Jožego Jurančiča wędrówka przez labirynty pamięci i zapomnienia
Jože Jurančič’s journey through the labyrinths of remembering and forgetting

Author(s): Božidar Jezernik
Subject(s): Cultural history, Culture and social structure
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Jože Jurančič; Italian concentration camp on Rab Island; Liberation Front; clash between Stalin and Tito; Goli Otok
Summary/Abstract: It has already become a cliché that life writes the most beautiful stories. One of the most amazing and multifaceted stories is certainly that of the journey of a teacher, Jože Jurančič (1902–1998), through the labyrinths of remembering and forgetting in the mythical world of the “bright future”, where all people were meant to be equal, like brothers and sisters. Jurančič belonged to the generation that studied pedagogy during the First World War. By that time, nationalism had already strongly permeated the Slavic population of Austria-Hungary, and in 1918 he joined General Rudolf Maister as a volunteer in the battles for the northern border. After the war, he trained as a teacher in Maribor. Jurančič was “accepted” into the then illegal Communist Party of Yugoslavia by Prežihov Voranc on 1 May 1925. His guiding principle as a communist was an enlightened desire to improve the lives of workers and peasants. With his teaching activities and his striving for a better quality of life for the rural population, he won over many people wherever he taught. The peak of his activity was the period of his internment in the Italian concentration camp on the island of Rab. There, he was the main organizer of the Liberation Front, an organization that in September 1943 accomplished a feat unparalleled in world history: about 2,000 former internees disarmed the entire garrison of Italian soldiers and carabinieri, which numbered about 2,200 men. In the first years after the end of the Second World War, Jurančič held several important posts. However, after the dispute between Stalin and Tito, he was arrested in 1949 and initially imprisoned in Ljubljana under a false name, as he enjoyed immunity as a federal deputy. He was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison. He served his sentence, among other places, on the notorious island of Goli Otok, where in 1953 he was forced to participate in the construction of a monument to the former Rab internees, that is – to himself.

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