Ferdo Kozak (28 October 1894 – 8 December 1957) was a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Biography

He was baptized Ferdinand Kozak in an

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term '' lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class stra ...

family in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

. His older brother Juš Kozak also became an author and literary critic, while his younger brother Vlado Kozak became a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician. In 1913, Kozak joined the radical Yugoslavist subversive youth organization '' Preporod'', which was engaged in anti-Austrian and pro-Yugoslav activities, in connection with other organizations of Austro-Hungarian

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, ...

, such as

Young Bosnia Young Bosnia ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Млада Босна, Mlada Bosna) refers to a loosely organised grouping of separatist and revolutionary cells active in the early 20th century, that sought to end the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovin ...

. During World War I, he was drafted into the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

and fought on the Eastern Front. After the War, he studied Slavic

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he became friends with many Slovenes living in the Czechoslovak capital, such as the painter

Božidar Jakac Božidar Jakac (July 16, 1899 – November 20, 1989) was a Slovene Yugoslavian e xpressionist, realist and symbolist painter, printmaker, art teacher, photographer and filmmaker. He produced one of the most extensive oeuvres of pastels and ...

, philosopher Anton Trstenjak and sociologist

Mihajlo Rostohar Mihajlo Rostohar (July 30, 1878 – August 5, 1966) was a Slovenian psychologist, author and educator, who played an important role during the creation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Together with Ivan Hribar and Danilo Majaron, ...

. In 1926, he moved to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, where he worked as a librarian. In 1929, he returned to

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, where he worked as professor at the Ljubljana Classical Lyceum until 1942, except for a few years in the early 1930s, when he was punitively transferred to

Novo Mesto Novo Mesto (; ; also known by #Name, alternative names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, seventh-largest city of Slovenia. It is the economic and cultural centre of the traditional region of Lower Carniola (southeastern Slovenia) and ...

because of his public opposition to the dictatorship of

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karađorđević (, ; – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier ( / ), was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until Alexander I of Y ...

. As a fierce opponent of Yugoslav centralism and nationalism, Kozak was among the founders of the left liberal journal '' Sodobnost'', which he edited together with Josip Vidmar, Fran Albreht, and Stanko Leben. The journal supported Slovenian autonomy within a democratic and federal Yugoslavia. In the years before World War II, it started moving to positions sympathetic to the Communist Party. After the

Axis invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put forward in "Fü ...

in April 1941, Kozak was among the founders of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People, a communist-dominated left-wing coalition that eventually fought the Nazi German and Fascist Italian annexation of Slovenia. Kozak was imprisoned by the Italians in 1942. After the Italian armistice, he served as member of the

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

war mission to the allies in

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

. He returned to the liberated territory in Slovenia in 1944, and was appointed as Secretary for Culture in the Slovenian National Liberation Council. After World War II, he served as minister of culture between 1945 and 1946. As minister of culture, he led ideological purges at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

, forcibly removing prominent professors and staff such as the philologist

Fran Bradač Fran Bradač (June 15, 1885 – May 2, 1970) was a Slovenes, Slovene classical philologist and translator. Life and work Bradač was born in Jama pri Dvoru. He studied classical philology in Vienna from 1905 to 1910, and then continued his educat ...

, the philosopher , and the literary historian . He also served as chairman (speaker) of the People's Assembly of the People's Republic of Slovenia from 1946 to 1953, although he never became a member of the Communist Party of Slovenia. Kozak died in Ljubljana. His son Primož Kozak was also a renowned playwright and essayist.

References

External links

Literature in Context
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozak, Ferdo Writers from Ljubljana Slovenian essayists Slovenian literary critics Yugoslav Partisans members Charles University alumni Politicians from Ljubljana Culture ministers of Slovenia 1894 births 1957 deaths Ethnic Slovene people Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Yugoslav essayists Yugoslav expatriates in Czechoslovakia