Leon Novak - Feliks’s Time in Maribor Cover Image

Mariborske poti Leona Novaka - Feliksa
Leon Novak - Feliks’s Time in Maribor

Author(s): Mateja Ratej
Subject(s): Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino
Keywords: Kingdom of Yugoslavia; 1929-1941; Leon Novak; Leon Novak - Feliks;biography;communist; Association of Young Intellectuals; textile workers’ strike of 1936; resistance in Maribor in 1941

Summary/Abstract: In her contribution the author focuses on the political activity of the composer and communist Leon Novak from Maribor in the 1930s and during the first months of the German occupation. In the spring of 1941, after the occupation authorities had been established in Maribor, he became one of the organisers of the Partisan resistance. In the autumn of 1941 Gestapo arrested him and he was shot after being severely tortured. In the Party documents his role was labelled as treacherous, which is why Novak was completely overlooked by the post-war historiography. In her contribution the author focuses especially on Novak’s activities in the Association of Young Intellectuals (1935-1936), his role in the organisation of the large textile strike in Maribor (1936), his political activities related to the National Assembly elections (1938), and his underground activities in the months following the occupation of Maribor until his death. The contribution is based on the preserved archive sources, memorial literature and oral sources.

  • Issue Year: 55/2015
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 22-41
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Slovenian