Stanislav JUŽNIČ Gruber’s mathematical-physics books
The most important literati of ljubljana in the time of suppression of jesuit society were Gabriel Gruber and the rector Anton Ambschell. For the Society of agriculture and useful arts both men signed their own collection of physics-mathematical books: Gruber noted all his acquisitions with usually undated bookplates of his chair Zur Mechanik. It looks like he wished to smooth up our present search of his purchases in modern Ljubljana National and University Library. Both men added to their book catalogue a great list of instruments needed for physics experiments which we describe in separate article.
The research puts in the limelight the characteristics of books noted above the signatures of both famous former jesuits which is not always the easiest task because of incomplete notes of titles or authors without any notions on year or publishers. Gruber desired the books and got almost all of them for his chair of mechanics. His bookplates Zur Mechanik on title pages in modern Ljubljana National and University Library testify his acquistions. On the other hand Ambschell as the leading expert together with the representative of Ljubljana district office, the Baron Karl Gall von Gallenstein, signed the list of 25 expert books of Society of agriculture and useful arts, most of them from three decades earlier acquisitions of the deceased jesuit Bernard Ferdinand Erberg. The contents of books tell us much about the scientific interests of both men, Gruber and Ambschell. They were closely related until they left Ljubljana forever almost in the same time of Josef II when any persistence in the resentful milieu of Carniola capital was unprofitable for the one day powerful members of now suppressed jesuit order.
The monument of the poet, journalist and linguist Valentin Vodnik in Ljubljana was the first slovenian national monument. The initiative for a figurative monument of Vodnik was made in 1857. On 2th February 1858 (upon the centenary of Vodnik’s birth), the plaque was unveiled during a ceremony at Vodnik’s house of birth in Šiška. It took 30 years to collect money for the statue in Ljubljana. Vodnik’s monument was the work of the young sculptor Alojzij Gangl (1859–1935). The monument was unveiled on 30th June 1889 in front of the Ljubljana Lyceum as part of a three-day ceremony in honor of Vodnik that was attended by national societies and over 10,000 people.
Andrej STUDEN “If Drinking die, Luck and Order will thrive” A Fragment about the Fight against Alcohol during the Postwar Psychosis
The anti-alcohol movement in Slovenia had little to brag about in the years after the first World War. On the one hand, the time of postwar psychosis was marked by general indigence and famine prices; on the other, by a rich social life that functioned as a mental factor in creating stability. Alcohol, nicotine and syphilis ruled the world after the first World War. Older generations were particularly concerned about the young, who were growing up immersed in decadence, cruelty, indulgence in pleasures and a lack of ideals. This postwar psychosis pushed people into headless merrymaking, careless debauchery and excessive drinking, which caused considerable damage to the national economy. The most adamant fighters against alcoholism in the years after the first World War were people whose main impetus arose from educational-moral, national-economic and eugenic principles. This article highlights the views of two anti-alcohol fighters who worked in Celje during the postwar psychosis. Emilijan Lilek supported US-style prohibition. Fedor Mikič emphasized that the evil of alcoholism could only be fought with the help of the state and maintained that drunkenness was the main cause of the dire economic situation in the country. However, in spite of the anti-alcohol fighters’ efforts, alcoholism as one of the most serious Slovene folk conditions could not be healed.
Matic BATIČ “Water is still the best” The Anti-alcohol Movement in Slovenia in the Light of the Piščalka Magazine and the Abstainer Society
Alcoholism was one of the most burning social problems in the 19th century. The first to declare a fight against it were the catholic church and bourgeois morality, which both saw it as a sin and as a moral failure on the part of the alcoholic. At the end of the 19th century, a different, scientific attitude prevailed, which saw alcoholism as a condition and alcohol as poison. This new understanding had a considerable impact on the contemporary anti-alcohol movement, which to a large extent had replaced the struggle for moderation and started to endorse complete abstinence. In Slovenia, the new view of alcohol and the problem of alcoholism established itself at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905 the Piščalka (The Whistle) magazine was published, which treated alcoholism from a scientific point of view. It supported a complete abstinence from alcoholic drinks and declared alcohol to be poison. Its progressive views were met with resistance by conservative elements in the catholic church, followed by heated polemics between the “Whistlers” and the franciscan Stanislav Škrabec. The plan of the then slovene anti-alcohol fighters, of whom the large majority were still priests, to establish a network of anti-alcohol movements, however, did not come to fruition. They only founded the abstinence society under the leadership of Janez Evangelist Krek. Its members committed themselves to abstinence over a certain period of time. Through lectures and distribution of flyers and by holding social events, the society tried to dissuade Slovenes from consuming alcohol. However, in spite of their enthusiasm, they had no success. For financial reasons, the Piščalka ceased publication as early as 1906.
Mateja RATEJ “With our Sacrifice we are Part of something gigantic” Edvard Kardelj – Man, Activist, State Official
The author deals with the personality of the communist activist Edvard Kardelj in the 1930s, when one of the central slovene postwar politicians quickly came to develop as a politically thinking individual within an illegal political organization. On the basis of Kardelj’s private letters, the article analyzes his relationship towards two women who played a pivotal role in his life: first his mother Ivana and later his wife Pepca. The article also touches upon the phenomenon of public concealment of Kardelj’s first wife Franica and follows the development of Kardelj’s political attitude from that of an activist to that of a state official, which took place during and after the second World War; the author tries to articulate this process with the help of the memoires of his contemporaries.
