Katja POTOČNIK
“WE POOR SOULS HERDED TOGETHER AND TAKEN TO THE MADHOUSE …”
From the Provincial Hospital to the Carniolan Provincial Mental Asylum
The issue of madness in Carniola was a pressing problem in the second half of the 19th century due to the increasing number of people in need of medical attention and the constant shortage of hospital beds. The provincial authorities delayed solving the problem by finding alternatives with the least possible financial investment, but the final establishment of an independent provincial hospital in 1881 was unavoidable. Despite the new building, the problem of the “mad” was not solved, as their numbers continued to grow, and the authorities were unable to provide enough space for them.
Filip ČUČEK
THE FINAL YEARS OF JOSEF NECKERMANN, MAYOR OF CELJE, IN THE GRAZ REGIONAL ASSEMBLY
The author analyses the regional parliamentary appearances of the Lower Styrian MP and mayor of Celje Josef Neckermann in the late 1880s and early 1890s, when national conflicts were already escalating and becoming part of the everyday life of Celje (and Lower Styria). In the second half of the 1880s, the Slovenes became increasingly self-confident; from the mid-1880s onwards, (Slovene) craftsmen and merchants were invited to the city (narrowing the “Lebensraum” of the Germans in Celje). In the early 1890s, the Slovenes completely conquered the countryside, and the Lower Styrian Germans, who were increasingly frightened and insisted that a complete “Sloveneisation” of Lower Styria was taking place, were confined to the towns and some squares. After the Slovene side acquired the Celje District Representation and the Celje District Municipality in 1889, it built on these successes to try to penetrate the city itself but failed. It therefore concentrated on institutions in the immediate vicinity of Celje, but nevertheless managed to open the South Styrian Savings Bank in Celje at the end of July 1889. However, the Slovenian acquisitions were not warmly welcomed by the municipality of Celje.
Damir GLOBOČNIK
LJUBLJANA MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS AND SHAMELESS CARTOONS
On 23 April 1911, women were allowed to vote in person for the first time in the municipal elections in Ljubljana. Incidents occurred at the women’s polling station in the girls’ lycée (an attack on the Ursulines by supporters of the National Progressive Party). On 25 April 1911, the Executive Committee of the Slovene People’s Party issued a statement of protest and declared a political boycott of the Liberal Party. Before the elections, the newspapers Jutro and Slovenski narod published a few cartoons, while Slovenec published small satirical cartoons alongside songs. Most of the cartoons in the Jutro were by Maksim Gaspari. This was the first time in the history of Slovenian newspapers that two opposing political camps waged a political struggle using cartoons.
Robert DEVETAK
AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON ARCHDUKE JOSIP FERDINAND?
An episode of the Gorizia cultural struggle in 1912
This article presents newspaper reports on an alleged assassination attempt on a member of the Habsburg imperial family, which took place in Posočje in 1912. A local man from Ročinj and a priest from the neighboring village of Srednje were involved in the incident. The priest’s involvement sparked interest in the liberal press and detailed coverage, which quickly moved away from the attempted attack. There was a fierce controversy with the Catholic press and the inclusion of the event in the cultural struggle that strongly marked the political space of Gorizia in the years before the First World War. The reporting of the event therefore included several elements that turned out to have no real basis and were intended to smear the political opponent.
Mateja RATEJ
“THAT’S HOW I GOT THE COMMUNIST BACILLI FROM HIM”
Ivan Di(e)tinger (1883-1949)
This biographical and cultural-historical study focuses on the life of the Carinthian ironworker Ivan Ditinger, who in the 1920s was one of the first and closest collaborators of Lovro Kuhar – Prežihov Voranec in the party cell in Guštanj until the writer’s emigration in 1930. Ditinger learned about communism in the spring of 1919 from Kuhar, who was ten years younger than him, and both are among the first Slovenian communists. Their commitment to the problems of social disadvantage of the peasantry and the working class, which were not solved by the time after the end of the First World War, due to the specific social and national situation of both actors on the new Austrian-Yugoslav border (1920), convincingly describes
and explains the reasons for the mass zeal for communism of the young and middle generation in the next two decades until the Second World War.
Lisbeth MATZER
“YOUR BLOOD MAKES YOU ONE OF US”
Hitler’s Youth as a Means of Germanisation in Gorenjska and Lower Styria
This contribution is centered around the findings of the author’s PhD research on cross-border youth mobilization during the German occupation of Upper Carniola and Lower Styria. The article portrays the ideological cornerstones as well as the Germanization practices and activities deployed by the Hitler Youth as hegemonic strategies to solidify Nazi domination all over Europe. With the goal to remind the local youth of their “Germanness” – disregarding their individual national or other identities – Nazi youth leaders continued to define “German” very vaguely based on “blood”, “behavior” or language skills. Whilst high-ranking youth leaders strongly believed in this colonial and educational mission, the local youth of today’s Slovenia proofed to be more difficult to mobilize ideologically despite all efforts, threats and incentives and mainly arranged itself with the (eventually only temporary) Nazi rule.
Jaša DRNOVŠEK
“IF THEY ALL LIVED, RANCEREBAR WOULD BE FULL OF CHILDREN!”
The case of Filomena Permoser, abortion provider
The author discusses the work of Filomena Permoser (1899-1968), who performed abortions at her home in Cerknica from the mid-1930s onwards. First, he sheds light on the chain of knowledge transfer, which already involved his father Ferdinand Permoser (1859-ca. 1944), who learned to perform abortions in the USA at the beginning of the century. The author reconstructs the decades-long activities of Filomena Permoser, as revealed by surviving criminal files, media reports and field findings. While the profile of Filomena Permoser in the criminal files largely corresponds to the stereotype that Western culture created of abortion providers in the first half of the 20th century, the narrative of the informants, who knew Filomena Permoser personally and who also know the memories of several other fellow citizens of the country, paints a very different picture.