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Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_08_št.12 - Index

s o C i e t y
MINOrIty wrItEr BOrIS PAHOr tUrNS 95
One of the most important writers in the Slovenian language,
Boris Pahor, turned 95 on 26 August. Pahor is acclaimed in
Europe above all for his works dealing with the horrors of WWII
Nazi concentration camps, whereas Slovenians as well as the
Slovenian minority in Italy - to which he belongs - also know him
for his socially and politically committed activities. "Nekropolis",
a novel in which he remembers the internment at the Natzweiler-
Struthof camp, is probably his best known work. Pahor was born
to a Slovenian family in Trieste in 1913 and as a seven-year-old
witnessed the fascist squads burning down the Slovenian Culture
Centre in Trieste on 13 July 1920. The persecution of Slovenians
in the region made him join the liberation movement during
WWII, he was however arrested in 1944 and sent to the Nazi
camps Dachau, Natzweiler-Struthof and Bergen-Belsen. He
recovered at the French sanatorium at Villers-sur-Marne to later
become a professor at the restored Slovenian school in Trieste.
Editorial and political activities followed and were marked by
his critical view of the dominant left-leaning currents in the
Slovenian minority in Italy and the new Communist regime in
Slovenia. Although left-leaning himself, he opposed Slovenian
representation within Italian leftist parties, wanting an
independent representation. The final break with the Slovenian
authorities came in 1975, when Pahor and his fellow-writer from
Trieste Alojz Rebula published a book on the Slovenian Catholic
poet and thinker Edvard Kocbek. In an interview featured in the
book, Kocbek spoke for the first time of the summary killings of
suspected Slovenian Home Guard prisoners of war in 1945. The
Yugoslav regime banned him from entering the state until 1981.
LENt FEStIvAL IN MArIBOr AttrACtED
MOrE tHAN 600,000 PEOPLE tHIS yEAr
The most visited Slovene cultural (more than just cultural) festival
called Lent, in Maribor, has surpassed all previous records. The
festival long ago outgrew its local boundaries and represents a
sound basis from which the European Capital of Culture 2012 will
draw its strength. In the 16 days of the festival more than 400
events took place at more than 30 venues, with 4,300 performers
from 34 countries, visited by more than 600,000 people.
The festival opened with the 20th annual folklore festival ‘Folkart’,
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text: JOŽE OStErMAN, JOŽE PrEšErEN, Photo: StA
boris Pahor
with performances by groups from Germany, Hungary, Greece,
Venezuela, Montenegro, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Slovenia,
followed by a unique firework display, and continuing with music
and theatre performances, as well as exhibitions and art events.
The city came alive with new cultural venues, with performances
for children, and jazz and new musical genres.
55 yEArS OF AvSENIK’S MUSIC, MUSICAL
vISION OF tHE BEAUtIES OF SLOvENIA
At the end of August, the Festival Avsenik 2008 took place in
Begunje, in a large pavilion with 1200 seats, which was sold
out every day. There were numerous concerts, with the best
ensembles playing this music both from Slovenia and many other
countries, among which we even tracked musicians from Japan.
Everything was characterised by the 55th anniversary of Avsenik's
music, an extraordinary phenomenon that has made Slovenia
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