THE LIFE OF LJUBLJANA’S ORPHANS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 18TH CENTURY
The article describes how the orphans of Ljubljana were provided for in the second half of the 18th century. Despite the substantial financial support of benefactors and the state, the orphanage of Ljubljana did not have a building of its own. From its establishment in 1763 onwards, it operated in the Emperor’s Hospital on Vodnik Square, until it was moved, some time later, (in 1773), to the Municipal Hospital on Špitalska Street. Based on historical sources, the author describes everyday life in the orphanage; what the children ate, what attention was paid to their spiritual education, the type of clothing they wore, the rules and conditions of general hygiene, and who was responsible for the orphans’ health.
»YOU DEVILS! ‘AV A GOOD LOOK AT ME, SO THAT YOU’LL HAVE ENOUGH.«
About the Crime and Death Penalty of the Gypsy Simon Held Executed in Novo Mesto
The author deals with the murder trial against Simon Held, which took place between 1899 and 1900. Convicted of having carried out a brutal killing, Held was sentenced to death by hanging and the sentence was carried out on 3rd March, 1900. The hanging of Held caused a great sensation, yet the case of the criminal Held had another aspect to it as well. The guilt of the “dangerous and bloodthirsty criminal” was characterised also by his having been of the Gypsy people – a people to whom the worst qualities were ascribed at that time, due to their failure and/or refusal to adapt to the standard and generally accepted lifestyle and their lack of respect for the social norms and rules of the time. Held’s trial and punishment were shadowed constantly by the feeling of extreme dislike towards the “troublesome” Gypsies hedged by the rest of the population. His death penalty was also to serve as an example to the “Gypsy rabble”, which “scared the poor farmers with its thieving and robberies” – in order to keep them on the straight and narrow.
THE RESPONSE IN THE SLOVENE NEWSPAPERS TO THE 1902 ANTI-SERBIAN DEMONSTRATIONS IN ZAGREB
In August 1902, the most important newspaper of the Serbian community in Croatia, The Srbobran, neglecting to keep a stance of professional objectivity, published an article by Nikola Stojanović on the Serbs and the Croats, in which the author denied the existence of the Croatian nationality. This article was the cause of a three-day anti-Serbian demonstration in Zagreb, which turned into a rampage of destruction aimed at Serbian shops and bars. The Slovene newspapers reported extensively on the events, but their commentaries proved that they were badly, or – in some cases – not at all acquainted with the situation. While the liberally-oriented Slovenski Narod ascribed the blame for the conflicts »between brothers of the same blood« to religious differences, the clerically-oriented Slovenec, on the other hand, stressed that the Catholic faith was the soul of the Slavs, and the social-democratic Rdeči Prapor remained faithful to the slogan »Proletarians of all countries, unite!«. The Slovene papers in the regions of Gorizia and Trieste, and those in Styria, however, only appealed to the public to uphold and maintain the unity of the South Slavonic peoples.
THE PROMENADE IN LJUBLJANA
In the time after the French Revolution, the promenade was a trend that was moving increasingly out of private gardens onto the streets, and also to the first public gardens and tree-lined avenues cropping up in the city. Particularly in the 19th century, the urban redevelopment of the cities also took into consideration this habit, as a result of which numerous cities set aside places for walking – amongst them also Ljubljana. From its very beginnings, the custom of going for a walk was mostly a social event for all those who engaged in this exercise of a Sunday or other afternoon. After the Second World War, the promenade – both custom and walkway alike – remained only in memory, as a theme for reminiscences, or a scene preserved on numerous photographs.
INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY SYSTEM ON TRIAL
The Judiciary and the System of Political Penal Repression in Yugoslavia (1948-1959)
In the early 1950s the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia abandoned its heretofore rigid imitation of the Soviet model of socialism. The wave of subsequent changes also affected the judicial system and the legislation pertaining to criminal law in effect at the time, getting rid of their inbuilt Stalinist dogmatism.
However, the achievement of a truly independent judicial system and respect for the law in general were still a long way off. The process of democratisation was still impeded by the idea of the unification of power, and even more so by the political monopoly of the Communist Party, which equated itself with the state.