Ivan Hribar (19 September 1851 – 18 April 1941) was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. During the start of the 20th century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism. Between 1896 and 1910, he was the mayor of Ljubljana (nowadays the capital of Slovenia),[1] and greatly contributed to its rebuilding and modernisation after the 1895 earthquake.
Hribar was known as a passionate politician and a great Slovene and Yugoslav patriot. After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, Hribar committed suicide (at the age of ninety) as a protest against the Italian annexation of Ljubljana. On 18 April, after returning home from a meeting with the Fascist Italian authorities, which had just offered him the mayorship of the city, he jumped into the Ljubljanica River, wrapped in the Yugoslav flag. He left a note with the verses from France Prešeren’s poem The Baptism on the Savica:[3]
Manj strašna noč je v črne zemlje krili,
kot so pod svetlim soncem sužnji dnovi.Less fearful the long night of life’s denial
Than living ‘neath the sun in subjugation!
What would we do without statues like this, Cherry, to get our sense of history! Hmmmm.
I had never heard of him until our Ljubljana tour guide pointed it out to us
You introduce us to brave people like this that we would probably never hear about, Cherie
I am glad you found his story interesting, I certainly did
At ninety he had seen and lived through much. A chap gets tired. R.I.P.
I suppose it all gets a bit much at that age, when after so much effort you can’t see things moving forward in a positive way.
We sure could use Ivan Hribar here in North Idaho. But he wouldn’t get elected if he even ran today.
Coffee is on
It is the same through the ages. Some things never change!!