ostajajo tudi slovenske knjige v drugih ruskih knjiznicah. Kakorkoli ze, cenjeni rusisti, slovenisti in (drugi) deklarirani prijatelji Rusije, zogica je na vasi strani. Vabimo Vas tudi k sodelovanju pri izdaji 2. Slovensko- ruskega almanaha "Od Alp do Jadrana", kakor tudi pri ostalih nasih zahtevnih projektih. Tukaj postavimo piko, ki se bo, upajmo, scasoma spremenila v vejico. |
| Za priboljsek in za novoletno darilo pa si v priponki oglejte se umetnisko sliko hipoteticnega srecanja Preserna in Puskina, ki krasi naslovno stran nasega 1. slovensko-ruskega almanaha. Sliko je po narocilu DFP izdelal ruski slikar, kipar, oblikovalec in grboslov Aleksandr Kozinin, avtor doprsnega kipa Zaka-Jakoba Jakopina (brata nasega znamenitega jezikoslovca Franca Jakopina), ki je prezivel v Rusiji okoli 60 let in se uveljavil kot iznajditelj kmetijskih strojev. Po zaslugi A. Kozinina, nosi ulica v mestu Kalac Voronezske oblasti njegovo ime. A. Kozinin je tudi avtor visokoumetniske lesene makete Ruske kapelice pod goro Vrsic (po zelji vam njeno sliko posljemo po e-posti). |
| Ta okroznica je predvidoma zadnja v tem letu. Zato naj vsem ze zdaj zelimo vsega dobrega v l. 2002, bodite preserni, zdravi in ....koristni. |
| Tiste, ki jim je nasa e-posta odvec, prosimo, da o tem sporocijo, nemudoma bomo Vase naslove zbrisali z seznama prejemnikov. |
| Rusija te dni praznuje eden najbolj vaznih dogodkov Velike Drzavljanske vojne - 60. obletnico bitke za Moskvo - 5. decembra 1941 je sovjetska armija presla v protinapad v bitki za Moskvo in zadala prvi velik poraz armiji nacisticne Nemcije ter razprsila mit o njeni nepremagljivosti. Dogodka 5.-7. decembra 1941 - zmaga Rusov pred Moskvo in poraz Amerikancev v Pearl Harbouru - sta bila kljucna punkta II. Svetovne vojne. Pomenila sta, da se bo vojna odslej vodila na izcrpavanje. Sanse Nemcije in njenih zaveznikov so bile v taksni vojni nevelike, kajti njihovi skupni resursi so bili obcutno manjsi od potenciala protihitlerovske koalicije. |
| Sporocamo, da so te dni umrli trije zelo zasluzni ruski ljudje: 1) samobitni pisatelj Viktor Astafjev, eden od teh na katerem se drzi ruska nacionalna kultura; 2) konstruktor vesoljskega plovila za veckratno uporabo Buran (analog Shuttla) Gleb Lozino-Lozinskij, ki je 1988 izvedlo uspesni vesoljski polet in prvi na svetu samodejen pristanek; 3) orozarski konstruktor Igor Steckin, avtor legendarne avtomaticne pistole Steckin. |
| Just Rugel |
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| Drevnie i nynešnie Slovene |
| Ancient and today's Slovenes |
| Jurij Venelin |
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| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| Recently, the reprint of the book entitled "Drevnie i nynešnie Slovene" (Ancient and today's Slovenes) was issued in Moscow. The author of the book, Jurij Venelin (1802 - 1839) wrote it already in 1834, and it was printed in 1841. It was the first time in modern literate that an author used the name "Slovenia" for the Slovenian territory. The name Slovenia (Sclauinia), it is true, appeared parallel to the name Carantania already in the early Middle Ages. After the Great Duchy of Carantania (952 - 1180) appeared, the name Carinthia came into use. After its marches advanced to dukedoms, the names Carinthia, Styria, Carniola... prevailed. But also the common name Inner Austria was introduced, because these countries were acquainted with the Habsburgs (House of Austria), in 1335. |
| Yet, the name Slovenia (Sclauinia) was not wholly forgotten. For example, it is found on the wooden slab from ca. 1500 - 1520, on which the pictures of the Carthusian monasteries of Jurklošter and Žice (both in Lower Styria) appear. The wooden slabs are kept in the German Museum of Nuremberg (Nr. 580). Nevertheless, in the period of the national awakening, in the 19th century, the name Slovenia did not exist anymore as a historical and national conception. Indeed, Jurij Venelin was the first to re-introduce it into modern literature. The reprint of his book was issued by the "Dr. Francé Prešeren Association" (Moscow, 2004), which is presided by Mr. Just Rugel, a very man of action. The purpose of this association is to promote the cultural relations between Slovenians and Russians, which were vivacious in the period before the WW1. But after the Communist revolution, in 1917, they were completely suspended. The staff of Carantha expresses full acknowledgement to the Association for its initiatives, which are a precious contribution to a profitable collaboration between west and east. |
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| CENSORSHIP |
| and an Island of Freedom |
| Drago Jancar |
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| interview |
| sinfo january 08 15 |
| Towards the end of the 1980's, the Newsweek US daily published a short article in which Slovenia was referred to as an 'island of freedom' in the midst of an unfree Communist world. Both the journalist who wrote the article and those of us who knew the situation in our homeland knew that this was a case of relativism, compared to neighbouring Hungary or the Czech Republic, and all the other parts of then-Yugoslavia. And this is what the article was about: democratisation not democracy; the breakthrough of pluralism in a single-party (monolith; and about the media increasingly opening up so as to often allow opinions other than those of the Party. At that time, censorship was, of course, still common place in the Slovenian media; a Party organ known as the Socialist Alliance of Working People nominated editors of all the media, fresh newspapers reached Party leaders when still warm, and overnight some articles disappeared or were replaced by others; there is no need to mention control of television, which the rulers particularly cherished. |
| Nevertheless, I was pleased to come across the article. I was the president of Slovenian PEN, and in our committee we often had to deal with book banning and various other journalistic 'Berufsverbots', bans on student newspapers and literary magazines, even legal proceedings. We sent a number of appeals to the Slovenian and Yugoslav authorities, and informed International PEN. This is why I saw the article in Newsweek as timely. Although I was a journalist myself for three years and know all too well that good news spreads much harder than bad news, I copied the article and mailed it to friendly addresses in Slovenia and abroad. At home, I thought, the news might hearten people who were despairing over the situation; it might even be an encouragement to the Party faction which was opening up the society and was given hard time by ogmatic hardliners. Likewise, many PEN friends and acquaintances of mine abroad would see that things are moving, that yet they are moving. At that time, very little was reported about Slovenia, so an article mentioning an 'island of freedom' was, naturally, good news. Even though I have never considered myself too much of a patriot – one simply fi nds it more pleasing to read something good about one's homeland than something bad. |
| Last week, in a Viennese coff eehouse, I nearly spilled my morning coff ee having read the news that Slovenia was a land of censorship, that the government was controlling all the media through ownership shares, and that this was a bad omen for Slovenia's EU Presidency. The article quoted a petition by Slovenian journalists. I would have never almost spilled my coff ee if this had only been a case of patriotism. A patriot knows the way to instant consolation: 'Oh, these Austrians!', the patriot says, 'They envy us for heading Europe; us – yesterday's serfs.' And on the front page they are writing about a severe increase of the cost of living in Austria; bad news from the neighbourhood helps them to digest this. I did not nearly spill my coff ee out of patriotic feelings, but out of astonishment: that in these two months that I have been abroad much and have only periodically glanced through Slovenian newspapers, the country has fallen prey to censorship? That was to be a bad omen for Slovenia's EU Presidency. And what media are actually owned by the government, when there is not a single newspaper which we could claim, as is common place in all European countries, is pro-government? |
| sinfo january 08 17 |
| WHAT MAKES THE NEWS |
| If the truth be told, I have not read, watched or listened the Slovenian media much; partly because I have become somewhat fed up with them; and I also believe that freedom of press in Slovenia has been abused. That sensationalism making mountains out of mole hills is in full swing; that people are off ended and deprived of all dignity on radio and television. That, say, Janez Janša – also mentioned in the petition as somebody imposing censorship – was a victimof unprecedented media lynching at the time he led theopposition and that now, as Prime Minister, he is faring no better. My memories from Vienna bring me to the coversof newspapers bashing the government – and going sofar as to write about a minister's wife going to buy a broom in an official car and reporting about it on the front page– shocking headlines against ministers, in short; everywhere one turned one would see not only criticism, but the ruthless tearing apart of the government, the Prime Minister, civil servants, the 'state' in its own right; to my mind sprang the TV news of at least two channels, beginning every single day with: it's raining – damn the government! So here, where practically everyone writes against the government, there is supposed to be censorship? Which text is it, be it as biased and off ensive as possible, that cannot be published in Slovenia? |
| I have lived to see my 'island of freedom' and it has been a long while since I was really happy living there. One of the reasons is that it has seen a proliferation of media quarrelling and ruthlessness, a brutal tone in its retributions and petty sarcasm. At the time of former governments I would highlight the fact that the media almost never was in opposition. I wrote about it; I wished we had media which would not only attack and lambaste, but report objectively and analyse. Critical, truthful and normal media. But even during the time of marked media 'Gleichschaltung' I did not talk about censorship and lack of freedom, but about problems related to professionalism that cannot or will not fight to win its independence from the centres of capital and political powers. |
| Well, now we have lived to see a time when everyone is criticising the government – and now we are supposed to have censorship? |
| Naturally, I myself share the opinion that it is not normal to discuss the media in parliament. However, I think, as a reader, that the entire journalists guild in Slovenia should, at least to a certain extent, take a look at itself. Many years ago, one of the two authors of the now famous petition would write articles every day for six months in which he openly insinuated that the unfortunate ‘singing major', who disappeared suddenly, was abducted on the orders of Janez Janša. When this proved to be a complete lie, the journalist even failed to make an apology. I thought then that the editors could discard one of those articles without causing any damage or restricting media freedom. The other author of the petition spoke on television of Janša as if the latter were an idiot, resembling a US congressman. I believe that it is not acceptable in public speech to accuse people of being abductors and call them idiots, whether they are Slovenian or American politicians. The current situation in Slovenia allows both professional journalists to write similar things and disseminate them without being stopped or censored. I am aware that the problem of journalistic independence and the ethics of the public word is a complex matter. A fierce battle between the capital and the centres of political power has been raging in society, and as in all areas, these interests also conflict in the media. The social atmosphere is saturated with tensions which are moving into completely personal spheres of human existence. Many people's vision is clouded with anger and the wish to dominate; hurting your enemy is becoming more important than creating and working well. One can hardly expect that in such a situation journalists would behave like independent and ethically subtle angels who would succumb to neither infl uence nor pressure. However, it is precisely because of this atmosphere that it would be good to hold the wild horses. Together with politicians, journalists can do the most in this respect. In a month we will be 'the ring of Europe', as Valentin Vodnik affectionately forecast a long time ago. |
| And we are truly not worthy of having our own democratic state if during this time we will not be able to demonstrate the most basic mutual tolerance and decency. We need both more because of ourselves than Europe. To truly live on an 'island of freedom', which would above all be an island of the intellect, intelligence and tolerance, a place where people listen to each other and are heard. And not to live as if on a Caribbean island of convicts, where those who are stronger and more brutal, more shrewd and insidious have the upper hand. And where people flee from if only they can. |
| About the author: Drago Jancar born in Maribor, Slovenia, 1948, is the best-known Slovenian writer at home and abroad. After studying law, he worked as journalist, editor and free-lance writer. In time of communist regime he was sentenced for "hostile propaganda." As a Fulbright fellow, he spent a year in the USA (1985), and in Germany (1988). As the President of the Slovenian PEN Center l987-91 he was engaged in the rise of democracy in Slovenia and Yugoslavia. |
| His novels and short stories have been translated and published in many languages. His plays have seen a number of foreign productions, whereas at home they are always considered the peak of Slovenian theatrical season. His exhibition of the crimes and misdemeanors of the post-war authorities entitled The Dark Side of the Moon turned into one of the major cultural events in Slovenia in 1999. It also drew attention of major European press. |
| In l993, he was awarded with the Prešeren Prize, the highest Slovenian literary award; in 1994 he was awarded with the European Short Story Award in Augsburg, Germany; in 2003 he was awarded with the European Herder Proze for literature. In 2007 he was awarded with the Jean Amery Award for European Essay writing in Frankfurt, Germany. |
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| Ljubljana to Become World Book Capital |
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| The Slovenia Times |
| 20.6.2008 |
| by STA |
| Ljubljana was designated World Book Capital City 2010 by the UNESCO selection committee in Paris. The Slovenian capital will become the tenth World Book Capital City, an acknowledgment of the best programme dedicated to books and reading, according to UNESCO. |
| Ljubljana's Culture Commissioner Uros Grilc said that the Slovenian capital was selected over very strong candidates: Vienna, Lisbon, Latvia's Riga, Russia's Saint Petersburg, Wellington in New Zealand and Guadalajara in Mexico. |
| "Only once before have there been seven nominees, while they have never been as strong," Grilc noted, adding that the UNESCO selection commission said that the decision was very hard to make as the nominations had never been as strong. |
| Ljubljana won the competition for the "quality of its application as well as for its diverse and complete programme, widely and enthusiastically supported by all players involved in the book industry (publishers, bookstores and libraries)," the jury said. |
| Ljubljana will assume the title for a year starting with World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April 2010. Until 23 April 2011, it will promote reading, reading culture and creativity through a diverse and abounding programme of events, Grilc said. |
| These will be of interest both to experts and broader public. Grilc highlighted a world congress on book support systems, panels on multilingualism and a literary festival featuring authors from all continents. |
| Also planned are special editions and projects to encourage reading with a motto "how to revive old towns by means of books, reading and bookshops", Grilc said, adding that the organisers would work closely together with other Slovenian cities. |
| Grilc also mentioned events staged at museums, theatres and concerts, saying the budget for the programme was estimated at EUR 2.1m. The city will contribute at least one third, while the organisers also hope for funds from sponsors. |
| Also present at the press conference at the Town Hall was Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic, who congratulated the organisers and all people of Ljubljana for winning this fine title. |
| The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation awarded the title for the first time in 2001, to the city of Madrid. Alexandria, New Delhi, Antwerp, Montreal, Turin, Bogota and Amsterdam followed until this year. Beirut has been awarded the title for next year. |
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| (May 27, 2008) |
| The year 2008 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Primož Trubar (1508 to1586), a Protestant reformer and the consolidator of the Slovenian literary language. An exhibition entitled "Trubar and Ungnad's Gift to Europe" opened at the National and University Library in Ljubljana (NUK) as part of a nation-wide celebration. |
| The exhibition features Protestant prints from Basel University Library and the original of Trubar's book "Noviga testamenta pusledni dejl" (The Final Part of the New Testament), which NUK recently acquired from Jerusalem. |
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| In 1560, Count Jan Ungnad set up the Ungnad-Trubar Bible Institute in Urach, Germany, that issued a translation of the New Testament, in both Glagolitic and Cyrillic characters. |
| In 1564, after the closing of the famous Bible Institute in Urach, led by Primož Trubar, Baron Hans III Ungnad von Sonnegg donated the Institute's valuable book production to the predecessor of the present University Library in Basel. |
| Slovenia will display for the very first time Slovenian, Croatian and other Protestant works published by the Ungnad-Trubar Bible Institute. The books are especially beautifully bound, as they were gift copies. The books are priceless and of great importance for the cultural history of the Reformation in Central Europe. Some of them are extremely rare or even unique. |
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| Primož Trubar v tiskarni / Primož Trubar in the printing house / (Saša Šantel, 1942) |
| The exhibition is celebrating the man who wrote and published the first Slovenian book 450 years ago, thus laying the foundation for Slovenian written language and cultural development in general. It features over 150 items from his day and age, including the only remaining copy of his 1564 "Cerkovna ordninga", the first legal text in Slovenian. |
| The Trubar exhibition, entitled "To All Slovenians", made also a stop in the city hall of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany on its tour of places where the first Slovenian writer lived and worked. |
| The touring exhibition, organised by the Parnas institute from Velike Lasce (near to where Trubar was born) as part of the 500th anniversary of his birth, and is mainly meant for Slovenians living outside Slovenia. It consists of seven boards depicting Trubar's life journey and a statue of the Protestant reformer made by Aleksander Arhar. |
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| Rašcica, Trubar Memorial House /Photo: Tomas Lauko |
| The exhibition started its tour in the Slovenian parliament and has since visited Rašcica, Nova Gorica, Sarajevo in Bosnia, Bad Urach in Germany, Velike Lasce, and Pula in Croatia. |
| At the end of May it will move to Stuttgart and the Evangelical Church in Kempten, and at the beginning of June to the Evangelical home "Primus Truber Haus" in Derendingen. |
| Carantha presents some key events of Trubar's time, his life and work. |
| Primož Trubar is one of the most important pillars of Slovenia's cultural and national identity. His contribution to the linguistic, religious and general cultural education of the Slovenian people is greatly connected with Ljubljana as an urban centre that due to its geographic position, economic power and cultural development was able to become the main vehicle of the Reformation in Slovenia. |
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| Trieste, 1689 /Photo: Sreco Habic |
| In 1535 he was a fervent preacher of the new reformed faith in Ljubljana, but he was exiled to Trieste because of his ideas and activities. He returned to Ljubljana in 1542 when the conditions for Reformation activities slightly improved. He became a canon and a confidant and confessor of Bishop A. Kacianar. But soon, in 1548, he was forced to flee to Germany. Only two years later he published the first two Slovene books, Abecednik and Katekizem, which means that these epochal works must have been conceived while he lived in Ljubljana. |
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| 1550 publication of the first books printed in Slovenian language (Tübingen) – Abecedarium (Primer) and Catechismus (Catechism) (in Gothic alphabet) |
| 1555 publication of four of Trubar's books (with the financial support of Christoph, duke of Württemberg: new edition of Abecedarium (Primer) and Catechismus (Catechism) (in Roman alphabet), Ta evangeli svetiga Mateva (Gospel According to St Matthew), Ena molitov (A Prayer). |
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| Primož Trubar: Ta drvgi dejl tiga noviga testamenta, 1560 /National and University Library |
| 1557 publication of Ta prvi dejl tiga noviga testamenta (First Part of the New Testament) |
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| Primož Trubar: Artikuli oli kosuvi inu nauki te stare prave vere keršcanske, 1561 /National and University Library |
| 1561 publication of the book Artikuli oli dejli te prave stare vere keršcanske (Articles or fragments of the true old Christian faith; Augsburg faith with elements of Württemberg and Saxon faiths) |
| Exile – 'nigdirdom' |
| Trubar lived in the territory of present-day Germany from his 40th year until he was 78 years old. He returned to his homeland only for three years between 1562 and 1565; he lived in Ljubljana, where he was superintendent of the Protestant Church of the Slovenian lands, for which he wrote his most original book, Cerkovna ordninga (Church Canon). |
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| 1564: Primož Trubar: Cerkovna ordninga /National and University Library |
| At the age of 57, he was expelled from his country for the second, and last, time. His last official post was in Derendingen, near Tübingen (Germany) where he coined the word 'nigdirdom', at home nowhere! |
| 1566 translations (psalter) |
| 1567 Trubar publishes three books: Ta celi katehismus (The Whole Catechism), Svetiga Pavla listuve (Letters of St Paul) and a hymnbook. |
| 1575 publication of Katehismus z dvejma izlagama (Catechism with two interpretations) |
| 1582 publication of Ta celi novi Testament (The Whole New Testament) |
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| Primož Trubar: Hišna postila, 1595 /National Museum of Slovenia |
| 1595 Trubar's son Felicijan publishes Trubar's last book – translation of Luther's Hišne postile (House Postils) |
| “Stati inu obstati” - Trubar’s well-known motto |
| Stand and withstand (Stati inu obstati) is his well-known motto, behind which lies his life’s work and his idealism, his strong personality and deep love for the Slovenian nation. |
| He went to Kempten, near the border with Switzerland, where he experienced his most creative period lasting from 1553 to 1560 and started translating the Bible. After being expelled for the second time, he was assigned to a parish in Lauffen within the Heilbronn district for a few months, and as early as the next year, in 1566, when he was 58 years old, he took his last job in Derendingen, in the district of Tübingen. |
| His literary works and religious activities are so widely researched and written about that today it is reasonable to say that Primož Trubar established us as a nation when he called all the inhabitants of Carniola, Styria, Carinthia and the Littoral "Slovenians" for the first time. He was the first "Primus" to see beyond the narrow borders of the historical lands to the far limits of the Slovenian language, which he believed to be the only possible vehicle of religious sentiment and the primary tool of linguistic education, as well as a foundation of conscious general cultural activities. It is no coincidence that in 1561 the people of Ljubljana victoriously accepted him in their midst and listened again to his sermons at the hospice church of St Elisabeth, which stood approximately in the location of the present-day western wing of the Kresija building. |
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| Ljubljana, beginning of 17th century /National Museum of Slovenia |
| Ljubljana became the centre of his activities and it is in this context that we must understand not only his Slovenian Church Order of 1562, but also all his important works that were created later in German Protestant circles. Ljubljana recognized Trubar's significance in the past as well, and erected one of the most beautiful monuments in Slovenia to him at the beginning of the Tivoli promenade. But his legacy continues to speak to us as vividly as in the past and in the year of the 500th anniversary of his birth once again draws our attention to great and demanding cultural projects worthy of his memory. |
| Contemporaries |
| Protestant literature began with Trubar and ended shortly after his death, as his contemporaries were mostly his students. In addition to Trubar, the major Slovenian Protestant writers are Jurij Dalmatin, Adam Bohoric and Sebastjan Krelj. |
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| Jurij Dalmatin (about 1547–1589) decided to translate the Bible while studying abroad. He learned from his teacher Trubar. Between 1575 and 1580 he managed to print several religious books in Mandelc's print shop in Ljubljana. After long efforts he convinced the regional assemblies of Carniola, Styria and Carinthia to finance the printing of the whole Bible, which was published in Wittenberg in 1584. He also wrote a prayer book, catechism and a song book. |
| Dalmatin's Bible is the greatest and most important work of Slovenian Protestantism; it introduced Krelj's linguistic reforms and continued to be used by the Slovenian clergy for 200 years. |
| Sebastjan Krelj (1538-1567) from the town of Vipava wrote 11 poems, and two books: Otrocja biblija ('Children's Bible') in 1566, and the first part of Postila slovenska ('Slovenian Postil') in 1567. The former was created for educational purposes and also included the catechism in five languages, while the latter explains the gospels read on Sundays and holy days in lay terms. With regard to language and orthography, these writings meant a major step forward from Trubar, as Krelj had a better linguistic knowledge. His language is more pure, the orthography is consistent (with regard to sibilants), and he also introduced the use of diacritics in writing. |
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| Adam Bohoric (about 1520–about 1599) came from the vicinity of Krško. He was the headmaster of the Latin school in Ljubljana, and later the region's school inspector. About 1580 he adapted a Latin-German-Slovenian glossary; however, his most famous work is a grammar, Arcticae horulae ('Winter Hours'), which was published in 1584 in Wittenberg. Although it was scientifically questionable, as it is only an adaptation of a Latin grammar, its significance was enormous, as it is the first scientific document on Slovenian. In the long introduction, Bohoric writes of the Slovenians as belonging to the great Slavic community, which boosted the patriotism of the intelligentsia. He also gave the name to the Bohoric alphabet (bohoricica), although Dalmatin deserves the greatest credit for its introduction. |
| A close connection with the Slovenian environment did not prevent Trubar from being active in the European dimension, holding a self-confident pose among the most influential figures of the time, including Erasmus, King Maximilian II, Bishop Pietro Bonomo, and the theologians Matthias Flacius and Jacob Andreae. |
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| Pietro Bonomo – Bishop of Trieste, a humanist, supporter of the reforms in the Catholic church, mentor and patron of Primož Trubar. Within his circle he discussed the works of Erasmus, sometimes also in Slovenian. They also read works by Luther, Zwingli and Calvin. |
| The Bishop of Koper Pietro Paolo Vergerio accepted Protestantism and fled to Germany in 1549. He helped Trubar to promote his books. |
| Erasmus (1467-1563) taught ancient Greek at the University of Cambridge. While in England he wrote his most famous work The Praise of Folly. |
| Excerpts have been taken from: |
| The Times of Slovenia, 23.05.2008 |
| The Year of Trubar 2008 |
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| Zvonovi so zapeli |
| Zborovske skladbe na besedila Gregorja Malija |
| Zbrala in uredila Nežka Borin – Mali |
| Zbirka sklad z notami je bila pod tem naslovom izdana v Mengešu leta 2003 in je za naše cerkvene zbore še posebej dragocena. Besedila za pesmi je napisal Gregor Mali, duhovnik, pesnik. Njegova necakinja je zbirko izdala v samozaložbi za stoletbnico njegovega rojstva, zato da bi njegovo delo iztrgala pozabi. V uvodu, ki ga je napisala k zbirki, navaja kot geslo kitico iz neke Malijeve pesmi, ki nam pove vse: |
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| Necakinja dostavlja: Tako se znajo izražati ljudje s pesniškim darom. Pesmi, ki jih skladatelji uglasbijo, postanejo opaznejše, bogatejše, zaradi cesar pridobijo na vrednosti. Gregor Mali se uvršca med tiste pesnike, ki so prispevali številne cerkvene pesmi. - Res, v zbirki jih je nic manj kot 421, uglasbenih. |
| Duhovnik in pesnik Gregor Mali je bil rojen leta 1901 v vasi Znojile., v fari Sela pri Kamniku. Potem, ko je postal duhovnik, je služboval po vec krajih. Med drugo vojno tudi v vasi Ajdovec nad Žužemberkom. Vas je doživela hud partizanski napad. Leta 1942 se je moral, potem ko je bila cerkev požgana, umakniti v Ljubljano. Leta 1945 se je umaknil v begunstvo in je deloval med Slovenci v Argentini. Tukaj je umrl leta 1983 in je pokopan je v predmestvu Buenos Airesa. |
| Vezalo ga je tesno prijateljstvo z uglednimi ljubljanskimi duhovniki: Jožetom Pogacnikom, Vilkom Fajdigo, Andrejem Kalanom, Antonom Jamnikom in seveda s škofom Gregorijem Rožmanom in še s kom. |
| Ko beremo seznam imen cerkvenih skladateljev, ki so njego ve pesmi uglasbili, smo presenecini, saj gre za najbolj ugledna imena naše cerkvene kompozicije: Acko, Blažic, Bricelj, Cerar, Cigan, Kimovec, Cemernik, Mav, Breda Šcek, Vodopivec, Tomc, Železnik... To je ogromno duhovno bogastvo, ki se odraža v besedi in petju. Recemo lahko samo, hvala duhovniku Malijo in vsem skladateljem njegovih besedil, ki so nam to bogastvo ustvarili. Zaklad bo ostal, cetudi so ga zadnja leta v veliki meri prekrile cerkvene zmešnjave in pokoncilsko norenje. Pomagal nam bo, da se bomo Slovenci nekoc spet vrnili k naši nekdanji duhovnosti. |
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| Slovenian saga of beauty and cruelty |
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| 02/07/2007 |
| Wolfgang Schneider |
| "Die Zugereisten. Eine Chronik," a novel by Lojze Kovacic. Translated into German from the Slovenian by Klaus Detlev Olof. Drava Verlag, Klagenfurt/Celovec. - The article originally appeared in the May issue of Literaturen. - Wolfgang Schneider is a freelance literary critic living in Berlin. |
| With his trilogy "Die Zugereisten," Lojze Kovacic bequethed a novel of the century to Slovenia |
| Slovenia hit the headlines in June 1991, with a shock that shook the entire continent. The republic was in the throes of a movement for autonomy, and its militia had occupied the border posts to Italy and Austria. There were skirmishes with the Yugoslavian People's Army, whose fighter jets overflew the bordering countries on their missions. |
| Many who had thought they were living in eternal peace could hardly believe it - war in the heart of Europe! But the Slovenians were lucky. Belgrade's ruler, Slobodan Milosevic, quickly relinquished the province, and the small model republic, freed from sharing its wealth with the poor South, could start off along the path toward the European Union. Several months ago now the euro replaced the tolar as the country's official currency. |
| If you ask about traces of Slovenia in world literature, locals like to mention that no less a literary light than Ernest Hemingway immortalised the region around the city the Germans call Görz in his novel "A Farewell to Arms." Today Görz is divided in to the Italian Gorizia, with its pretty old town, and the Slovenian Nova Gorica, with its socialist architecture. But it's a bloody memorial: the romantic mountain countryside of the Soca Valley (Italian: Isonzo), with its surging white-water streams, was the location of atrocious battles during World War I which left more than a million dead. Today you can find out more about it in the war museum in Kobarid (Kaporetto, Karfreit), a little town snuggled between the Alps and the Mediterranean. |
| Peter Handke, descending from Carinthian Slovenians on his mother's side, long ago declared Slovenia the "ninth land" behind the seven mountains. The country combined a magical landscape with the ideal image of a socialist alternative world - founded on the partisan heroism of World War II, and lacking the grey veil of the GDR. Handke then perceived Westernisation as a disappointing profanity - which in turn had a very disillusioning effect on his Slovenian readers. As is well known, the poet then continued on to Serbia. |
| Apart from Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian authors are almost unknown outside the country. Who has ever heard of the classic authors France Preseren - whose memorial stands in the heart of the capital Ljubljana - or Ivan Cankar, both highly honoured at home? |
| Slovenian literature has long been taken up with the hard rural life. It is infused with a whiff of bondage and dunghills, and doesn't so much as hint at today's Euro-affluence. No stranger to this trend is a major Slovenian novel which has at long last appeared in German: the trilogy "Die Zugereisten" (the newcomers) by Lojze Kovacic. Written in the 1980s, the work was voted "novel of the century" by the country's critics. Right at the beginning, the author has the narrator and his family torn from their bourgeois life in Basel and literally plopped down into the mud of the father's birthplace. |
| "This is how we left Basel" runs the first sentence, simple and seemingly harmless. By the time you've finished the powerful autobiographical work it gains a strong note of tragedy - this is how they left Basel in 1938, and began a long story of suffering. "After thirty years in Switzerland they threw us out." |
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| Lojze Kovacic died in 2004. Like his narrator, he was born in Switzerland in 1928. That's where his father, a Slovenian furrier, immigrated in 1910 with his wife, a German from Saarland. The couple had had their share of horrific experiences. During World War I his business was demolished; the anti-Serbian mood in Switzerland spilled over into many Slovenian emigrants. Nevertheless it was soon flourishing again, and the family became prosperous, with a house and two shops that filled the papers with half-page advertisements. There was a radio, a gramophone and a piano for the children. And they sent money to the poor brothers back home. |
| Then came the great depression. While things were good, Kovacic senior had neglected to take on Swiss citizenship. Now, as war was approaching, the non-citizens, at least the impoverished ones, were "escorted out," as Swiss bureaucratese had it. |
| The novel describes the family's arrival in Slovenia with phantasmagorical energy. It is pitch black, the provincial railway station lies abandoned, surrounded by nothing but black forests. Although they'd sent a telegram to the boy's uncle, they wait for him in vain. They tromp across muddy fields, through twisting river valleys, up and over hillsides in the scanty light of matches. Around them nature rustles, creaks and gurgles as if they had been set down in an archaic bog. |
| The newcomers are met with hostile ill-will. The uncle's eyes twinkle with derision, a taunting sneer plays across his mouth. He will beat the young boy half to death with a chain. Everything, everyone seems to be wearing masks, evil surprises lurk around every corner. A sparrow with its eyes plucked out is thrown in through window of the "newcomers" as an anonymous threat. "They hung from its beak like squashed raisins. Anger, horror and revulsion rose up in me." |
| Ghastly things happen in the vicinity: a drunken woman strikes her gnome-like husband dead with an axe. Even nature seems to take on evil traits, in the unruly rivers that cascade down from the mountains: "The Krka surged like a carriageway from hell.... a car, half a hay shed, once even an ox struggling and gasping for breath... everything flowed by at a devil's pace and crashed against the banks." |
| Rural life. Everywhere you look, horse dung, cow paddies, puddles of excrement: "The world was a toilet under bare skies." The mother wrings her hands at the demeaning circumstances. She can't forgive the father for their Slovenian misery. The family is a disharmonious band thrown together by destiny. The parents are already "Methusela-age". The father was in his mid-fifties, and the mother only five years younger when the late-comer Alojz Samson was born. Now the mother has lost all her teeth, while the father is "entirely grey, old like a grandfather." There are two sisters. Gritli is twelve years older than the boy, Clairi sixteen. Clairi has an illegitimate child with her: Gisela, with the damaged hip. |
| Things don't get any better with the move to Ljubljana. The family lives in bitter poverty, sleeping four in a bed. The father sleeps on the table, it's better for the back, he says. But soon he's contracted tuberculosis, and he'll never get over it. They move from one dismal lodging to the next, mostly by night so the passers-by won't scoff at their pitiable belongings. Clairi prostitutes herself to assuage a landlord intent on throwing them out. The father toils away silently and comes to nothing, the children wander about the town like beggars peddling his furs. Although connoisseurs admire the father's masterly handwork. |
| Alojz, known mostly as "little lad", experiences childhood as an underdog, like the oft-humiliated Anton Reiser in the eponymous novel by Karl Philipp Moritz. Yet he's also defiant and ready for a scuffle, disdaining the "mummy's boys with their little shovels and buckets." And of course the worst childhood is always the most fertile from a literary point of view. Because the charm of every novel of childhood and education is the discovery of the world and the consciousness-building confrontation with life. |
| The reader gets a strong impression of the city through which the young Alojz roams: Ljubljana with its markets and slaughterhouses, its barracks and bourgeois homes, its ornate bridges and poets' monuments. Farmers, workers, teachers, politicians, German soldiers - all sorts of figures appear and disappear in short, sharp portraits from this human bestiary. |
| Embarrassment is a leitmotiv of the trilogy. Alojz is ashamed of his clothing, for example the "nun's boots" which he has to wear for lack of anything else. Above all he's ashamed whenever he opens his mouth. Slovenia has hardly more than two million inhabitants, but its language is one of the most difficult in Europe, with six cases and the dual form. Add to that the pronunciation and you've got a true challenge. |
| For the young boy, it's a "strange, slurpy language," full of "sounds you make when you eat and drink." And it sounds even stranger when he tries to speak it, causing the Slovenian children split their sides laughing. "Their laughter wasn't friendly, I saw that soon enough." At school derision accompanies him everywhere he goes. |
| The youth is also embarrassed by his German parentage. Germans - members of a people seeking to put the whole world out of joint - draw either admiration or hatred, increasingly the latter. Wherever Alojz goes, he is met with shouts of "Haylhitler". The father sympathises with the dictator, and because the family doesn't want to lose out once again and hopes for some advantage, the youth is forced to join the Ljubljana Hitler Youth against his will. |
| The first volume closes with scenes of panic and plundering. But although it's the Germans who have defeated the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with their usual Blitzkrieg attack, it's Mussolini's troops who are the first to march in, in the summer of 1941. The second volume tells of life under the occupation, which has a distinct libidinous quality to it. The Italian soldiers flirt and smooch with everything that's young and wears a skirt. Couples copulate in the cinemas, and movie-goers have to be careful or they'll slip on the love juices. For Alojz there's much to observe. For him, too, the time for the first erotic tempests has come. |
| Tatjana, almost his girlfriend, has to do it with a whole trio of boys although she really only likes Alojz. But friends are friends, and in the gutters of Ljubljana children's games and love games are strangely amalgamated. Experiences of sexual initiation belong to stories about growing up, and this book is no exception. Yet the extreme ambivalence of perception is both wilful and fascinating. Aversion, irritation and metaphysically charged desire come together in the Kafkaesque description of sexuality. |
| The second volume climaxes with the day-long biological and racial examination which the family has to undergo in the special train belonging to the Nazi "resettlement commission." The goal is to determine which Carniolan "Volksdeutsche" - or German nationals - are fit to become "Reichsdeutsche" - full members of the German Reich. Those who undergo the harrying procedure witness the excrescences of the resettlement madness with thoroughly mixed feelings. The mood is conflictual, name-calling and invective are rife, one is quickly either a "Slovenian pig" or "German pig." |
| At the end of the grotesque examination the Kovacics are congratulated as "full citizens of the Third Reich." The children are given swastikas and jam tarts. But now the mother no longer wants to go back to Germany: "I've had it with the whole thing." |
| Meanwhile the ailing father literally breathes his last. During his attacks, the family has to "push him half-way out the attic window so he can get a few gasps of fresh air." The long illness was followed by a painful death. And war approaches. Increasingly often the "flying fortresses" drone over the city with their payload; increasingly talk comes round to hostages who've been shot, summary trials and farmers murdered in the villages, bestialities in which the Wehrmacht and the partisans outdo each other, of an undeclared civil war that leaves as many victims as the fight against the occupiers. |
| There are conspiracies in back rooms and attacks on the open street. Anti-communist organisations spring up to counter the socialist orientation of the resistance movement: the Slovensko domobranstvo, the Slovene Home Guard, the White Guard. Who to support? Disorientation grows, and occasions for betrayal increase at lightning speed: "Everyone avoided having any sort of opinion... everyone was a backbiter... people are by nature informers, they were born like that, you can't change it." |
| This "chronicle" is a work of narrative vehemence, and it's no coincidence that even the way it looks on paper, with the many ellipses, is reminiscent of the novels of Louis-Ferdinand Celine. Here too we have the furore, the breathless anger, the brute force. The bitter-comical sense of catastrophe and the polemical flashes of wit also remind one of the novels of Thomas Bernhard. |
| As with Bernhard, even as the horizon darkens, the narrator's future - we know what will become of him - secretly brightens. Interspersed are episodes from a young man's bildungsroman, telling how he starts to read, write and mingle with the cultured. Literature becomes a "reserve of freedom," and the "painfully transplanted" second mother tongue becomes a means of creating art. |
| Scenes like those from a folk festival usher in the third volume: Tito's partisans are here, liberation! "Never were so many happy faces to be seen, strictly speaking a soft, screaming, rose-coloured mass." But while flowers are strewn over the streets and people dance and sing, "desires of revenge and slaughtering frenzy" run rampant. Old scores are settled in the forests: the communists fill the karst caves and crevices with the corpses of their adversaries. Twelve thousand members of the Home Guard who had fled to Austria were sent back over the Karawanken mountains to a certain death at the hands of vengeful compatriots. |
| Cruelty is daily fare. In one scene from the novel a fresh human head is revealed in a travelling bag. "Ha ha ha, laughs Bostjan, they've got what they deserve, the Whites..." Tito's state was founded on massacres - but until recently no one talked about them. Kovacic describes them in the 1980s, which shows just how courageous he was. |
| A mass meeting of the youth organisation, described in nightmarish terms, derails into an overt cleansing action. Betrayal, back-biting and denunciation increase once more to fever pitch. The new era brings with it permanent danger for Alojz. With his half-German origins and membership in the Hitler Youth, he is an open target for attack and blackmail. The family barricades itself into the attic apartment, as if that could help. |
| In a night-and-fog operation, his mother, sisters and niece Gisela are all expelled to Austria. After all, the father had "opted" for Germany. Only the boy is allowed to stay. But because he had allegedly sold "people's property" - in his desperation he had sought to convert his father's legacy into cash - he soon ends up in jail. |
| He is then allowed to continue his education in a boarding school, and prove himself laying railway track on the "youth stretch," from Samac to Sarajevo. Fabulous scenes describe the drudgery in the searing heat and the absurd system based on over-filling the quotas: "The miners pledged to mine more coal, and the conductors to drive faster than stated in the schedule." |
| Kovacic impressively catches the mood of the early years of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At night in the first summers after the war, Tivoli Park is full of young lovers. Couples moan and pant in every bush, as if their goal was to make up for the wartime population deficit as quickly as possible. Political optimism is not only decreed - it fires the imagination of the young with hope for the new socialist world, despite the tinny, empty-sounding phrases they use to describe it. |
| The young man's enthusiasm, however, is truly ignited by the Slovenian countryside, even if it is covered with rusty war machinery. As a correspondent for Mladina - the magazine with the youth in its title, and which later, with its bold and critical investigative journalism, had a decisive hand in the Slovenian independence movement - he travelled through the country in the years after the war. There he sees with astonishment how diverse the small country is in climate and landscape, with alpine regions, Adriatic coastline, Toscana-like vineyards and the Central European Prekmurje Plains. A land of fantastic variety, almost magical. |
| Cultural politics in the country, by contrast, are sobering. Authors are bound to the dictates of socialist realism. Poems about cement and screws are called for, the sunny literature of the five-year plan, not dark, late-Romantic prose about the death of one's father. This however is exactly what the seventeen-year-old produces, to the horror of the culture bureaucrats: "Pessimistic bungling," "rotten, conservative experiential emotionalism," are just a few of the terms used for his undesired efforts. He should turn his back on self-description and face the new time, he was told. Before this backdrop, the trilogy appeared as a major gesture of defiance: nothing but a description of himself. Yet precisely for this reason it is also a brilliant panorama of his time, which brought him nothing but resistance from day one. |
| Above all the first two volumes are masterpieces. They are bitter, but grippingly intense in their description. With 600 pages, the third volume is roughly twice as thick as the first two. Although it lacks their density, it makes up for it with subversive irony. |
| Kovacic's goal was to describe a person as carefully as a botanist describes a plant. "Die Zugereisten" is a mnemonic sleight of hand of botanical exactitude, a weighty historical document whose significance will only grow. Because the 21st century, like the 20th, cannot fail to be one of "newcomers." |
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| Simon Gregorcic |
| 100th anniversary of his death |
| 1844 - 1906 |
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| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| Simon Gregorcic is certainly the most popular Slovenian poet. In the second half of the 19th century, when language became the most characteristic sign of national appurtenance, his poems decisively contributed to the formation of Slovenian national consciousness. Not only, in the second half of the 19th century, when the language became the most characteristic sign of the national appurtenance, his poems decidedly contributed to the formation of the Slovenian national consciousness. It is mostly the poems, which awakened the patriotic experience in the masses. |
| The poet was born in Vrsno above Kobarid, a lovely village under the peak of Krn (2245 m). He studied, became priest, held several positions, and served the longest time in Gorica (Gorizia). Simon Gregorcic expressed in his poems the love for natural and cultural landscape, which was the life surrounding the Slovenian people. His poems expressed the inner experience, touching Slovenians deeply and filling them with love for their country and Slovenian patriotism. Many of Gregorcic's poems have been set to music and earned him the epithet »nightingale of Gorica land«. His songs are to this very day performed in concerts all over Slovenia and people's enthusiasm never stopped. |
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| On Saturday, November 16, 1906, during mass celebration Simon Gregorcic was seized by apoplexy. On November 24, he died in his apartment in Gorica. Masses of people came to sprinkle holy water on him. On November 27, as the body was placed into the coffin, the choir sang »Nazaj v planinski raj« (Back, in the Alpine paradise). All his life he longed for his mountain world. |
| Then, a funeral procession carried his coffin for 50 km until they reached St. Laurence near Kobarid, the cemetery of his native parish, where he was laid to rest. Masses of people arrived to render homage to the deceased, who in a way like no one else moved people's soul. |
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| Postcard motifs from the WW1 |
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| In the WW1, the Austrian military command issued postcards with Gregorcic motifs, as to encourage patriotism in Slovenian boys and fighting spirit on the Soca (Isonzo) front against Italy. On the front-line Slovenian boys carried a booklet with Gregorcic's poems. |
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| An Austrian officer of Czech origin, Dominik Stribrny, was overwhelmed by the popularity of the poems. At the end of the war, he wrote a monograph on Simon Gregorcic (Prague 1918). |
| For the 100th anniversary of Gregorcic's death, the Editorial Humar published a Slovenian and an Italian edition of his poetry. The Italian translation of Simon Gregorcic, carried out some years ago by Franc Husu, was published in typewritten copies only. |
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| Ob 15. obletnici slovenske samostojnosti izšla pesniška zbirka pokojnega avstralskega slovenskega pesnika Petra Košaka, |
| Ko misel sreca misel |
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| Junija je v Mariboru izšla pesniška zbirka pokojnega avstralskega Slovenca (Mariborcana) Petra Košaka, ki je vecji del svojega življenja preživel v Melbournu, zadnja leta pa v Araratu. Ceprav je bil Košak »najplodnejši« avstralski pesnik, doslej še nismo imeli priložnosti brati njegovih najboljših pesmi v eni sami zbirki. Ko bomo tokrat držali v rokah zbirko pod imenom KO MISEL SRECA MISEL, »se nam bo zdelo posebno praznicno, da je knjiga prehitro ugaslega avtorja ugledala luc sveta prav ob 15. obletnici 'zvezdnega trenutka slovenske zgodovine'. Peter Košak je ta zgodovinski cas intenzivno doživljal in se ga, cetudi dalec od slovenskih zvezd, globoko zavedal … » je v knjigi zapisal pesnik Tone Kuntner, velik Petrov prijatelj. |
| Res se je trenutka, pomembnega za slovensko samostojnost zavedal morda že veliko prej kot mnogi v domovini živeci rojaki, saj je že leta 1981 zapisal: |
| To pot moramo prehoditi |
| vsak zase. In vsi skupaj. |
| Tej poti moramo prisluhniti. |
| Vsak zase. In vsi skupaj. |
| To pot moramo zacutiti, |
| kako cas prebira kosti |
| in jih predaja sosedu |
| za - upaj. |
| Pesem je nekakšna popotnica devetim ciklusom, ki se v zbirki zvrstijo kot pravi slovenski biseri iz dežele »down under«. Zbirko je pripravila Stanka Gregoric, spremno besedo zapisal Jože Prešeren. |
| Knjigo (115 strani) lahko narocite na naslovu: |
| Buca d.o.o. |
| Kolarjeva 47 |
| Telefon: + 0(1) 230 6580 |
| E-mail: buca@siol.net |
| Cena knjige 2500 SIT + poštni stroški |
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| Slovenia 1945: |
| Memoirs of Death & Survival after World War II |
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| John Corsellis - Marcus Ferrar |
| The book was published for the first time in November 2005 (publishing house: I. B. Tauris, London). The Slovenian translation has now been released in Lublana under the title: |
| Slovenija 1945, Smrt in preživetje po drugi svetovni vojni |
| The book describes the polemics, which have their roots in the post-communist circles in Slovenia. Carantha Editorial recommends the reading of this very instructive book. |
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| Special Battalions - Battaglioni Speciali |
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| Such is the title of the new book, with the sub title (in English translation): The Calvary of the Littoral Minors in Word and Image (Nova Gorica, 2005), written in Slovenian by Branko Cermelj and Sara Perini, and published in May of 2005 by Humar Editorial (Nova Gorica). The denotation »battaglioni speciali« applies to formations, which were a kind of labour battalions established by the Italian military command in 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany. They were composed of non-Italian speaking young men (alloglotti). The book is dealing with the fate of some thousand Slovenian boys from the province of Littoral (the hinterland of Trieste), who in the period between the First and the Second World War were enlisted into these special battalions of the Italian army. It was not a regular enlistment, but a somewhat punitive one. The then Italian Fascist regime enrolled the Slovenian youth with the evident purpose, as not to have them associate with the Slovenian anti-Fascist movement and, after the outburst of the WW2, with the partisans. The enrolment lasted until the capitulation of Italy, in 1943. - At the end of the WW2, the most part of Littoral was annexed to Yugoslavia. But the ruling Belgrade regime, like in the case of TIGR, did not permit the publishing of any information about the »battaglioni speciali«. |
| In independent Slovenia, the anathema about TIGR was broken, but the history of the »battaglioni speciali« remained concealed. Some years ago, Sara Perini published her first book in Trieste (Italy). She gathered testimonies of people from the surroundings of Trieste, and the traumatic experience of their life in the »battaglioni speciali«. Now, the fate of so many boys from the Gorica province, who served in those battalions, has been uncovered and can be passed on to their descendants. In this book hundreds of photos represent particularly precious material. |
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| Kocbek's Poetry |
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| (translated by Luka Lisjak Gabrijelcic) |
| Edvard Kocbek was born in 1905 in a small village in eastern Slovenia. Already as a student, he got involved in the activities of Catholic groups that favored social action. In the years preceding World War II, he grew closer to Marxist ideas. At the beginning of WW II, he led a consistent group of Catholics in the alliance with the Communist Party in order to fight the Fascist occupation. |
| After the War, he covered some secondary positions within the structures of the new Communist Regime until 1952, when he was removed from power by means of a brutal denigration campaign. He spent the rest of his life shut off from public life, restricted to his home. He was rarely allowed to speak in public, yet alone publish his works. |
| To the end, he remained a fervent Catholic, although he never clearly distanced himself neither from Marxism nor from the Communist Revolution he helped to establish. In 1977, he did however condemn the summary killings of Slovenian anticommunist militia members after the War. It was 60 years ago, in May 1945. This resulted in another massive denigration campaign on his account, which lasted until his death in 1981. Despite his controversial political role, Kocbek's poetry remains a unique spiritual testament. |
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| In this poem, Kocbek affirms his unique individuality over the destructive force of both, nature (death) and men (noise, sin, rejection). His claim, that "everything is eternal that originates", is a deeply Christian one, inscribing itself in the long tradition of theological thinking that goes from the first Christian Neoplatonists to religious Existencialists. Contrary to tradition, however, Kocbek gives a clear preference to Birth over Death. He shares this unique trait with the famous thinker Hannah Arendt who rebelled against Western Philosophy's obsession with Death, thus establishing a link with the original thought of St. Augustine. Profound and complex in meaning, yet extremely simple in structure and vocabulary, Prayer is one of the best examples of Kocbek's inspired poetry. |
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| Joseph Stefan |
| a world-famous Austrian - Slovenian physicist |
| 1835 - 1893 |
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| Josef Stefan (1835 - 1893), portrait. |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| Joseph Stefan, the world-famous physicist, was an Austrian, whose nationality and native language was Slovenian. Nevertheless, in modern Austria his name is quoted in numerous glossaries, but his Slovenian origin is never mentioned. This way, the reader gets the impression, that he must have been a "normal" (i.e. German speaking) Austrian. This means, volens nolens, a strumentalization of the public mind. This does not only apply to Joseph Stefan's case, but also several other Austrians of Slovenian origin are bypassed as well. Therefore, one must ask himself, what is modern Austria trying to say with such a practice? In all possibility, the purpose of such an incorrect strumentalization of historical facts can only be an ideological one. |
| Anyway, Joseph Stefan is also ranking among the famous personalities of modern Slovenia. The nuclear institute in Lublana, founded after the WW2, was named after him The Nuclear Institute "Jožef Štefan". Thus, Joseph Stefan pertains to both, the Austrian and the Slovenian history. |
| Stefan's Life |
| Joseph Stefan, or Jožef Štefan, as the name is spelled in modern Slovenian, was born to Slovenian parents in Št. Peter, a suburb of Klagenfurt - Celovec (Carinthia). After elementary school, he frequented the gymnasium in Klagenfurt - Celovec from 1845 - 1853, and there, as a "born Slovenian", he also studied the Slovenian language since 1848. He was the best student in grade 7 and 8, and received a reward for outstanding performance. |
| Already in gymnasium he was active on the literary field. A fact, which does not appear in the numerous encyclopaedias, quoting his name. He published in Slovenian many poems of different kinds: of meditation, of mood, of love, of nature... He also published many prose projects, mostly dealing with natural sciences, but also with mathematics and philosophy. His first article in German was published as early as in 1857. |
| Since 1853, Joseph Stefan studied mathematics and physics at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Vienna. He was also interested in chemistry, astronomy and botany. He even followed the lectures of Franz Miklosich, a Slovenian univ. professor and a very famous Slavist. But Stefan's field of study and research was physics. In 1857, in the 8th semester, he already held lecturers on physics for pharmacists. In the autumn of that year, he taught at the university higher mathematics, physics and hydrodynamics. In December, he gave a speech at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, which found a deep resounding. |
| The philosophical rigorosum (examination for doctorate) he passed in 1858, and he had established himself as a Privatdocent in mathematical physics. In 1860, at the young age of 25, he was elected corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1863, he became ordinary Univ. Professor for higher mathematics and physics. At that time he also proposed to the Academy seven essays on various optical researches. So, in 1865, he was elected as a regular member of the Academy and he also received the Lieben Price, which was established at that time. |
| His Scientific Success |
| In the years 1869 - 1870, Joseph Stefan was Deacon of the Philosophical Faculty and in the years 1876 - 1877 he was Rector of the University of Vienna. In the years 1875 - 1885 he was secretary of the Faculty for Mathematics and natural Sciences at the Academy. The results of his researches are very numerous. They include the fields of mechanics, acoustics, optics, calore, electricity and magnetism, and his contribution led to important discoveries, especially in Kinetic Theory of Gases, Hydrodynamics and Radiation. |
| Since 1866, he was Director of the Univ. Physical Institute. Through his researches, and those of his disciples and collaborators, like Ludwig Boltzmann and Albert Obermayer, the Institute became famous all over Europe. Among other things, he showed empirically, in 1879, that total radiation from a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature. His student Ludwig Boltzmann showed in 1884 that Stefan's law could be demonstrated mathematically. It became known as the Stefan-Boltzmann law. Stefan then applied it to determine the approximate temperature of the surface of the Sun. He also did important work on heat conduction in fluids and the kinetic theory of heat. |
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| The monument of Josef Stefan under the arcades in the inner yard of the University in Vienna (A. Schmidgruber, 1895). |
| In 1884, at the International Electric Exposition in Vienna, Joseph Stefan was decorated with the Iron Crown Order of 3rd Class. In the year 1891, Stefan published his work on the formation of ice in the Polar Seas, giving a special solution of this non-linear conduction problem with phase change (the more general solution being due to F. Neumann). He died on January 7, 1893, in Vienna, and was buried in the Zentralfriedhof there. The Chemical-Physical Society erected a monument in his memory under the arcades in the inner yard of the University in Vienna. |
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| An Austrian and a Slovenian stamp in honour of Joseph Stefan. |
| The first one was issued in 1985, for the 150 anniversary of his birthday |
| and the second one in 1993 for the 100 anniversary of his death. |
| Joseph Stefan was a member of many institutions, among them member ordinarius of the Royal Society of Upsala, corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Munich, officer de l'Instruction publique (France), knight of the Order of St. Anna (Russia). |
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| Herman de Carinthia |
| A mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, natural philosopher, author, |
| translator of the Koran and astrological writings |
| The first Slovenian scientist to acquire a European reputation |
| ca. 1110 - ca. 1154 |
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An old drawing of Euclid (left) and Herman de Carinthia (right). Herman is holding an astrolabe in his hand. - From Chronica maiora, written by Mathew de Paris, 13th century. |
| The myth of the Dark Ages no longer determines the consideration of the epoch with which we are here concerned, the period between 1100 and 1150. It has, on the contrary, become the custom to speak of a "Renaissance of the twelfth century": the darkness has receded to more remote periods. In due course of time, however, it will appear that the attribute of darkness refers rather to the modern historian's lack of knowledge than to any lack of thought in those centuries. |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| Indeed, one is surprised to read in the papers, that Herman de Carinthia has been recognized as one of the most prominent figures of "Istria", and further more, that he belongs to the group of famous "Croatians". In fact, he was a Carantanian (Carinthian), regardless if we know, or if we think to know his proper birth place. However, no links could be established between Hermann and Croatia. With regards to the Croatian writers, they themselves have to admit, that the one-time Croatian Kingdom (since 1102 integrated into Hungary) included only "eastern Istria" - in fact, it included the eastern Istrian coast up to the Raša River. Herman's homeland and his possible native birth place was but very likely in central Istria. |
| It is true, one of Herman's names was Hermannus Dalmata, and this is the only foothold for his possible Croatian origin. But Herman himself did not use this name. Thus, Herman's "Croatian" descent remains a vain desire only. Nevertheless, we are very grateful to our Croatian neighbours for their very detailed research about Herman de Carinthia. Regretfully, our Lublana (Slovenia) intellectuals have not been able until now, to accomplish a similar data structure. |
| Herman's origin |
| Actually, there are no direct records about his origin. But the writers take for granted, that he was an Istrian. Nevertheless, one of his names, Hermannus de Carinthia, points clearly to the Great Duchy of Carantania, a confederation of provinces, in which Istria, too, was represented as a march. The main political role in this confederation pertained to the Duchy of Carinthia. Herman's appellate "de Carinthia" very probably refers to the same Carinthia as the country if his origin does, and not to the Carantanian confederation in general. Thus, Carinthia must be considered as the country of his family, even if he was born in Istria. |
| Another variation of his name, found in the records, is Hermannus Sclavus. This name too, has to be viewed in connection with Carinthia. In the 12th century AD, many Bavarian colonists and their descendants were already settled there and therefore, Bavarian (German) was wide spread as the second language in the country. When Herman designated himself as "Sclavus", this only could have indicated, that he pertained to the Slovenian speaking people of Carinthia. |
| His third name could have been the most important one, as to establish his descent. Evidently, the name Hermannus Secundus predisposed in his family an ancestor of the same name. The family must have been of noble origin. Within noble families, it is true, bearers of the same name were designated as the First, the Second... Besides, "Herman" was not a common name in Istria, but in Carinthia. There we find a Herman († 1088) in the Second House (Spanheim) of the Dynasty of Carantania. He was the brother of Count Engelbert I († 1096), the founder of this house. |
| Among the descendants of Engelbert I, there were also Henry IV († 1123), the Duke of Carinthia (Carantania), and Engelbert II, the Margrave of Istria (1107 - 1123), thereafter Duke of Carinthia († 1135). Most likely Herman de Carinthia was the son of Engelbert II. He could have been born before or after 1107, when his father was appointed as Margrave of Istria. In one of his works (Liber introductionis in astronomiam), Herman says among other things: Histrie tres partes: maritima et montana, in medio patria nostra Carinthia... Thus, the central part of Istria, which at that time pertained to Carinthia (Carantania), was his home and maybe also his native birth place. |
| Herman de Carinthia, if Engelbert II' son, had many brothers and sisters, and one of them was Henry of Carinthia, a Cistercian monk. He obviously must have left for France before 1130, because in 1133 he was already elected as Abbot of Morimond, and it is not very likely, that the monks would have appointed a newcomer as their abbot. Then, in 1135, Henry founded a new monastery, and in 1145, he was appointed Bishop of Troyes (Champagne). We have to take it for granted, that Henry acted as the intermediary for the marriage between his sister Mathilda and Count Theobold II of Blois Champagne, and likewise for the marriage between his sister Ida and Count William III of Nevers. Cf. The Dynasty of Carantania. Around that time, in ca. 1130, Herman attended the cathedral school of Chartres, probably with the help of his brother Henry. |
| Thus, there are too many coincidences, confirming Herman's Carinthian (Carantanian) origin, they did not happen by accident. If his friend, the Abbot of Cluny, gave him the nick-name Sclavus Dalmata or Hermannus Dalmata, then it must have been a recognizing appellate only. This appellate could also have been used as a reference to Istria. As one can image, it was not a well-known place in the western sphere of that time, where the public was only familiar with Dalmatia since immemorial times. |
| His study |
| Born, or not born in Istria, it is assumed that he was first educated there at the local Benedictine abbey. One supposes, that the one-time St. Peter Abbey, which was founded 10 km south of Pazin (Pisino), very probable was the seat of the Istrian margraviate at that time, under the administration of his putative father Engelbert II. The cathedral school of Chartres, which he visited in ca. 1130, was found by Theoderic (Thierry), the youngest brother of Bernard (ca. 1085 - ca. 1150), a Platonist philosopher. Among his disciples is also mentioned Johannes de Saresberia Parvus (John of Salisbury). |
| In ca. 1134, Herman, together with his classmate Robert of Ketton, left for the Arabic countries in the East. In Byzantium and Damascus they studied the Arabic language and recognized the works of Arabic science of that period. Herman was fascinated by the Arabian contributions in the fields of mathematics and astrology. In 1138, he returned to Europe and pursued actively his studies in Spain and in southern France. A large part of his work remained anonymous. |
| In Spain |
| The Spanish capital, Toledo, which Alphonse VI of Castile liberated from the Moorish in 1080, advanced under Archbishop Raimund of Toledo (1125 - 1152) to an intellectual centre, where Arabic translations were made from manuscripts. Among the early translators, like John of Seville (Hispalensis), Dominicus Gundissalinus, Hugo of Santalla, Plato "Tiburtinus", Robert of Chester, appears also the name Herman Sclavus. |
| Herman's first known translation was the 6th part astrological treatise Liber sextus astronomie, written by the Arabian-Jewish writer Saul ben ibn Bishr. The first five books were preserved through the translation of John of Seville (ca. 1090 - ca. 1150). Herman's translation, entitled Zaelis fatidica (Prophecy), was published in Spain in 1138. The text of the 6th book is divided into seven treatises, which discuss three thematic topics. The first topic talks about different changes in the world, the second about changes in the air, and the third deals with the inequalities among people, which originate on account of inevitable various influences. |
| This work contains treatises about planets, a divination from their retrograde movements and their mutual positions, and a divination on the movements of comets. At the same time, Herman wrote the astrological works Liber imbrium (A book about precipitation) and De indagatione cordis (About heart researches), compilations from Indian and Arabic texts. |
| In ca. 1140, he translated into Latin the astronomical work Kitab al-madkhal itla ilm ahkam al nujum (Introduction into astronomy) written by Abu Ma'shar (Albumasar, Apomasar), the famous Arabian astrologer. This translation was published several times under the title Liber introductionis in astronomiam (Introduction into astronomy, Augsburg 1489, Venice 1495 and 1506). This work was first separately translated into Latin by John of Sevile in 1133, it describes the problems of Greek philosophy, Arabic astronomy, and Eastern astrology. A large part of Herman's translation was copied into Roger Herford's Book of Astronomical Judgements. |
| In 1142 in Spain, Herman and his friend Robert of Ketton met Petrus Venerabilis (1094 - 1056), the Abbot of Cluny, who encouraged them to translate the Koran (Qur'an). In Leon, Herman began the translation into Latin. But the work was interrupted and had to be continued later. It was finally completed by Robert of Ketton, his English friend. The translation of the Koran into Latin was revised by Petrus Venerabilis. Ivan Stay found the original manuscript of the translation in Byzantium. His edition was published in Basel by Theodor Bibliander, in 1543. |
| In this edition, together with a Preface from Martin Luther, Herman's two translations of treatises about Islam were also printed. It deals with the two shorter treatises De generatione Muhamet et nutritura eis (About Mohamed's generation and his education) and Doctrina Muhamet (Mohamed's Doctrine), which were written at the time, when he had to interrupt the translation of the Koran. |
| Within the same time period Herman worked on the translation of Astronomical Tables (zij) written by Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, which had been translated once before by Adelard of Bath, in 1126. The latter also translated Euclidis Elementa geometrica, which thereafter was revised by Herman. He probably wrote about the astrolabe, but these texts are not firmly attributed. |
| In France |
| In the following year, Herman de Carinthia left Spain for France, where he worked first in Toulouse. It was there, that he, in 1143, translated Claudius Ptolemy's work Planisphaerium, the most important work from all his Latin translations. In Islamic literature it is known as Almagest, and was an Arabic translation from Greek jointly with commentaries of Maslam ibn Ahmed al-Majriti, who worked in Cordoba in the 10th century. Western European scholastics became aware of Ptolemy's astronomical views through this translation. |
| For a long time it was believed that his translation was the only trace of Ptolemy's original work. Later, another preserved Arabic translation was found in Byzantium. Herman also translated Ptolemy's work The canons. For the longest time, many people were under the impression that Ptolemy was translated by Herman Contractus, a German scholar, and not by Herman de Carinthia. |
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Venus gets its own light (left), lunar eclipse (right), drawings from Herman's "De essentiis" (Béziers 1143), reprint of 14th century (British Museum) |
| His original philosophical work was the astrological cosmological treatise De essentiis (On essences), which he compiled in Béziers, in 1143. This work describes his own system based on natural philosophy and natural science. It is based on Aristotelian ideals and Arabian tradition (Abu Ma'shar), and on Platonism. Its content deals with five Aristotelian categories: causa, motus, spatium, tempus, habutudo. In Béziers, the trace of Hermans life and work ceases. We do not know, if he stopped his activity or if he died. |
| In 1982, this book was reprinted in Germany. Some other works are believed to be Hermans, like the mathematical and astronomical De mensura, De utilitatibus astrolabii, De compositione et usu astrolabii (before 1143), and so on. The whole text in Latin original was critically published by Sheila Low-Beer in her doctoral dissertation Herman of Carinthia: The Liber imbrium, The Fatidica and the de indagatione Cordis, City University of New York 1979. |
| Many medieval authors refer to Herman's work, for instance Albertus Magnus, the instructor to Thomas Quinas, in his work Speculum astronomiae. Herman is the most important translator of Arabic astronomical works in the 12th century and populariser of Arabic medieval culture in Europe. The influence of his translations on the development of medieval European astronomy was especially large. |
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| Herman Potocnik - Noordung |
| Pioneer of Cosmonautics, and Rocket Engineer |
| He established the scientific basis for space travel |
| 1892 - 1929 |
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| Herman Potocnik (1892 - 1929) in uniform as captain of the Austrian army |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| Noordung was his pseudonym. His very name was Herman Potocnik, a Slovenian and at the same time an Austrian, one of the founders of astronautics. During the communist period of Yugoslavia, the Slovenian public was completely unaware of the fact, that he existed at all. Actually, they did not suppress his name, but in a totalitarian state, like Communist Yugoslavia, the mass media was rigorously controled . Potocnik's name should not appear in newspapers, radio and television. The regime did not want to take a risk by stimulating the Slovenian national pride, which Belgrade suspected as cause of nationalism and potential separatism. In this way, not earlier then some years after the end of Yugoslavia a symposium about Potocnik could be organized, in 1999, which was sponsored by the University of Maribor. |
| His family - it was still in the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy - originated from Slovenj Gradec (Windischgraz), a small town between Carinthia and Lower Styria in present-day Slovenia. Father Josef (* 1841) originated from the village of Razborje, near Slovenj Gradec. Mother Minka Kokošinek (* 1854) was from Maribor, and was the descendant of a Czech family, and daughter of a well-known great merchant. |
| Herman Potocnik was born in Pola in Istria, in 1892, where his father was stationed. He served as a doctor and high ranking navy officer in the Austrian navy harbour there. Herman had two brothers, Adolf and Gustav, (who were both officers in the navy), and a sister Franci. His father died already in 1894, and his widowed mother Minka moved with her four children back to Maribor. |
| In Maribor, young Herman attended primary school. Afterwards, he visited the military secondary schools in Fischau, near Wiener Neustadt, in Lower Austria, and then in Hranice (Mährisch Weißkirchen), in Moravia. His uncle Heinrich, who was a major general, probably enabled him schooling at Austrian military schools. From 1910 to 1913 he studied at the technical military academy in Mödling near Vienna, and graduated as an engineers second lieutenant. His specialization was building of railways and bridges. |
| During the WW1 he served in Galicia, Serbia and Bosnia, and in 1915 he was promoted to the rank of a first lieutenant. He was assigned to the Soca (Isonzo) Front, and there he experienced the breakthrough of this front, carried out in 1917 by Austrians, with German support, near Kobarid (Karfreit, Caporetto). Austrian troops reached the Piave River in Venetia, where they were stopped and constrained to withdraw. |
| After the WW1, Herman Potocnik was pensioned off from the Austrian military in 1919, because of tuberculosis, he got during the war. But he did not surrender to his fate, for he still felt, like so many Slovenian young men, a great creative energy. He started to study electrical engineering in the mechanical engineering department of the University of Technology (the famous Technische Hochschule) in Vienna. Becoming an engineer, and a specialist in rocket techniques in 1925, he entirely devoted himself to the problems of rocket science and space technology. Owing to hard illness, he did not find a job or married, but he stayed with his brother Adolf in Vienna. |
| Fate had no mercy with him. In 1929, Herman Potocnik died of pneumonia in great poverty at the age of 36, in Vienna, and was buried there. An obituary of his death was printed in one of Maribor's daily newspaper, mentioning his ranks (engineer and captain), his illness, but nothing about his space work. Today in Graz, the chief town of Styria, a street has been named after him. |
| His book |
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Title page of Potocnik's book "Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums" published in Berlin in 1928 (signed 1929). It was the first book that devoted most of its pages to space stations. |
| In Berlin (Germany), at the end of 1928, Herman Potocnik published in German his sole book "Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-motor". The publisher Richard Carl Schmidt printed the year 1929 as the publishing date, probably from a pure businesslike motive, so this date remained. - In this book Potocnik spread his plan for a breakthrough into space and for a residence of mankind in it. He conceived a manned space station in details and calculated its geostationary orbit. The book contains 188 pages with 100 illustrations, and is the first of its kind to devote most of its pages to space stations.. |
| In the book he proposed the inhabitable wheel design. The Wohnrad had an outer diameter of 50 metres (164 feet), and rotated about axis in order to create artificial gravity in the inhabitable outer ring. It contained cabins, laboratories, workshops, kitchen, and bathroom. There was also a circular gallery, with potholes used for observing the Earth and the stars. There was also a lift shaft and two staircases leading to the "hub", with a rotating airlock. The station's energy would be provided by two large concave mirrors to focus solar radiation onto heat pipes containing a liquid, which would vaporise and operate turbines to produce a continuous electrical current. The vapour would condense in other pipes shaded from the Sun. (Source: Deutsches Museum, München; Encyclopedia Cambridge, Space, p. 29). |
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| Cover page of the Russian edition (1935), of the Slovenian edition (1986), and of the English edition (1995) |
| His book in German was reprinted. In 1984, the Slovenian journalist Vojko Kogej found a German reprint from 1938 in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin (at that time GDR). The book had already been translated into Russian. In 1999, Vojko Kogej found a Russian edition at the Russian State Library in Moscow, with the title "Problema puteševija v mirovom prostranstve". It had been published there at the beginning of 1935, in a high edition of 35,000 copies. |
| The Slovenian translation of Potocnik's book with the title "Problem voznje po vesolju" was prepared relatively late. It was published by Slovenska Matica, Ljubljana 1986. The minds of the Slovenian public, at that time, were totally occupied with the political sphere, i.e., the relations with Belgrade. It was about national survival, a question, which finally came to an end with the declaration of the Slovenian independence. Under such conditions, the publishing of Potocnik's book in Slovenian did not receive the necessary attention from the public it deserved. |
| Finally, Potocnik's book was also translated into English with the title "The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor", and published by NASA, in Washington DC, in 1995. It was unpardonable late, because one can imagine, that its former translation and publication could have stimulated the English speaking area of young scientists, who could have tackled the task of space travelling, and showed their capabilities. |
| Potocnik's influences |
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The illustration of the sunshine part of the space station from Potocnik's book (Abb. 89), and the weightless inside (Abb. 60). A similar concept of a space station design has been proposed by von Braun in 1953. |
| Viennese technicians misjudged Herman Potocnik as an unreal fantast. Nevertheless, in the following decades his projects strongly influenced the work of technicians and researchers, as well as science fiction authors adapted his ideas. They inspired many space station designs during the 1950s, even the one appearing in 2001. His ideas were first taken seriously only by Hermann Oberth and his co-workers. The book influenced the German rocket circle (Werner von Braun) and most probably the Russian one (Sergei Pavlovich Korolev). |
| Potocnik's book introduced the first full concept of geostationary telecommunication satellites, which originates from the ideas of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky. In the book he proposed the inhabitable wheel design. A similar concept of a space station design was proposed by von Braun in 1953. Werner von Braun at many occasions had stressed, what is also written in the French encyclopedia Larousse, that "Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-motor" was like a textbook for making of V1 and V2 rockets and afterwards of other space vehicles. - The American geostationary telecommunication satellite Syncom 2 in 1963 took exactly the same position, which had been calculated by Potocnik. Tsiolkovsky's, Potocnik's and Clarke's visions of geostationary telecommunication satellites were made a reality in 1962 with the launch of Telstar. It influenced the artistic works of Clarke in the magazine Wireless World, 1945, and Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968. |
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The Centenary of the birth of Herman Potocnik (1992) was commemorated by postage stamps issued by the Austrian Post and Slovenian Post. |
| In 1999 an international memorial symposium of two days about his life and work was held at the University of Maribor, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the first printing of his famous book. The symposium was prepared in co-operation with the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia, and the Gagarin Cosmonaut training Centre, Star City, Russia. Cf. http://noordung.vesolje.net |
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The clay model of Potocnik's monument, as proposed by Just Rugel and elaborated by the sculptor Aleksandr Kozinin. The monument will be erected in Moscow. |
| In 2001, Russia celebrated the anniversary of the first travel of man into space carried out by Jurij Gagarin, in 1961. It was a success of Russian science. Indeed, this event entered history and will remain there forever, whereas the Communist Soviet regime of that era has already passed. For this purpose, Mr. Just Rugel, a Slovenian living in Moscow, launched the idea, Herman Potocnik also deserves a memorial. It should be erected even in Russia, where, by the launching of the first man into space, also the first concrete step was made, in the way of realizing Potocnik's project. The project for the monument, in order with the Slovenian Cultural Assotiation "Francé Prešeren" in Moscow, was already elaborated by the well-known sculptor Aleksandr Kozinin. |
| This monument should also be an expression of ancient friendly connections between Russians and Slovenians. The connections, which were interrupted by the October Revolution, and which, after the proclamation of the Slovenian independence, are gradually revived anew. |
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| Jurij Vega |
| Inventor of the Logarithm Tables |
| 1754 - 1802 |
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| Baron Jurij Vega, his picture, his mortar and coat of arms, wich is over topped as record of the fights with French and Turkish banner. |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| Under the reign of Yugoslavia, when Slovenian grammar-schools introduced Vega's Logarithm Tables to the students, they let it slip by intentionally to introduce the real meaning of the word "Vega" . The youth had no clue if Vega was a person or an object. The lecturers of mathematics knew that Vega was the inventor of those Tables, but it was not their job description to teach biography, and they avoided to reveal anything about this very interesting Slovenian person. After WW1, when Slovenia was incorporated into the new constituted Yugoslavia, Vega was concealed from the Slovenian media, because he came to fame and prosperity during the former ancient Austrian Monarchy, which was depicted by the new Yugoslav regime as a "German yoke". |
| Jurij Vega was born 1754 in the village of Zagorica, in the parish of Moravce. He studied at Latin schools in Ljubljana and he finished them as an eminent student. First he started out as a navigator engineer, but in 1780 he joined the Austrian artillery as a common gunner, because he felt a joy for the military profession. In the same year he advanced to the rang of sub-lieutenant because of his capabilities, and he became a teacher of mathematics at the artillery school in Vienna. |
| In 1782 he published the first part of his book "Lectures of Mathematics", which reaped plenty of recognition. Receiving such an incentive from the public, he managed to publish in the following year the "Logarithmic-trigonometric Tables" in Latin and German. In 1784 followed the second part of his "Lectures of Mathematics". |
| The Austrian government founded at the school in Vienna a department specialized in artillery, and Vega was nominated to professor of mathematics. At the same time he advanced to captain. In 1787 he published another book called "Practicable Instruction to Throw the Bombs", and in the following year the third part of his "Lectures of Mathematics" came out. |
| In 1789 he collaborated as an artillery officer in the siege of Belgrade, dominated by a Turkish garrison. The bombing under his instructions, founded on his mathematical calculations, was so precise that the Turks had no choice but to surrender soon. In 1793, when it came to a collision between Austria and France at the river Rhine, he in the same manner constrained the Frenchmen to surrender in the fortress of Lauterburg. A month later he conquered another French fortress called Fort Louis, which was supposedly to be impregnable because it was built on an island on the river Rhine. His bombing made all resistance impossible. |
| Jurij Vega was also an excellent commander. In 1794 he rescued the whole supply of Austrian guns including munitions, which were piled on the left bank of the river Rhine close to Mannheim, and had them transported over the half frozen river. The tales go on and on. |
| For his merits and also because of his invention of the mortar, he was decorated with the prestigious Chivalric order of Maria Theresa, in 1795. He became also automatically a member of several scientific associations. In 1800, the Emperor Francis II conferred to him the Baron title. In 1802 he advanced to lieutenant-colonel. |
| But his way of life was suddenly concluded by a murderer's hand. He was found dead, strangled by a cord, in the Danube close to ußdorf, a suburb of Vienna on September 20, 1802. It is very probable that he became a victim of foreign agents. |
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| Albin Belar |
| 1864 - 1939 |
| Seismologist, Natural Scientist, Environmentalist, Inventor of Pocket Wireless Receivers, and Originator of Public Wireless Transmissions in Slovenian lands |
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The World Giant of Seismology | |
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Victime of the Belgrade Regime | |
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Albin Belar at his work place in the seismologic observatory station of Realka (College for Modern Sicences) on Vega Street in Lublana. |
| In 1890 he made his doctor's degree. Then he worked as an assistant for Chemistry and Natural Sciences at the Naval Academy in Reka (Fiume). His field of activity gave him practical experience in chemical technology and other sciences. A review of his work, which had been approved by the commanders of the Naval Academy, points out, that Belar was superior and a universal independent scientist. |
| In 1896, soon after Lublana was hit by a strong earth-quake, he returned home to Lublana. There he began to teach Chemistry and Natural Sciences at Lublana's College for Modern Sciences (Realka). He was also a judicial expert for chemistry and in charge of the chemistry lab. He published discussions that took place in the field of chemistry, mineralogy, geomorphology, but his biggest passion was devoted to seismology. |
| In 1897, he established the first earthquake observatory station in Slovenia, which was the first one in the then Habsburgian Monarchy in general. In this connection he created foundations of seismology in the Monarchy, which put Lublana on a superior level. Lublana became an important European centre of seismological science. In the following years he furnished his seismological observatory station with home-made apparatuses. His apparatuses were the best in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. |
| His measuring of earth-quakes was first published in international technical newspapers, but from 1901 to 1910 he issued his own private monthly newspaper, the so-called »Erdbebenwarte« supplemented by »Neueste Erdbebennachrichten«. It was followed by a special newspaper, the so-called »Monatsmitteilungen«, in which he chronologically analized all observations done in his seismologic observatory. His newspapers were the first periodical professional seismologic newspapers in the world besides some Japanese publications of that kind. Belar worked also in other natural science fields: chemistry, mineralogy, geology... |
| He also occupied himself with technical sciences. He was the inventor of pocket wireless receivers and the originator of public wireless transmissions in Slovenia. In addition, he was an environmentalist, who was devoted to the mountains and made the first proposal, calling for protection of the Triglav lakes valley. |
| Besides his Lublana seismologic observatory station, he also installed seismographic apparatuses on Czech land and in Belgrade (Serbia). His seismographs were besides earthquake phenomenon also short-periodical oscillatory apparatuses, which noticed micro-seismically vibrations. During the First World War at the Isonzo Front, the Austrian military discovered the enemy's situation position in underground shafts with Belar's apparatuses. |
| In 1919, when Belgrade abolished the national government of Slovenia, the Serbs ruined many Slovenian scientists. Albin Belar was one of their victims. Their apparatus of lies, indicating that he was a Germanophile and a Slovenian patriot, the Belgrade government, which pursued great-Serbian aims, blockaded Albin Belar `s career and activity. In a violent way they forced him out of his Lublana apartment, seized his personal library, archives, seismologic apparatuses and instruments, which were essential for his professional work. They moved all his belongings to Belgrade, where it was destroyed. Belar was compelled to retire, while being molested in a degrading manner. In spite of all that he continued with his philanthropic work. He returned to his family villa in Podhom near Bled, where he had a smaller seismologic observatory and pursued his scientific work. |
| After 1930 he became very ill and could not work any longer in his observatory. He found sanctuary with his friends in Polom near Kocevje. There he died on the 1st of January 1939. |
| He was one of Slovenia's important scientists, who the Yugoslav (great-Serbian) regime completely destroyed. He remained totally concealed from the Slovenian public during the years of Yugoslav dictatorship. |
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| Dr. Frederic Pregl |
| Father of Micro-Analysis and Nobel Laureate, 1923 |
| 1869 - 1930 |
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| Dr. Frederic Pregl |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| In the 80s, I received the famous book called Slovenian Heritage, I. Ohio, 1982, published by Prof. Edward Gobetz from Kent State University (USA). To my great surprise, the book contains a brief biography of Dr. Frederic Pregl, a Slovenian, who in 1923 received the Nobel Price in Chemistry for his method of quantitative organic microanalysis. I never read and heard of him, and I asked myself why? Since that time, I decided to get to the bottom of the question and gradually found out, that in the one-time Yugoslavia, many important Slovenian personalities were suppressed in school programs and in the mass media. It was not an incidental case, but a very system of politics directed by the Belgrade regime. And, not only anti-Communists were targeted, a fact, which one could consider "comprehensible" under the ruling regime. They were people, who had nothing to do with Communism; they were only famous Slovenians. |
| In this way, I clashed with the anti-Slovenian policy and ideologies carried out by Belgrade's secret service and inspirited, as I gradually discovered, by the Serbian academy. This institution tried to appropriate the mental space of Slovenians, and, through the net of the Yugoslav secret service, it succeeded to realize such a project in a great measure. One of the most important steps of such a policy was the suppression of great Slovenian personalities. The purpose was, to deprive the young Slovenian generation from their role models and endeavours. They introduced the concept of the inferiority complex, which made young people feel disappointed and intimidated of the "fact", that Slovenians, in all their history, should only have been "servants" under the German yoke. Only their Serbian brethren should have saved them at the end of the WW1. This was, I am sure, also the reason for suppression of Frederic Pregl. His name did not appear in Slovenian schoolbooks and in the mass media, which during the period of Yugoslavia were totally under the control of Belgrade. |
| Pregl's life |
| Frederic Pregl was born in Ljubljana (Slovenia), in 1869. In that period, there still existed the Austro - Hungarian Monarchy, when Ljubljana was the capital of Carniola, the central province of the Slovenian territory in the Austrian part of the monarchy. In this way, Frederic Pregl was at the same time a Slovenian and an Austrian, albeit he passed in the history as Austrian only. It is very probable, that he was called Mirko in Ljubljana, the Slovenian form for Frederic. But, in the German speaking part of Graz, he was registered as Fritz Pregl. |
| In Ljubljana (Laibach, in German), Frederic Pregl attended the local "gymnasium" (grammar school), from where he proceeded to the University of Graz (Styria) to study medicine. He received his M.D. in 1894, but even prior to graduation he became assistant lecturer for physiology and histology under Alexander Rollett, taking over the chair when Rollett died in 1903. During this time, Pregl also acquired a thorough knowledge of all branches of chemistry under the guidance of Professor Skraup. In 1904 he went to Germany, where he studied for short periods under Gustav v. Hüfner in Tübingen, W. Ostwald in Leipzig and Emil Fischer in Berlin. |
| On his return to Graz in 1905, Pregl worked at the Medico-Chemical Institute under K. B. Hofmann and was appointed forensic chemist for the Graz circuit in 1907. At that time he started investigating the components of albuminous bodies and the analysis of bile acids. His work, however, was handicapped by the lack of sufficient starting materials and this fact impelled him to look for methods requiring smaller amounts when making quantitative analyses of elements in compounds. |
| The years 1910 - 1913, whilst professor at Innsbruck University, were almost entirely devoted to developing the method of quantitative organic microanalysis. Pregl continued with this work when he was recalled to Graz University in 1913; he was appointed Dean of the Medical Faculty for the year 1916 - 1917 and Vice-Chancellor of Graz University for 1920 - 1921. |
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| Pregl's original apparatus for mycroanalysis, which he willed to the Slovenian University |
| in Ljubljana, Slovenia (from Slovenian Heritage I). |
| Initially Pregl's scientific work had been mainly in the fields of physiology and physiological chemistry; later he turned to the study of the constitution of chemical compounds, in particular the investigation of bile acids. By 1912 he was able, by using his own methods of quantitative microanalysis, to make measurements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and halogen, using only 5 - 13 mg of starting materials with results as accurate as those obtained by macro-analysis. Later he perfected his techniques so that as little as 3 - 5 mg were adequate. |
| Nobel Laureate |
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Fritz-Pregl-Weg in Graz (Styria), Austria, the seat of the Medico-Chemical Institute, where scientists from all over the world studied Dr. Pregl's techniches of quantitative organic microanalysis (from Slovenian Heritage, I). | |
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On the right, the Austrian stamp issued in 1973, at the 50th anniversary of the Nobel Price for Pregl. | |
| Pregl also contributed a number of micro-methods for measuring atomic groups and developed a series of apparatus, including a sensitive micro-balance, necessary for his work. Recognition for his work was first accorded with the Lieben Prize for Chemistry from the Imperial Academy of Science in Vienna (1914), an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the University of Gottingen (1920); in 1921 he was elected Corresponding Member by the Academy of Sciences in Vienna. |
| The greatest and most unexpected honour was the award of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, in 1923. O. Hammarsten, the Chairman of the Nobel Committee at the time, pointed out that it was not for a discovery, but for modifying and improving existing methods that Pregl was awarded the prize. Pregl had, in the early stages of his investigations, avoided publishing individual reports on his experiments, until he had convinced himself that his methods did not only work in his own, but also in other laboratories. He then, in 1917, set down his findings in a monograph entitled Die quantitative organische Microanlalyse (published by J. Springer, Berlin 1917). A second edition was published in 1923, and a third revised and enlarged edition (256 pages) appeared in 1930. Later editions were revised by Dr. H. Roth. The seventh edition was published in 1958 by Springer in Vienna. |
| Pregl's monograph has also been translated into French and English. Following the award of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1923, chemists from all over the world came to the Medico-Chemical Institute in Graz to study Pregl's techniques of quantitative organic microanalysis under his guidance. |
| Pregl, who never married, died after a short illness at the age of 61 in Graz on December 13, 1930. Shortly before his death he put a considerable amount of money at the disposal of the Vienna Academy of Sciences for the promotion of micro-chemical research, stipulating that the interest from this fund was to be used each year to award a Prize for outstanding work to Austrian micro-chemists. Since then, the Vienna Academy of Sciences has followed his instruction. |
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| Louis Adamich |
| A Life between America and Yugoslavia |
| He never knew the real Slovenia |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| I was somewhat surprised that in the years after the WW2, the writer Louis Adamich and his work was introduced in Slovenia (Yugoslavia) among the authors of Slovenian literature. Thus, he lived in America and he wrote in English. Indeed, in the true sense of the rule, the national literature has to be written in the national language, therefore, his work should not have been made public among Slovenian literators. |
| Further more, I happened to learn that he was a Tito admirer, which explains that in this case the validity of the rule has been trespassed. Much later I realized, that the criterium of the national language, in order to define the extent of the national literature, is not the only measure. During the past centuries, it is true, a great number of Slovenian authors wrote in Latin and in German. Anyway, they were not considered Slovenian writers under the Yugoslav regime. Louis Adamich, who did not write in Slovenian but in English, represents in sense of the aforesaid criterium an exception. |
| Apart from Louis Adamich, there were other Slovenian writers in America and elsewhere, who wrote in English. Their works, even if they were not acknowledged in Lublana, must be considered a part of Slovenian literature. Since this is not the case, we must assume that this is the doing of the ancient directives from Belgrade. They made it a point to portray their literature in a much poorer light to the Slovenian public, than it really was. In the centralistic and hegemonistic Yugoslavia, the subordinated critics and experts of Slovenian literature, it is true, had to obey these directives. In this regard, Louis Adamich, albeit of ideological reasons, represents an exception for the second time. |
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| The memorial characteristic on Adamich's birth house in Spodnje Blato |
| close to Grosuple (Slovenia) |
| Louis Adamich (Adamic) was born in the village of Spodnje Blato near Grosuple, south-east of Lublana (Slovenia), in 1898. It was still the period of the Austrian Monarchy. He visited the gymnasium in Lublana, but in 1913 he was expelled from school. Thus, he pertained to the student movement called Preporod (Rebirth), which was aimed against Austria and strove for a Southern-Slav State. In the same year he emigrated in the USA. First he worked in the editorship of Glas naroda (People's Voice), the Slovenian daily in New York. During 1916 - 1923 he was a volunteer in the US Army. Already in that time, he began to publish translations of Slovenian literature in The Living Age. Stories about military and immigrants' life he published in The American Mercury. In this way, he was introduced to several important American literati. |
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| Title page of Adamich's book Dynamite, published in 1931 |
| At the beginning of the 30s his work was directed in the journalistic and social critical writing. In the book Dynamite (1931) he describes the fight of the American working class, in which also groups like anarchists, wobblies and others led their fight against capitalism. It is about the history of the dominated and unpropertied classes, and not from the viewpoint of the propertied class and dominators. |
| The book found a great echo. In another book called Laughing in the Jungle (1932), in which he presented the problems of the immigrants, he reached the summit of his artistic style and confession. As a promising writer he received the Guggenberg Price, and in this way he came to visit his native Slovenia, which after the WW1 pertained to Yugoslavia. |
| There, he met several Slovenian writers, and he became aware of the social, economical and political situation of Yugoslavia. Since 1929, this country was under the great-Serbian dictatorship, toward which the Slovenian intelligentsia led a persevere resistance. |
| After his return to America, he wrote another book The Native's Return (1934), a new bestseller. He described the ethical and cultural character of his fellow-countrymen, their life force, several great personalities, and the resistance against the Belgrade dictatorship. The book was soon forbidden in the then Yugoslavia. Louis Adamich became a social critical writer of America, and he acted for the victory of the more deeply ethical and social values in the American public. |
| He rejected the forced assimilation of immigrants, and the motto of the American "melting pot". America should become a multiethnic community, and the national groups with their cultures should enrich their new American homeland. Several of his books are dedicated to the problems of the immigrants. The title of one of them, A Nation of Nations (1944), expresses his principles in the best way. Indeed, the American public as well as the American political structures listened to his ideas. |
| In 1941, soon after the occupation of Yugoslavia by Germany and Italy, the Slovenian immigrants in America founded a help committee for the occupied homeland. Louis Adamich not only took part in the relief collections, but he also had the possibility to intervene on the political level. On January 13, 1942, Eleanor Roosevelt, the president's consort, invited him to dinner in the White House. There, among other invited guests was also Winston Churchill, the president of the English government. This event has been documented in Adamich's book Dinner at the White House (1946). When they talked about the occupied Yugoslavia Louis Adamich intervened, asking President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill for aid for Draža Mihajlovic, the Serbian leader of the resistance movement. At that time, other Yugoslav liberation movements were still unknown in the West. |
| On December 5, 1942, a Slovenian "national conference" with over 500 delegates of the American -Slovenian associations was held in the Slovenian National Home at St. Clair Ave in Cleveland. They founded the American Slovenian National Council - SANS. The main purpose of this program was to provide help for the occupied Yugoslavia. Among other things, the delegates also stressed the idea of a Unified Slovenia (in a free and federal Yugoslavia). Etbin Kristan was elected as the leader of the organization, followed by Louis Adamich as the honorary chairman, and Father Kazimir Zakrajšek was the secretary. This organ connected all Slovenian associations in America and represented ca. 250.000 members. |
| Nevertheless, SANS was at the time of its foundation only a screen, behind which the concealed activities of the Communist International party flourished, which was directed by Stalin and, with regards to the Yugoslav affairs, at that time Stalin's faithful ally Tito. Several members of SANS became aware of this fact very soon and they withdrew their membership. Father Kazimir Zakrajšek was one of them. Evidently, Louis Adamich operated as Stalin's agent after the directives from Moscow. The Communist infiltration was witnessed by another Slovenian, Matt Cvetic from Pittsburgh, who, as member of the Communist Party in Pittsburgh, acted for the F.B.I. Anyway, in 1950 during the process against Stalin's agents, where Cvetic served as the chief witness, Adamich's name did not appear among the accused. Why? We don't know. |
| When in July 1943 the Board of Yugoslav Americans was founded, Adamich became its chairman. This board, too, organized collections to help Yugoslavia. Indeed, Louis Adamich must be considered not only the leader of the united Slovenian associations but also the leader of other southern-Slav organizations in America during the period of the WW2. Having connections in political circles he influenced decisively America's standpoint toward the happenings in occupied Yugoslavia. This standpoint declined toward the partisans under the leadership of Tito. Large contributions were made to SANS, which were sent to Tito. Only at the end of the WW2, the majority of the delegates became aware of the Communist infiltration and they retired from the organization. |
| In 1948, there was a great dispute between Stalin and Tito. In spite of threats, Louis Adamich and the rest of the SANS members took the side of Belgrade. In 1949, he visited Yugoslavia again where he met the highest Communist leaders, Tito included. After his return to America, he began to write a book called The Eagle and the Roots (1952), in which he glorified Tito, the post-war Yugoslavia and its "independent" way (in socialism). But on September 4, 1951, he was found dead, killed by a gunshot, on his farm in Milford (New Jersey). His death was never clarified. |
| Lous Adamich was a native Slovenian, an American and also a Slovenian writer. In his works, it is true, we do not find the Slovenian national and cultural tradition. Anyway, his feeling and his soul remained Slovenian. The values he treated were American as well as a general human problems. His Slovenian consciousness, it is true, was integrated in the Yugoslav sphere of ideas. Thus, in his youth before the WW1 the image of the Slovenians was not defined in the sense of a particular historical and cultural nation yet. They were only imagined as a part of the Southern Slavs, or Yugoslavs. |
| Nevertheless, there was not only Louis Adamich, who could not have imagined Slovenia as a historical and a particular nation. In that time, such a point of view was also shared by other Slovenian intellectuals. Says in his book Matija Škerbec, a Slovenian priest and writer: Yugoslavism, i.e., the thinking that all Yugoslav nations are a unique nation, already before the WW1 penetrated gradually from the liberal circles among the Catholic youth also. Even Dr. Krek, as it seems, at that time converted from the "Alpine Croat" to a Yugoslav (cf. Matija Škerbec: Pregled novodobnega slovenskega katoliškega gibanja II, Cleveland 1957, p. 36). - Rev. Dr. Krek, a Slovenian deputy in the Austrian Parliament, was the political leader of the Slovenian Catholic movement. |
| The naive and idealistic Yugoslav and pan-Slav orientation, that Adamich in his point of view had preserved from his youth, helped him to become one of the confidants of Stalin and Tito. As a critic of the social conditions, which the liberal capitalism created in America in the period between WW1 and WW2, he was, like many other intellectuals, artists and idealists, not able to overlook the real life in Communist Russia under Stalin and later in Yugoslavia under Tito. All these intellectuals simply must have had a support point for their idealism, in which they saw the sense of life. Therefore, they were, concerning the Communist terror, not able to believe the news in the public press. - But in 1948, when the conflict between Stalin and Tito broke out, Louis Adamich decided on Yugoslavia and Tito. He did this in spite of the tremendous pressure and death menaces from the Russian side. Together with him passed the rest of the remaining SANS members on the side of Yugoslavia. |
| What the circumstances of his death concerns in 1951, the logical conclusion can be drawn, that he was a victim of Stalin's agents. But in the post-war Yugoslavia there were rumours, that Adamich was killed on order of Tito. But it is not very likely, that Tito himself should have ordered Adamich's execution. One can rather think of the hegemonistic great-Serbian lobby of Belgrade, which encircled Tito and took cover behind his image. The motive for Adamich's execution could bee searched in the fact, that he was too close to the White House. As a native Slovenian, he was a constant witness of the multiethnic Yugoslavia in the centre of the world decision-making. In opposition to this, the Serbian leadership of Belgrade would have presented to the world the image of a »Yugoslav« (great-Serbian) nation only. This is one of many assumptions concerning the motive of his death. The case was investigated by the FBI, but the results of the inquest were never revealed. |
| In Slovenia (Yugoslavia) of the post-war- time, Louis Adamich, as a friend of Tito, continued to be shown as a Slovenian writer of America. As already mentioned, in this viewpoint he represents an exception, because not one of the English writing Slovenians appears in the books of Slovenian literature. In 1981, for the 20th anniversary of his death, a symposium about his life and work was held in Lublana. In conclusion it was said, that he became a victim of mysterious circumstances, that we will never come to know. - In this conclusion it must be appended, that Louis Adamich could have carried out a great message for Slovenia. But because of his naive Yugoslav orientation he was not able to do so. |
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| Josef Friedrich Perkonig |
| the greatest Romanticist of Carinthia |
| and the question of his national appurtenance |
| 1890 - 1959 |
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| Monument of Josef Friedrich Perkonig in his native Borovle - Ferlach |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| It is true, he wrote all his works in German. But he was not a native German, or was he? - Josef Friedrich Perkonig was born in 1890 in Borovle (Ferlach), a small town in southern Carinthia (Austria), with a famous reputation for hunting guns. His father was an engraver and apparently came from German ancestry, whereas his mother was of Slovenian origin. In fact, the matter in question concerns only the language, not the national appurtenance as such. At that time, the Slovenian lands were under the Austrian Monarchy and the town people, including Lublana, preferred to speak German, the uniting language. They also spoke Slovenian, of course, the quotidian language of the country people, which prevailed by far. In Perkonig's case, the surname is of Slovenian origin. Consequently, the greatest Carinthian writer was of Slovenian descent, even though he was not aware of the fact. |
| Why so? In the period, when Perkonig grew up, the Slovenian national, cultural, and historical identity was not individuated at all. Slovenian intellectuals themselves believed that their nation was part of the Southern Slavs and of the Slavs in general. They saw in the pan-Slav movement a salvation from the great-German expansionism, the purpose of which was the distension of the German speaking area toward south, up to the Adriatic Sea. Of course, the Slovenian people vehemently opposed to such a Germanizing idea. |
| Nevertheless, in Carinthia the people instinctively knew that their country never pertained to the Southern Slav area. The cultural heritage and ethnical tradition of the Balkan people was so different, that the majority of Slovenians rejected a unity with the Southern Slavs. And, because the very (Slovenian) historical identity of Carinthia - Carantania was never presented to them, they grasped at the great-German idea, which was wide spread in the public mind through the mass media, published in German language. In this way, the German national idea triumphed in Carinthia and elsewhere in the then Austria. The school books in German were well suited to spread its mission. It was inoculated in the mind of the Carinthian intellectuals, particularly in the mind of those, who originated from towns and boroughs, in which the German tongue preferably was spoken. One of these young students, and future Carinthian intellectual, was Josef Friedrich Perkonig. |
| Perkonig's Education |
| After elementary school he frequented teacher's college in Klagenfurt - Celovec. There, in 1909 he passed his final examination. From 1922 - 1951 he also taught at this college. In consideration to his national orientation in this period, one can read in the modern Slovenian papers the following commentaries: "As son of a national mixed marriage he decided himself for the German-dome" (cf. Enciklopedija Slovenije, 1994). Such sentences sound like an accusation. They are, however, not correct at all, and far from the truth. |
| In fact, the young Perkonig followed only the general mind, at that time created by the educational system in Carinthia and Austria. Indeed, there, the pristine Carantanian Slovenian tradition was preserved only in the villages, and not in the bilingual town, where Perkonig came from. He was never introduced to village tradition and culture, from which his Slovenian compatriots originated. The public atmosphere in Carinthia was completely pervaded by the German national idea. Still today one can imagine, what an impact Goethe and Heine must have had at that time ... or Wagner's famous operas about the Nibelungs (Rheingold,...), and so on. |
| Without knowing the very history and culture of ones own native country, one was delighted to hold on to the great German world and its culture. The academic distortions, already in that period presented by the universities, formally expressed the disdain of the Slavs, in particular Slovenians were targeted. Especially, the academicians of the University of Graz (Styria), like Hildebrand, Peisker, Gumplowicz and others, "scientifically" substantiated in their works the historical and cultural inferiority of the Slavs in general. |
| No wonder that under such conditions the young Perkonig followed the German national idea, which fused the Carinthian regional sentiments. Indeed, until today the original Carinthian (Carantanian) identity has not been individuated by Carinthian and other Austrian historians. Neither has it been addressed by their Slovenian (Yugoslav) colleagues. Therefore, the silent reproach from the Slovenian side, accusing Perkonig for joining the German national movement, is not justified. The appropriation of his literary work, in order to consolidate the German tradition of Carinthia, is neither correct nor fair. Perkonig must be considered rather as a victim of national ideological impacts. In spite of this, he was and he will remain a great writer. |
| His Life and Work |
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| Borovle - Ferlach, the town hall |
| The plebiscite of 1920, concerning the future appurtenance of southern Carinthia to Austria or to Yugoslavia, marked Perkonig's mind and work for the rest of his life. The plebiscite was decided in favour of Austria, for which Perkonig actively laboured as a propagandist and journalist. After the plebiscite, he published his works called Heimat in Not (Homeland in Need, Klagenfurt 1921) and Heimsuchung (The Visitation, Vienna 1923). It is said, these contain the chronicles of the plebiscite fights in an anti-Slovenian way. In fact, they must be regarded rather as anti-Yugoslav. Anyway, for Perkonig and for the German speaking people of Carinthia, the Yugoslavs and the Slovenians were one and the same thing. |
| Indeed, Perkonig was striving for a political and national unity of Carinthia in its historical and cultural feature, and at that time, he knew only how to express it in a German ideological presentation. Later, such a view point of view continued throughout his numerous works: novels, dramas, essays, radio plays, film scripts. In the period between 1930 and 1938 he was the chairman of the association called Kärntner Heimatbund (The Carinthian Homeland Alliance). Still today, this association is defending the supposed German tradition of Carinthia. |
| The underrating imaginations, which Perkonig adopted during his schooling toward the Slovenians, were continuously repeated throughout his works. In general, Slovenians are presented as offenders, poachers and rude persons... In his novel Bergsegen (The Mountain Luck, 1928, 1935, 1943, 1965), for example, he presented a condescending German townsman, who is ill and went into the Karavanke Mountains. He thinks, he will die, but he met Ljuba Jug, a Slovenian girl, and a love story started to develop between them. The man recovered, but (in sense of Perkonig's point of view) the couple did not get married, and the author let the girl die of frost in the snow. |
| Evidently, Perkonig appreciated the "primitive" Slovenian folklore, even the stories concerning the myths of Kralj Matija (King Matthias). It was but only a principal appreciation: a reflection of the Slovenian naturalness, genuineness, and healthiness. He presented the human fate of Slovenians rather in a negative way and in a non-perspective light. A trace of such a view point is also found in his novel called Nikolaus Tschinderle, der Räuberhauptmann (Nikolaus Tschinderle, the Captain of Brigands, 1936): Tschinderle (a Slovenian surname) is a brave little tailor, who is sick and tired to be derided, and he decided to become a robber, as to prove, what kind of lad he is. |
| Regretfully, by painting such a picture, he decisively contributed to the negative mind of the German speaking Carinthians, concerning their Slovenian compatriots. Still today, such an opinion prevails the public mind of Carinthians. Anyway, despite the lacking of Perkonig's cognisance and horizons, he was a very tale-writer. His amusing style attracted the readers. He is one of the chief writers of Austrian "Heimatromane" (homeland novels). Before the WW2, the top of his litterary creativity represented the novel Menschen wie du und ich (People like you and I, Wien - Leipzig 1935), which won the Great Austrian State Price. |
| Until the WW2, the idea of a historical undivided German Carinthia, which Perkonig also promoted, prevailed by far in the Carinthian public mind. It was constantly suggested by the mass media. Also the historians and ethnologists, like Primus Lessiak or Georg Graber and others, fervently searched the "Germanic" roots of their land. They tried to connect them with Scandinavia, the supposed primordial German homeland. Living in such an atmosphere, Perkonig understood not earlier then after 1938, when the Nazi troops invaded Austria, that the great German cultural work was misused as to promote the ideology of Nazi expansionism and militarism. |
| Then, Perkonig's attitude toward his Slovenian compatriots changed radically. It was in 1942, when the SS troops began to remove the Slovenians from their homes to the lagers in Germany. Perkonig was shocked, and he sent a memorandum to Friedrich Rainer, the gau-head of Carinthia, in which he said: "Only one thing could have brought to charge the exiled Slovenian families, i.e., that they are Slovenians..." Dr. Roracher, the Bishop of Klagenfurt, who also protested, received from Himmler the answer, he should occupy himself with celestial affairs and not with terrestial questions... The war delinquent, Alois Maier-Kaibitsch, declared in Klagenfurt: "In Carinthia, the question of the Slovenian minority does not exist anymore, the Slovenian associations are suspended, a part of the Slovenian leaders are already arrested, others have been banished from the country." In 1945, the Slovenian exiles returned home. |
| In the post-war period, Perkonig laboured for the reconciliation between the German and the Slovenian speaking people of Carinthia. In his great novel Patrioten (The Patriots, Graz 1950) he presented the fights in the time of the plebiscite of 1920 from both sides, the German Carinthian as well as the Slovenian point of view. He also began to publish translations of the Slovenian writers: Ivan Cankar, Ivan Tavcar, Fran Milcinski, Misko Kranjec, with the accompanying essays. Together with Herta Kralj, for example, he translated the well-known Cankar novel entitled "Spuk im Florianital" (Spook in the St. Florian Valley, Vienna - Stuttgart 1953). |
| For his 60th anniversary he was nominated honourable citizen of the communes of Borovle (Ferlach) and of Klagenfurt - Celovec. He died in 1959. The selected works of his literary creativity were published in 8 volumes, in 1965 - 1968. |
| Perkonig's Decision |
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| Austrian stamp issued for the centennial of Perkonig's birth |
| In Slovenia, except for a brief device in the Slovenian Encyclopaedia (1994), Josef Friedrich Perkonig and his work has been ignored until now. At some occasions, when a talk and article forum mentions the cultural situation of Carinthia, it states the fact, that he decided himself for the German part, and with this sentence the problem is concluded. The truth is, at this point the Perkonig question is only beginning. |
| First of all, it is not a literary question, but an ideological one. In the early 20th century, the majority of Carinthians, including Josef Friedrich Perkonig, could not have not imagined the existence of their country outside of the great German cultural and historical area. Such was also the thinking, which prevailed by far in the German speaking part of Austria. The Slovenians in Carinthia were considered to be the descendants of the Slavs and Southern Slavs, who in the early Middle Ages should have invaded Carinthia. Thus, they should pertain to the world, with Russia and Serbia at the head. A world, to which Carinthia never pertained. |
| The fear of a renewed "Slav invasion" inhis native country pervaded Perkonig's mind for a long time. Only the great German world should have protected Carinthia. Indeed, in 1918 - 1920, the southern part of Carinthia was occupied by Yugoslavia, the new Slav State of the Balkans. Moreover, in this area the Belgrade government did not sent the Slovenian troops from the Yugoslav territory, but the Serbian ones. Such a provision created a refusal even among many Slovenian speaking Carinthians. Indeed, the passage of this territory to Yugoslavia seemed to be catastrophic. The option for Austria appeared as the unique salvation. |
| In such an atmosphere, the overwhelming patriotism and love for his native country, which is visible in Perkonig's narratives, is quite comprehensible. "Kärnten" (Carinthia) is the main heading of his early works, like Liebe, Leid und Tod (Love, Sorrow and Death, Klagenfurt 1923). His patriotic sentiments were understood and influenced the German speaking area. Many of his works were published in Germany, like Kärnten, mein Leben für dich (Carinthia, My Life for You, Berlin - Stuttgart 1935). In this novel he is still treating the period of the Carinthian plebiscite. |
| Anyway, he also paid great attention to the landscape. For example, his book Mein Herz im Hochland (My Heart in the highlands, Graz 1941) was another great success of his heimatromans. In 1943, its 4th edition was published. |
| But what went on in Perkonig's soul, when he had to watch in the middle of the WW2 the persecution of his Slovenian compatriots? After all, he was one of them by birth. Was he aware of this fact in his inner feelings? I believe, at this moment the cognisance had matured in his mind: Even they, with their language, have been the very inhabitants of Carinthia since ancient times, and now they are completely deprived of their glorious past and of their identity ... Perkonig, with his sensible soul - in spite of his prosa he was always considered a poet - must have come to such a conclusion in an intuitive way. It was a catharsis, which brought him close to the Slovenian world. Nevertheless, after so many years of work in German language and culture, he was not able anymore to enter the Slovenian world actively. |
| Actually, he became conscious of his Slovenian roots and was well aware of the fact that it was too late for him to be introduced to the Slovenian literary language and cultural tradition. Anyway, he did what he could for the Slovenians. He knew Slovenian, and he, by translating the Slovenian literary pieces into German, not only made a contribution to the common homeland of the German and Slovenian speaking Carinthians, he also left a message, which was ignored. I think, until now the depth of his message has not been understood by his biographers and students of his works. |
| Moreover, it was overlooked by the opinion makers on both sides, the Slovenian (Yugoslav) and the Austrian (German) one, because it does not fit in some of the ideological moulds, which are still today in force. Indeed, Josef Friedrich Perkonig with his soul, who stretched out his hands to the Austrian (German) and to the Slovenian cultural world, must still be discovered in his very advice. |
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| Jan Ignacy Nieceslaw Baudouin de Courtenay |
| A Polish-Russian Slavist, who informed the Slavic world about the Slovenians |
| 1845 - 1929 |
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| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| His father's ancestor settled in Poland in the 18th century. The Courtenay stock was a lateral line of the French royal house dating back to the 12th century AD, and their family history had a glorious past. By the time young Baudouin came into this world, the family had fully adopted the polish culture and lifestyle. In those days central Poland with Warsaw pertained to Russia. After elementary school, he went to high school in Warsaw. Thereafter he studied at the universities of Prague, Jena, Berlin and Leipzig. In 1868 he moved to St. Petersburg (Russia), and began teaching as a private docent. Soon he was habilitated as professor. |
| In 1872, the Russian Ministry of Education sponsored his three-year study in foreign countries. His journey took him also to the Austrian Monarchy where he made the acquaintance of several Slovenian intellectuals in Vienna, Graz, Maribor, Lublana and Gorica. The Slovenian language with its ancient dialects and terms evidently attracted the attention of Baudouin de Courtenay. He dedicated himself in particular to the dialects languages of the western Slovenian territories. He researched the types of dialect found in the valleys of Resia (Rezija) and Natisone (Nadiža) - since 1866 under Italy - as well as those of Cerkno and Bohinj. |
| Between 1872 and 1901, he visited seven times the area of the aforesaid valleys. The very archaic dialect of Resia demanded his special attention. In 1873 he registered in Bila (S. Giorgio) in Resia the Lord's Prayer, as the sexton there told him. The registration, because of numerous phonetic characters, is a very linguistic master-piece. |
| Soon after his first journey a paper called Opyt fonetiki rez'janskich govorov (About the phonetics of the dialects of Resia, St. Petersburg, 1875) was published. With this study he received the Doctorate and was appointed Professor at the University of Kazan. With his work he agitated the sleepy academic circles and founded a very linguistic school in Kazan. From this school graduated important Russian linguists of that time. |
| Because he vehemently defended some students in 1883, who were excluded from the university, he came into quarrel with the university authorities, and therefore he transferred to the University of Dorpat in Estonia, where he lectured for ten years. In 1893 he accepted the Chatedra for Comparative Linguistics at the University of Krakow. But the academic circles there became invidious of his work and rank. Because of his Slavistic studies, and mainly because of the Resian texts called Rez'ja i Rez'jane (Resia and Resians), published in Slavjanski Zbornik III, 1876, he was accused of political pan-Slavism. So, in 1899 he lost the Chatedra in Krakow, but accepted an equally important Chatedra at the University of St. Petersburg. He remained there until 1917. |
| In that period he dedicated seven years to the re-making and publication of the third edition of the Russian Dictionary. In 1913, he also published a booklet in defence of the national minorities in Russian territory. Therefore he was condemned to two years arrest. But after several weeks he was released due to the intervention of the St. Petersburg' intellectuals. |
| Baudouin de Courtenay lived to see the Russian October Revolution of 1917 in Warsaw. At the end of the First World War, Poland was declared anew an independent State. Baudouin's international prestige was so great, that in 1922 some people nominated him as candidate for the presidency of the new Polish Republic. He died in 1929. |
| In the world of Slavistics, Baudouin de Courtenay was like a meteor. The greatest and the most important part of his scientific work was dedicated to the western Slovenian dialects, those of the Rezija (Resia) and Ter (Torre) valleys, at that time already belonging to Italy. During his researches in the area he dwelt in Gorica (Gorizia), at that time on the Austrian side. There, he published his articles in the local paper "Soca" and hosted some conferences, which had a great influence on a group of Slovenian gymnasium students, who began to register for the Slovenian popular traditions. Among them was also Karel Štrekelj (1859 - 1912), who later published the amplest collection of the Slovenian people's poetry. |
| In the 90s of the 19th century, when he taught at the University of Dorpat (Estonia, then a Russian province), his linguistic and dialectal discoveries found a great echo among the Russian intellectuals. Of particular interest was his lecture O slavjanach v Italii (About the Slavs in Italy, 1892), which soon after was published in the paper Russkaja mysl (Moscow, 1893). |
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The title page in Russian and in German of Baudouin de Cortenay's Materials for Southern Slav Dialectology and Ethnology, published in St. Petersburg in 1895 |
| His work was enormous. A great part of the collected materials was published in several books. The first one bore the Russian title Materialy dlja južnoslavjanskoj dialektologii i etnografii and also the German title Materialien zur südslawischen Dialektologie und Ethnographie (St. Petersburg, 1895). A book of 708 pages contained materials mostly from the Resia Valley: proverbs, tales, fairy-tales, popular poems, enigmas and so on. The materials have been translated into Russian and German. |
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| Baudouin de Courtenay's Christian Manual in the dialect of Resia, St. Petersburg 1913 |
| The second book of his materials bore the title Obrazcy jazyka na govorah Terskih Slavjan v s'verovostocnoy Italii (Examples of the Slavic dialect languages of Torre Valley, St. Petersburg, 1904). The materials published in this book contain translations into Russian. The third book of materials is called Christjanske uzhilo (The Christian Teaching, St. Petersburg 1913) and contains a collection of Sermons in the Resia dialect from the 40s of the 19th century. |
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| Courtenay's Materiali IV published by Liliana Spinozzi Monai, Trieste 1988 |
| Baudouin de Courtenay was not able to publish the abundance of materials he had registered. They were taken over by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, of which he was a corresponding member. The materials were stored later in the archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. Not earlier as in the 80s the materials were prepared for publication by Liliana Spinozzi Monai and were published as Materiali IV (Trieste 1988). Prof. Milko Maticetov explained them from the ethnological point of view. |
| It is surprising, that Baudouin de Courtenay did not take cognizance that the Slovenian language, in its origin, does not pertain to the Southern-Slav group, but to the Western-Slav (Vendic) one. This is, because the Slovenians are descendants of the ancient Veneti (Vends). He evidently accepted the generally diffused opinion that the Slovenians together with the Southern Slavs should have been a part of the ancient Slavs, whose original homeland was behind the Carpathian Mountains. He did not endanger the appurtenance of the Slovenians to the Southern-Slav group. |
| The Slovenian public did not ignore Baudouin de Courtenay. But his books were never presented in its entirety to the public. His work, in which he presented the archaic Slovenian language to the Slav world, was very important to the Slavistics and Slovenistics as well as to the national consciousness of the Slovenian intellectuals. Even in that period, the national German circles in Austria treated the Slovenians as a Slav people "without history and culture". |
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| Ukraine - Slovenia |
| Solidarity with the Ukrainian People |
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| Taras Hrihorovic Ševcenko |
| 1814 - 1861 |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| The Ukraine celebrated this year the 190th birthday anniversary of Taras Hrihorovic Ševcenko (Shevchenko), the greatest poet of the Ukraine (1814 - 1861). We would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Jože Abram (1975 - 1938) from Štanjel on the Karst, a Catholic priest and Slovenian writer, who translated Ševcenko's poetry already at the beginning of the 20th century AD: in 1907, an anthology of Ševcenko's poetry collection called Kobzar, as well as poetry about the Haidamaky. Apart from this, Abram also wrote several essays about Ševcenko and the Ukrainian question: A meaningful 50th Anniversary (1900), At the grave site of Taras Ševcenko (1905), Ukrainian songs (1907), Taras Ševcenko - for the 100th Anniversary of his Birthday (1914)... A Ukrainian published commentary quoted »that the Slovenian Catholic priest was the only foreigner who deeply dedicated himself to the works of this Ukrainian poet.«… |
| Taras Hrihorovic Ševcenko was born in the village of Morinci in central Ukraine, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. His parents were serfs of the land. The lord noticed his great talent and in 1832 he »contracted« him to a master painter of St. Petersburg. After some years, noted writers and artists bought Ševcenko out of serfdom. In 1838, he was accepted into the Academy of Arts, first as an external and then as an ordinary student. In 1840, the world was introduced to Kobzar, Ševcenko's first collection of poetry, and in 1841 appeared the epic poem Haidamaky. His poetical strength was inexhaustible. In a series of works, the poet embodied the dream of the people for a free and happy life. He understood that the peasants would gain their freedom neither through the kindness of the tsar nor through reforms, but through struggle. |
| The tsar gave orders to have Ševcenko arrested. He was sent to Orenburg, where he remained »under strictest surveillance, as well as being banned from writing and painting«... He died in 1861 in St. Petersburg. At the Academy of Arts, over his coffin, speeches were delivered in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. Then his coffin was transferred to the Ukraine, and he was burried on Cerneca Hill (Chernecha) by the Dniepr River. His grave has become a sacred site for the Ukrainian people. |
| Today, while we are remembering Ševcenko's birthday anniversary on the Carantha webpage, mass demonstrations in Kiew and all over the Ukraine protest against the counterfeited elections of the post-Communist clique. Once again, the Ukrainians demand freedom and democracy. The Carantha editorial staff is standing in solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their struggle for a better tomorrow. |
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| »Poziv za domovino« |
| (Call for the Homeland) |
| Milan Bolkovic Bole |
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| Recently, the world was informed of the declarations given by Mr. Miloševic, ex-leader of Serbia, who before the International Court in The Hague has been accused of serious crimes during the last wars in ex-Yugoslavia. In his declarations, Mr. Miloševic accused from his side the international community, the Vatican and Slovenia, that they should be guilty for the disintegration of ex-Yugoslavia. He quotes that, when in 1991 the Slovenian Provincial Parliament in Lublana declared independence, the members of the Slovenian territorial defence shot at the soldiers of the Yugoslav army alongside the frontier with Austria and Hungary. |
| In fact, it was the Yugoslav army that began with the march toward the strategic posts in Slovenia. These posts were also the frontier areas, which through occupancy should have isolated Slovenia from the free world. What did in these critical times occur, when the Slovenian boys and men risked an engagement with the heavy-armed Yugoslav army? Many of these encounters have been outlined in the book »Poziv za domovino« (Call for the Homeland), written by Milan Bolkovic Bole (issued in 1999). The described events occurred in the region of Prlekija, close to the Austrian and Hungarian boundary. The book in pocket format contains 180 pages. It costs 2500 SIT and can be ordered from the author. Adress: Križevci 25, 9242 Križevci, Slovenia, or by e-mail: mbole@siol.net The work is about a precious historical document, which should be translated into English and other global languages. |
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| »Iz primorske epopeje« |
| (From the Littoral Epopee) |
| Borut Rutar |
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| Editorial Review: |
| Recently, the publishing house Mohorjeva of Klagenfurt - Celovec (Austria) released a new book entitled »Iz primorske epopeje« (From the Littoral Epopee). The co-publisher is the present-day TIGR Association (Slovenia). The book describes the activity of TIGR, the Slovenian liberation movement of the Littoral province, which in the period between WW1 and WW2 pertained to Italy. The Italian Fascist regime of that period persecuted the Slovenian people as to Italianize them. Against the persecution a spontaneous rebellion arose. - The author Borut Rutar, originally from Tolmin, for some years collected materials and testifyings of the one-time TIGR members and collaborators in the Tolmin area. In his book, he pays particular attention to the way of life of Mirko Brovc, originally from Koritnica in the Baca Valley. Mirko, a member of TIGR, was condemned by the Fascist tribunal to 30 years jail. But he was freed in 1943, when Italy capitulated. Then, he associated with the partisans and even became a member of the PC. But as a Slovenian patriot, in the post-war period he was exposed to the chicanery of the Yugoslav Communist regime. - It is very interesting, that the author of the book, based on the material he collected, reveals that in the years between 1938 - 1940, when Yugoslavia expected an attack from Italy, TIGR was preparing for a general insurrection in Littoral. However, in 1940 this movement was destroyed by the Italian secret service. In sense of secret directives from Belgrade in post-war Yugoslavia, the history of the TIGR movement remained wholly suppressed for decades. |
| (cf: Concealed and Forgotten Persons Part I, articles: |
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Ferdo Kravanja | |
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Concealed and Forgotten Persons Part II, articles: |
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Franc Šavli-Medved (Slovenian) | |
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TIGR (The Liberation Movement of Primorska) (English) | |
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Karlo Kocjancic (English) | |
| This most complete and thoroughly researched book is now available: |
| Ordering information: |
| Austria |
| Book price: 21,25 Euro |
| Online Ordering: http://www.mohorjeva.at/ |
| Mailing Address |
| Mohorjeva druzba |
| Viktringer Ring 26 |
| 9020 Klagenfurt-Celovec |
| Austria |
| Slovenia |
| Book price: 5,100 Sit |
| Online Ordering: http://www.mohorjeva-druzba.si/ |
| Mailing Address |
| Mohorjeva d.o.o. |
| Poljanska cesta 97 |
| 1000 Ljubljana |
| Slovenija |
| tel. 01 28 01 300 |
| fax 01 28 01 313 |
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| Monumenta Frisingensia |
| (Brižinski spomeniki) |
| The Oldest Witnesses of the Slovenian Language |
| A Precious Literary Legacy from the ancient Carantania |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| In 1807, the German scholar A. Schnürer discovered that five sheets (No. 76, 158, 159, 160, 161) of the Codex lat. 6426 preserved in the State Archive of Munich, were not written in Latin but in a Slavonic idiom which he identified with the one spoken in Carantania in the 9th century AD. In fact, this Codex is an important manuscript containing mostly liturgical texts relating to the 10th century, when Abraham (957 - 993) was Bishop of Freising in Bavaria. It is written mainly in Latin and contains 169 parchment sheets. |
| In five sheets, discovered by the German scholar, there are three religious texts in Slovenian. They were published for the first time in the "Neuer literarischer Anzeiger" (Munich, 1807), and have passed into history under the name Monumenta Frisingensia, the Monuments of Freising. They are divided in three parts; the First, the Second, and the Third Monument. Their discovery caused a great sensation among historians and started controversies, which have not subsided yet. |
| The scholars agree that the Second and the Third Monument were written in the same hand-writing as that of the charter by which Abraham, the Bishop of Freising, and the noble clerk Ruodharius exchanged properties in Carantania near the Freisingian estates around Spittal in Carinthia, very probably in the nearby Monastery of Melec (Molzbichl), recently discovered. The Third Monument, however, might have been written as late as in the 9th century and inserted into the Codex before the other two. |
| The scholars have concluded that the Slovenian texts, as reproduced in the First and Third Monument, were written in Latin script and were used in the church service in Carantania. However, the Second Monument apparently has never been transcribed into Latin script. It was not used by the faithful, but only by priests or bishops conducting the service. Thus, when a German hand wrote in the 10th century these texts, he had at his disposal Latin forms of the First and of the Third Monument, but only a Glagolitic form of the Second. The German scholastic could almost faultlessly copy the First and the Third Monuments. In order to provide a Latin script of the Second Monument, he needed a Slovenian to produce the phonetic sounds of the Glagolitic script, which the writer did not understand. Consequently, there are a great number of mistakes in spelling, although the language itself is perfect. |
| The Monumenta Frisingensia were published first in Russia, in 1827, redacted by P. J. Köppen, and a philological comment was made by A. H. Vostokov. The Slovenian linguist Jernej Kopitar was not satisfied with the issue. Consequently, he added to this his own issue of the book "Glagolita Clozianus" on pages 33 - 34 a Specimen dialecti carantanicae sec. X, containing a historical introduction, a transcription of the Second Monument in Latin and in Cyrillyc scripts, as well as philological notes concerning grammatically difficult passages of the text. |
| Kopitar's issue of the Glagolita Clozianus was entitled after the Count Paris Cloze, the owner of 12 leaves of a Glagolitic book; later, 2 more leaves were found. The original book of about 500 pages was lost. It originated in the period of St. Methodius (before 885 AD) and was later transcribed in the literary school of Ohrid, Macedonia. - The book contained homilies transcribed from Greek sources and contained numerous Slavic words of Pannonia and Moravia. But the careless transcriber changed the original text with Greek patterns on page 58, and replaced it with another one. The other text (125 lines) is an original sermon of St. Methodius, which, in many aspects, clarifies the Old Church-Slavonic papers, as well as the contents of the Second Monument of Freising. |
| In the past, scholars disagreed on the origin of the Monumenta Frisingensia. Most of them would have associated the linguistics of the Monumenta with their respective national culture and would have used this approach as the most valuable screening device. By following this reasoning, the linguistics of the Monuments might have been Czech, Old Church-Slavonic, old Slovakian, Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian. |
| The well-known linguist of the University of Vienna, Fr. Miklosich, a Slovenian, related the Monuments with the Sermon of St. Clement, the Macedonian, one of the pupils of St. Methodius. Fr. Miklosich' successor, V. Jagic, a Croat, found that the language of the Monuments is Slovenian, with numerous traces of the Old Church-Slavonic due to the Glagolitic pattern. |
| After WW1, Slovenian scholars from the University of Lublana (R. Nachtigal, M. Kos, Fr. Ramovš and Fr. Grivec) produced many additional reviews pertaining to the Slovenian linguistics. Consequently, most scholars currently acknowledge the Slovenian linguistic origin in the Monuments as their starting point for further investigation. In 1956, a new issue of the Monuments was published and redacted in Prague by A. Vondrak. He pointed out the Czech and Slovak influences, especially on the Second Monument. However, the scholars disputed and rejected his statement. |
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| The First Monument |
| Glagolite po nas redka slovesa... |
| This Monument is the most carefully written among the three. It is also more independent and its language seems to correspond to a Slovenian idiom spoken in the 9th century. It represents the wording of the Confessio generalis, in Slovenian, prayed by the faithful before the common Absolution. At the beginning, it bears the following quotation: Glagolite po nas redka slovesa... (Repeat after us, these few words...). In the case of the Admonitio generalis given by Charlemagne (789 AD), the word preaedicare means read prayers in public. The above mentioned sentence is a reflection of the Carolingian liturgical praxis. The English translation of the text of the First Monument is, as follows: |
| Repeat after us, these few words: |
| God, the gracious Lord, God the Father, to you I confess my sins, and to the Holy Christ, and Holy Mary, and Holy Michael, and all God's angels, and St. Peter, and all your apostles, and all God's martyrs, and to all, who believe in God, and to rightful Virgins, and to all who are righteous. And to you, God's servant, I wish to confess my sins. I believe, because I live in this world, I am going to die and then rise on the day of final judgment. I wish to have eternal live to get the remission for my sins. |
| Gracious Lord, receive the confession of my sins: whatever I have done from the day I have been converted into a Christian and was baptized, whatever I remember or I don't remember, willfully or not willfully, knowingly or not knowingly, with a perjury or a lie, with a theft or with an envy, with blasphemous or fornication: I wanted something, which I should not wish to have, with calumny, in my sleep or awake, if I haven't feasted a saint's day, festive day or fasting and many other things, or whatever I have done against God and against my baptism. |
| You, the only God, you know, how much is needed (forgiveness). Gracious Lord, I beg you for forgiveness for my sins and for many other sins, bigger or smaller, which I commit. I beg your mercy and Holy Mary and all the saints. I wish to receive penance for my sins in this world, whatever you give me and which is appropriate to you and your mercy, Lord, you came from heaven and you already let yourself torture for all the human race, to save them from the devil, save me also from all evil. Gracious Lord, to you I give my body and my soul, my words and my deeds, my will, my belief and my life. I wish to hear on the day of the final judgment your great mercy to which you will invite all into your Kingdom, and summon with your mouth: "Come, selected by my Father, receive the eternal life, which is reserved for you for all eternity. Amen." |
| The focus point of this prayer is the remission of forgiveness of sins from which a man's salvation depends. The time itself is not of importance and its literary shape wants to remain outside of it. Faith means salvation. (Because of more easy reading, I classified the text in several paragraphs). |
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| The Second Monument |
| Ecce bi ded naš ne segrešil... |
| Among the three Monuments, the Second is the longest and the most important. It is a homiletic admonition to confession and penitence, known in the Slavic literature as Adhortation ad poenitentiam. Because of its topics, it belongs to the most common type of the Church literature of the Middle Ages. The Monument begins with the sentence: Ecce bi ded naš ne segrešil... (If our grandfather would not sin...), meaning our ancestor Adam. This quotation and other elements reveal traces of the work of two Slav Apostles, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, among the Slovenians in Pannonia. It might have been dictated by a Slovenian, reading the Glagolitic text aloud. There are many faults and the phonetic transcriptions are characteristically German. The English translation follows: |
| If the grandfather would not sin, he could live forever, he would not age, he would never have any worries or a lachrymal body, but he would live for eternity. Because of the devil's envy he was expelled from God's glory. Then pain and problems came upon the human race, sickness and death. But, brothers, remember, we are called God's sons, too. Therefore, leave the odious deeds, because they are devil's deeds, like adultery, brother calumny, theft, murder, and carnality. Like promises we do not keep, but break them, just like hatred. Nothing in the eyes of God is more repulsive than those deeds. |
| That is why, sons, you can see and understand, the first people were with their faces, like us, but they started to hate the devil and to love God. In churches we bow before them, we pray to them, drink their honour and promise them ourselves for the prosper of our bodies and souls. We also can be like that, by doing the same deed they have. |
| They have fed the hungry one, the thirsty one was given a drink, the barefooted one got something on his feet, the naked one was dressed and the sick was visited in God's name, the one who was freezing was warmed, the strangers were led into their homes, the jailed ones were visited in their prisons and the ones enchained in iron were comforted in God's name. With these deeds they came close to God. |
| So, sons, we are also bound to pray to this Highest Father: Lord, expect us there, lead us into your Kingdom, existing from the beginning for eternity for the God's elected ones. And we, brothers, will be called, we cannot hide our faces or run away, but we have to stand before God's throne with our enemy, the devil, and everyone has to confess with his own mouth, with his own words, before God, to confess good and bad, whatever he had done in this world. |
| Think, sons, of the day, when you will not be able to hide anywhere, but to stand before God and have our own justice, as he said. Our Lord, the Holy Christ, the healer of our bodies and the rescuer of our souls, he arranged and showed us we can save ourselves before the devil and oppose him. Our ancestors were suffering, because they have beaten them with sticks, pressed to fire and burnt them, cut them with swords, hung them on trees and, with iron hooks, pulled them apart. |
| With our right belief and with the right confession we can achieve what they had to do with great sufferance. That is why, sons, call God's servants and enumerate them your sins and you will be confessed. |
| The Second Monument (Adhortatio ad poenitentiam) reflects a high rhetorical style, i.e., a felicitous synthesis of Ciceronian poetics and Christian Medieval composition of numbers (reiterated in seven syllables and the rhythmical unit - Heptada), and the Slavic substratum, which is evident from the primary long narrative verse. In its rhythmical prose frequently appear the reflective contrast (Antitheton), and the harmony of sound (Homoioteleuton), that connects this text with the homiletic Christian literature of the Latin West. The grammatical tenses of past, perfect, aorist, and imperfect create an extraordinary vivacious effect to certain passages. |
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| The Third Monument |
| Jaz se zaglagolo zlodeju... |
| This Monument is like the First, obviously a pre-Methodian translation into Old Slovenian from Latin or German originals. In its first sentence there is an ancient renouncement formula: Jaz se zaglagolo zlodeju in vsem njegovim delom in lepotem... (I renounce the evil and all his deeds and glamour...). It shows a striking likeness to "St. Emmeram's prayer", a well known Bavarian prayer of that time. In this Confiteor, the story of the sinner is captured between his birthday and the day of judgement, God's foresight had already planned his life's destiny. The story of the sinful man and his purification appears as a particular myth banished in real space. In English, the text is as follows: |
| I renounce the devil and all his deeds and his glamour. I believe in God, the Almighty and his Son and the Holy Ghost, who are but one God, Holy Lord, the creator of sky and earth. I seek his mercy and with Holy Mary, and with Holy Michael, and St. Peter and all the apostles, and with all his martyrs, and all priests and with all Holy Virgins, and with all God's powers, which, because of my sins, I want to be helped to full confess and receive God's remission. |
| To the Almighty God I confess all my sins, and to Holy Mary, all sinful deeds, and sinful thoughts, which I have done knowingly or unknowingly, forced or voluntary, asleep or awake, with perjury, with lies, with theft, fornication, greediness, voracity, drunkenness, blasphemy and all sinful deeds, I have done since my baptism till now. All that I confess to God and Holy Mary and St. Lawrence, and all saints and to you, God's servant. |
| I regret my sins and would like to repent, if I am aware that you, God, will spare me. Give me Lord God, your mercy, so I will be able without embarrassment and shame to stand before you on the day of final judgment, when you will judge the living and the dead, according to their deeds. To you, o merciful Lord, I give all my words and my deeds, my thoughts and my heart, my body, my life and my soul. Christ, Son of God, who chose himself to come to this world, to rescue the sinners from the devil's rule, save us from the evil and save me in all; that is good. |
| In this text, the element of remission is bound by the inculpation and penitence. In this connection, the difference between sin and innocence is at stake. This extreme line also shows the difference between good and evil in mankind. However, because there is faith in afterlife, reconciliation exists for our sins in this world. Looking from the theological viewpoint, its contents are rooted in the idea of Christ's salvation. In short: Faith means Redemption. |
| The influence of the Latin Rhetorical Tradition |
| Besides the Slovenian texts kept in the "Codes lag. 6426" at Munich, there are also some sheets with homiletic and liturgical texts preserved in Latin. Four of them have been written by the same hand as the Second Monument. Three of these texts are insignificant from the literary viewpoint, but the fourth one, which was discovered by Prof. Jože Pogacnik in the 60th, is important. It is entitled Quod enim in psalmis non inventure (What is not found in the psalm) and it is distinguished by its selected style and carefully pondered composition as well as by fervent hymnal diction. In this regard, the text clearly shows the analogy with the Second Monument, discovering in the latter important elements of the Latin rhetorical tradition. |
| The Quod enim... is composed of seven sections: I Prooenium (introduction) with explanation of the contents and distinction of psalms, II Utilitas with description of use of the psalms for all ages, III Aedificatio (education): everyone finds his remedy in the psalms, IV Consolatio: by singing psalms, the Holy Ghost provides for man's redemption, V Anew the education with examples of St. Anna (New Testament) and Daniel (Old Testament), VI The use of psalms shown by contrasting examples: virtues as opposed to vices; in these antithesis, the dualistic conflict is pointed out between good and bad, VII Finale (conclusion) which points out the position of psalms in the Church and in the community of Saints with Christ. - For the question, what is not found in the psalms, the response is also given: Haec sunt cantica... (These are canticles). |
| The composition of Quod enim..., as well as the Second Monument, is subordinated to Heptada (number seven). In the symmetrical centre of both texts, the spiritual idea dominated. The author, or authors, of both texts made use of persuasion, among the most evident of which is the Anthitesis and Climax (gradation). In both texts the rhythmic cadence of sentences occurs. This is the Homoioteleuta, which clears the antique rhetorical tradition. The texts are inspired by the same spiritual milieu, in which the Christian contents have been enriched by the formal tradition of Latin rhetorical heritage. |
| Furthermore, the asydentic sequence of the parallel passages reaches the culmination in the humilitas by number seven, and that of seven vices in the superbia. In the Second Monument, the asydentic sequence of passages appears very often. For example, in the enumeration of opera diaboli ("dela sotonina"), and of opera misericordia ("dela božja"). |
| Regarding the Latin tradition in stylistics, examples and allegories of the so-called parola ornata (ornamented word) occur in the explanation of the Bible, which have been taken from the Antique, its sciences and free arts by St. Augustinus (De doctrina Christiana). Among these arts, Augustinus praised just the rhetoric and indicated Cicero as the example, relating the Medieval Christianity with the antique spiritual richness. In the Carolingian period, the rhetoric, which corresponded to the idea "preaedicare", obtained a carrying role. It was fulfilled by an aesthetic theorem: oratorical style must be ornated. So the ornate word, which is also found in the Monumenta Frisingensia, permeated into the centre of the Medieval aesthetics. |
| In the monuments, there is also found the cursus (qualitative cadence) as a stylistic figure. This means a separate sequence of words according to particular metric principles. For example, in Adhortatio (Second Monument) we encounter the metrical foot of two trochees (ditrochee), the sign of a perfect style, a "Magna Carta" in Latin and Greek prose. It belonged to the elegant clausulas used also by Cicero. With it, the Adhortatio is recited in a tonality that comes close to poetry. In this way, the text approaches the festive Church song with modulated sound, more recited then sung. |
| The Elements of the Old-Slovenian Literature |
| The Second Monument, or Adhortatio ad poenitentiam, is an independent work redacted for the Roman rite, and, therefore, subordinated in a measure to the western prayer's formulas. The literary form prevailing in it shows clearly the imprint of the literary school of the Slav apostles St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who worked among the Slovenians of Pannonia in the 9th century. Upon their arrival in Pannonia, the Slav apostles found a few common liturgical texts in use, such as penitentiary formulas, translated into Old-Slovenian, which the Bavarian missionaries had made for their own missions in Carantania. The Slav apostles made use of these translations, but they were corrected and re-edited in their literary school. |
| The scholars found that the Second Monument has been partially truncated: it doesn't have a complete introduction and shows gaps in the contents. These omissions could be fulfilled by sentences found in the Sermon of St. Clement, the Macedonian (Bulgarian, Slavonic), preserved still intact in some Cyrillic manuscripts. St. Clement was a pupil of St. Methodius in Pannonia, and St Clement composed the main concept of this liturgical writing there, i.e., the confession and penitence, which are also found in the Second Monument. |
| Both texts belong to the most characteristic monuments of Christian literature and reflect the same spirit of the literary school of St. Cyril and St. Methodius. In the introduction, they are connected with Cyril's idea about the ancestral honours, meaning Adam's or man's distinction and happiness before the original sin. As Adam's descendants, mankind wants to achieve the primary rank of life in its splendour. The literary form: "If our grandfather would not sin," found in the Second Monument, is uncommon in the West and isolated. But already in Byzantium, Cyril refused the temporal honours offered to him, declaring he was seeking the "ancestral honours" only. |
| The literary form God's glory ("slava božja") is found in both texts, undoubtedly taken from the living Cyril and Methodius' word. In the Second Monument, we encounter the following quotation about our grandfather Adam: "Because of the evil devil's envy he was expelled from God's glory," which is a characteristic eastern literary form. The Greek Fathers of the Church denote with this expression the supernatural splendour of Adam's and Eve's bodies before the sin. This splendour is identified with God's glory and often with the splendour of the soul in God's grace. The Latin Fathers of the Church speak in this relation only about the splendour in God's grace concerning the body. God's glory is the aim and the reward of the Christian life. |
| The poetic allegory of the lachrymal body ("solzno telo") is another literary form that witnesses the outstanding rank of Cyril's literary school. Besides Clement's sermon and the Adhortatio, this allegory also is found in the Eulogy of St. Cyril and Methodius, written in 885, where is said that Methodius "washed his body with tears". In the Euchologium Synaiticum, it is repeated that the soul's and body's stigmas are "washed with tears". In the Sermon of the Holy Trinity, attributed to St. Clement, we read that our body, after the original sin, became "lachrymal and subject to ageing"; in addition the "lachrymal bread" of the psalmist is mentioned. |
| This expression is one of the Old-Slovenian literary forms, an idea Cyril originated, and which is not found in Greek and Latin essays. An imprint of Cyril's school also shows the example of the Saints. According to their example, God saves us because we appeased God with our virtues. By imitating them, we reach the eternal life. - In the Adhortatio, one of the characteristic Old-Slovenian expression is trebo tvorim. It still signifies "make a pagan sacrifice", referring to the beginning of Christianity of the Slovenians in the 7th century. |
| In the other Glagolitic manuscript, the Euchologium Synaiticum has greatly strengthened the conclusion concerning the origin of the Monument Frisingensia. It is called "Synaiticum" because it was discovered among the manuscripts in the Monastery of Mt. Sinai. The most important part of the Slovenian history is that portion pertaining to the Rule of Confession. Beside Emeram's and other prayers, this manuscript contains an Introduction of Confession, inspired partly from Greek and partly by an independent Old-Slovenian source. According to several scholars, this Old-Slovenian source was the same source from which St. Clement, the biographer of St. Methodius, took his inspiration for the catechetical instruction contained in the first chapter of his "Vita S. Methodii". |
| The Adhortatio openly shows the sharp imprint of the personalities, ideals and theology of St. Cyril and St. Methodius. That makes it one of the most remarkable documents of the Christian medieval literature as far as it unites, in a most original way, Western and Eastern Christianity. One thing is certain, that without the Slav apostles, the Monumenta Frisingensia would not exist. |
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| Symbolum Apostolicum |
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The Manuscript of Klagenfurt - Celovec (ca. 1367) containing the Lord's Prayer, Ave Maria and Creed (Symbolum Apostolicum) in Slovenian language. |
| The first prayer formulas in Slovenian, like the Monumenta Frisingensia, are certainly not translations from the Old High German, since they are older and came prior to the beginning of Christianization of the Carantanian Slovenians (from 750 AD) and the organization of the Catholic Church in Carantania. These first translations sprung up in the area belonging to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Church, i.e., in the territory which during that period, could only have been the Patriarchate of Aquileia. |
| After the decline of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD), the Ostroghots occupied Italy in 493. But the Patriarchate of Aquileia, which also comprised the territory of the Eastern Alps, later Carantania, remained connected with the Greek Church in Byzantium, although it had its own Latin Rite. The Greek-Byzantine influence is still evident in the architecture and paintings in the churches of Aquileia and of the nearby Grado as well as in the first liturgical texts later corrected. Traces of Greek influence are also found in Carantania. |
| Therefore, it is indicative that even the oldest transcription of the Slovenian Symbolum Apostolicum or Creed of the so-called Manuscript of Klagenfurt - Celovec (Celovški rokopis), about 1367, is not only closer to the Latin texts than to the Old High German, but it clearly shows the Greek influence as well. This text contains several imperatives as: bodi, pridi, ne vpleji, which correspond better to Greek imperatives ending on -to, as hagiastheto, heltheto, genetheto, than in Latin fiat, adveniat, ne inducas. |
| A German writer, not familiar with the Slovenian language, translated bogastvo (Reichtum, in German), meaning the Reich (Kingdom), later corrected in cesarstvo, or regnum, in Latin. Furthermore, two passages in the manuscript do not correspond to the Latin version. The first passage: na križ razpet (stretched on the cross) is not a correct translation of the Latin cruci-fixus, or the Old High German in crûce pislacan (nailed on the cross) still preserved in St. Gallens Credo. In fact, this passage corresponds to the Slav-orthodox razpjatogo taken from the Greek text. At present, the Cross is also called razpelo (the stretcher) in Slovenian. |
| The second passage: I believe in sveto kršcanstvo (Holy Christianity) instead in Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam of the Latin and Greek text, and also of the Old High German, as well as of the modern Slovenian one, can't be found anywhere. The passage with Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam in the oldest Slovenian manuscript of the Creed, has been omitted and replaced with "kršcanstvo" (in Latin: christianitas, in Greek: hristianismos, hristianite). This incorrect passage was not discovered until the very last transcription took place. - In this case, the passage that acknowledges the primacy of the Roman Church could have been replaced only by an Arian. But from where did the Arian traces come to Carantania? |
| During the Roman period and a long-time after the decline of the Roman Empire, Carantania in the Eastern Alps belonged to the Patriarchate of Aquileia, which arose from the schism of the so-called Three Chapters in 555. At that time, the Patriarchate was saved from the Ostroghotic occupation and belonged to Byzantium. In 568, the Lombards, believers of the Arian doctrine, invaded the Patriarchate and Italy. Arianism prevailed in the Patriarchate till 662 AD. |
| The first Slovenian translations of Latin prayers, containing some Greek (Byzantine) elements, probably took place before the Lombard occupation. This did not include the Slovenian territory of the Patriarchate, which belonged to Byzantium. What does this mean? It is a witness that Slovenians were already settled in the Eastern Alps and in the Patriarchate before 568 AD, before the year of the Lombard invasion of Italy. Historians consider the year 568 AD as the beginning of the Slovenian colonization of the Eastern Alps. |
| The discoveries of Prof. Pogacnik were known to many people since 1967, when Dr. Trofenik (Munich) published the book of the Monumenta Frisingensia in German language. The Slovenian edition, as well as the Slovenian media never introduced these discoveries to the Slovenian public. The right time certainly has come to reveal the truth to the Slovenian people. |
| Bibliography: |
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Freisinger Denkmäler, Brižinski pomeniki, Monumenta Frisingensia (contributions of J. Pogacnik, R. Kolaric, E. Hercigonja, R. Laure, K. Gantar), ed. Dr. Rudolph Trofenik, Munich 1968. | |
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Janko Jež: Monumenta frisingensia, la prima presentazione in Italia dei monumenti letterari sloveni di Frisinga del X - XI secolo coevi alle prime tracce scritte della lingua italiana (Trieste 1994) | |
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Franz Glaser: Das Münster of Molzbichl, das älteste Kloster Kärntens, Carinthia I (179), Klagenfurt 1989. | |
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Authors obsevation: This article was written some time ago, when I became aware of the fact, that in Slovenia the very historic, cultural and literary importance of the Monuments were not introduced to the public. I am very grateful to Dr. Louis Burjes (Wickliffe, Ohio) for his courtesy of translating this article into English. | |
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| Urban Jarnik |
| Slovenian National Enlightener of the Early 19th century |
| 1784 - 1844 |
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| Urban Jarnik |
| by Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| His name does not appear in Slovenian schoolbooks, issued by the Lublana School Board, even though he pertains to the first Slovenian national enlighteners. Not only, because he lived and operated in Carinthia, in the present-day Austria, but also out of ideological facts. This does not mean that he wrote poems in honour of Illyria like Valentin Vodnik did, who at that time, was the best known poet in Lublana. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lublana was the centre of the so-called Illyrian Provinces, a state formation under French sovereignty. It was founded by Napoleon and extended into the Balkans, including Dalmatia. Therefore, even today Illyria is considered the forerunner of the much later Yugoslavia by the makers of the Southern Slav ideology. |
| For this reason, in the period, in which Slovenia pertained to Yugoslavia, only Valentin Vodnik has been pointed out as a celebrity of Illyria and of Napoleon. In this way, the mentioning of the French revolution and the Yugoslav (Serbian) relations with Paris could coincide with one another. Nevertheless, Urban Jarnik and his outstanding work exceeded Vodnik by far. He was a priest, poet, religious writer, linguist (etymologist), and he was also an excellent pastor of his parish. He always remained a loyal "Austrian", who never pretended to be an "Illyrian". Therefore, his name and work were suspended from the school system and concealed from the public, which was under the control of the Yugoslav regime. Even nowadays he is presented in an incorrect way, as a person of local importance only. In fact, his work had an all-Slovenian meaning. With this article I wish to draw the attention of the Slovenian public to the unfairness that has been done to his personality and to his memorial. |
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| Štehvanje (Kufenstechen) is the most characteristic custom in the Zila (Gail) Valley, where Jarnik was born. |
| Urban Jarnik was born as the son of a wealthy peasant in the hamlet of Potok near Šteben (St. Stefan) in the Zila (Gail) Valley, Carinthia (Austria), in 1784. After finishing the elementary school he visited the gymnasium (1795 - 1803) in Klagenfurt - Celovec. Then he entered there the Catholic Seminary. In the second year he studied Theology at the University of Graz (Gradec), Styria. There, he associated with members of the "Mali Štajer" (Little Styria) Club, who stimulated and nourished the development of cultural work between Slav nations. Already in the following year, Jarnik returned to Celovec, and in 1806 he was ordained priest. |
| In the coming years he was employed as a priest in Celovec, thereafter in the village of St. Michael at Svatne (Zollfeld), and in 1827 he was appointed parish priest in Blatograd (Moosburg), north of Vrbsko jezero (lake Wörthersee). There he remained until his death. |
| Jarnik's Work |
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Jarnik's epitaph in Blatograd - Moosburg. Below is the inscription, contributed in his memory by the Slovenian Ethnological Institute "Urban Jarnik" in Klagenfurt - Celovec. The inscription bears one of Jarnik's Slovenian verses: Your magnificence, Eternal! - Crowds of stars are saying to us. - Then, how shall we be happy - When we come to You. In Slovenian original: |
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| First of all, Urban Jarnik was a cultural and national enlightener for the Slovenian speaking population, living in southern Carinthia (today's Austria). The national awakening of his Slovenian compatriots became his life principle. It was clearly expressed already in his poem Na Slovence (To the Slovenians) published in the magazine Carinthia, in 1811. |
| It is assumed, that Jarnik wrote ca. 150 poems, but only one third of them have been preserved. One of his poems, called Zvezdje (The Stars) was translated by J. G. Fellinger into German and published in the almanac Selam (Vienna). In 1815, the text was set into music by Franz Schubert. Jarnik's poetry was presented in a critical edition as early as at the beginning of the 2nd millennium by Erich Prunc in a book called Urban Jarnik. Pesmi in Prevodi (Urban Jarnik. Poems and Translations, Celovec 2000). |
| Several of Jarnik's poems were published in Slovenian original and in German translation, carried out by J. G. Fellinger, like Danica - Morgenstern (1812), or Kres - Sonnenwende (1812), or Življenja iskre - Lebensfunken (1813)... But he also translated poems from German into Slovenian, as for example Fellinger's Der Kampf mit dem Lindwurm im Sonnenfelde - Boj z drakonam (The Fight with the Dragon, 1820). With "Sonnenfeld" was meant Zollfeld (Svatne, in Slovenian). Another example was Schiller's poem Der Graf von Habsburg - Knez Habsburški (1821)... Jarnik did not forget the children, for whom he wrote Zber lepih ukov za slovensko mladino (Collection of nice Lessons for the Slovenian Youth, 1814) and other religious papers. For the peasant people he wrote Sadje-Reja (Fruit-Growing, 1817), the first Slovenian educational book of this kind. |
| When, in 1811 and in 1818, the magazines Carinthia and Kärntner Zeitschrift were founded, Jarnik became the editor of the Slovenian sections. He published a great deal of articles concerning the ethnological traditions of the Zila (Gail) Valley, where he originated from. Moreover, Jarnik wrote papers concerning the history of ancient Carantania (Carinthia). Of particular importance is his article called Samo, König der Karantaner Slawen (Samo, King of the Carantanian Slaws, 1819), and Die ersten christlichen Herzöge Kärntens... (The First Christian Dukes of Carinthia..., in manuscript, 1826). In the latter, he, for the first time, mentioned the existence of the Slovenian feudal oath - Windische Lehenspflicht, (Slovenian Feudal Duty), which was in practice in Carinthia in 1637, 1657, and 1711 (and also in 1728). From the archaic text he infers that the oath originated in the 12th century. |
| The Slovenian feudal oath, which is also preserved in a charter, clearly shows, that in the Slovenian (Carantanian) lands the nobility was not of foreign origin, and that they normally spoke Slovenian. Later, during the national awakening of Slovenians, in which the pan-Slav and yugo-Slav ideology prevailed, this nobility was presented as "German-born", because they did not participate in those ideological movements. It was said, that they were not knowledgeable of the Slovenian language. So, they should have hung like a millennium German "yoke" over Slovenians, until they have been saved by their so-called southern-Slav brethren not earlier then in 1918. |
| It is very possible, that even this ideological explanation of the Slovenian past, which Jarnik's papers oppose, has been the very reason for the suppression of his role in the Slovenian ethnical awakening, which was pan-Slav and yugo-Slav oriented. Jarnik's papers volens nolens discovered the ideological distortions of the very Slovenian history and culture, which are still in course. |
| Another scientific branch, which Jarnik laboured on, was the etymology. His chief work of this kind represents the Versuch eines Etymologicons der Slowenischen Mundart in Inner-Österreich (The Attempt of an Etymologicon of the Slovenian Dialect in Inner Austria, 1832). The study was rich and informative. But several etymological and practical dictionaries remained incomplete. He also researched the Slovenian grammatic. His Bildung des Zeitwortes - Ein Versuch nach Dobrovskys Methode (The Forming of the Verb - An Attempt after Dobrovsky's Method, 1812) is preserved in manuscript... |
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| Title page of Jarnik's famous "Attempt of an Etymologicon..." (1832) |
| Jarnik was also interested in phonetics. He published the sixth edition of Gutmann's Slovenian Grammar (1829). Originally he was also interested in the scientific study of Slovenian dialects... He was aware of the fact, that his writing was intended for all Slovenian people. He was also the first person to introduce the term "Slowenisch" (Slovenian) in German language instead of the old term "Windisch" (Vendic), as it was in general prevailed... |
| Indeed, Jarnik's work in those days surpassed by far Valentin Vodnik's activity, at that time the parade-poet in Lublana, the centre of Illyria. In Slovenian literature, it is true, Jarnik is not completely ignored. His device is found in Slovenian lexicons, in the Slovenian encyclopaedia etc. but in a very reduced description. Only the Slovenian Biographical Lexicon portraits the true feature of this outstanding personality. In modern Slovenia, his name and work is still omitted in the general school program. In this way, the Slovenian public does not know the importance of his activity. It is evident, that Urban Jarnik and his role in the Slovenian National Awakening still has to be given a revision in its full extent. |
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| The Kosovel Year 2004 |
| Poète d'aujourd'hui |
| 1904 - 1926 |
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| (100th Anniversary of Kosovel's birth) |
| Srecko Kosovel is the strongest and the strangest poetical energy of the Slovenian people. He was a visionary and a contemporary reader for all times. Such is the characteristic of Kosovel's poetry found in the reviews of world poetry. The poet was born on March 18, 1904. The year 2004, the centenary of his birth, was proclaimed as The Kosovel Year in Slovenia. - Because Kosovel's family lived in the surroundings of Trieste (since WW1 under Italy), a proposal to officially honour him was presented by the assembly of the Province of Trieste. But the proposal was refused by the majority of the Italian right wing deputies. |
| Dr. Jožko Šavli |
| In 1971, in the village of Hruševica near Štanjel on Karst, in Slovenia (at that time still part of Yugoslavia), a monument was erected in memory of the great poet Srecko Kosovel ( |
