Josip Ferfolja
 | This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2013) ) |
Josip Ferfolja (27 September 1880 – 11 December 1958) was a
human rights activist from the Province of Gorizia. Although he was an Italian citizen for most of his life, he considered himself foremost a Slovenian
.
In Austria-Hungary
He was born in the village of
County of Gorizia and Gradisca (now part of the Italian Province of Gorizia). He attended high school in Gorizia, an important Slovene educational centre at the time; Ferfolja's school friends included historian Bogumil Vošnjak, economist Milko Brezigar, poet Alojz Gradnik, writer Ivan Pregelj, literary historian Avgust Žigon, and the prelate Luigi Fogar
.
In 1901, he moved to Prague, where he studied law at the Charles University. There, he joined a group of Slovene students that had become influenced by the thought of Tomáš Masaryk, professor of philosophy, and later president of Czechoslovakia. The group, which included figures like Dragotin Lončar, Anton Dermota, Anton Kristan, and Ivan Žmavc, advocated a moderate reformist politics, based on a realistic analysis of social relations; their views were in many ways similar to the Fabian Society in contemporary Britain.
After graduation in 1906, he worked as a lawyer in Gorizia and
Austro-Marxist
stance of the party.
In Italy
After the
Fascist regime, he remained faithful to his democratic principles, although refusing to engage in any subversive action. In 1940/41, he was a legal advisor in the so-called Second trial of Trieste against the Slovene Communist leader Pinko Tomažič
.
During
anti-Communist political organizations, forming the Slovene National List, the predecessor of the modern Slovene Union
.
He died in Trieste in 1958.
See also
- Engelbert Besednjak
- Josip Wilfan
- Boris Furlan
- Lavo Čermelj
- TIGR
References
- Irena Gantar Godina, Masaryk in masarykovstvo pri Slovencih (Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, 1987), 130-131.
- SBL: 'Ferfolja, Josip' (in Slovene)
- Henrik Tuma, Iz mojega življenja (in Slovene)
- Matija Stergar, Izguba Trsta, kot jo vidimo danes (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana) (in Slovene)