Jože Pirjevec
Encyclopedia
Jože Pirjevec is a Slovene historian from Italy
. He is one of the most prominent diplomatic historians of the west Balkans
region, and member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
.
He was born in a Slovene-speaking family in Trieste
, Italy. His younger sister, Marija Pirjevec, became a renowned translator and literary scholar. After World War II
, the family moved from Yugoslavia to the Free Territory of Trieste. In 1966, he graduated from history at the University of Trieste
and in 1971 at the University of Pisa
. He continued his studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna
. In 1977, he obtained his PhD in Ljubljana under the supervision of historian Fran Zwitter
.
He initially researched the relations between Italy and the South Slavic
peoples during the Risorgimento in mid 19th century. He continued with research on Russian history in the second half of the 19th century. Since the 1980s, he has been researching and publishing on the history of Yugoslavia
, the Yugoslav wars
and the history of the Slovenes in Italy.
He has taught history of Eastern Europe
at the universities of Pisa, Trieste and Padova. He is currently head of the history department at the University of Primorska
in Koper. In 1995, he became member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
.
He has also been active in public life, including party politics. In the 1990s, he was an active member of the Slovene Union
, the centrist party of the Slovene minority in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia
. Since 2005, he has been an active member of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
. In 2008, he unsuccessfully ran for the Slovenian Parliament
in the district of Sežana
.
Pirjevec is both an Italian and Slovenia
n citizen. Besides Slovene and Italian
, he is fluent in English, German
, Serbo-Croatian
, French
and Russian
.
He is member of the Advisory Board of the European Association of History Educators
.
In Slovene
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He is one of the most prominent diplomatic historians of the west Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
region, and member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy....
.
He was born in a Slovene-speaking family in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Italy. His younger sister, Marija Pirjevec, became a renowned translator and literary scholar. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the family moved from Yugoslavia to the Free Territory of Trieste. In 1966, he graduated from history at the University of Trieste
University of Trieste
The University of Trieste is a medium-sized university in Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. The university consists of 12 faculties, boasts a wide and almost complete range of university courses and currently has about 23,000 students enrolled and 1,000 professors...
and in 1971 at the University of Pisa
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa , located in Pisa, Tuscany, is one of the oldest universities in Italy. It was formally founded on September 3, 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI, although there had been lectures on law in Pisa since the 11th century...
. He continued his studies at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. In 1977, he obtained his PhD in Ljubljana under the supervision of historian Fran Zwitter
Fran Zwitter
Fran Zwitter was a Slovenian historian. He is considered, together with Milko Kos, Bogo Grafenauer and Vasilij Melik, the co-founder of the so-called Ljubljana school of historiography.- Life and work :...
.
He initially researched the relations between Italy and the South Slavic
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
peoples during the Risorgimento in mid 19th century. He continued with research on Russian history in the second half of the 19th century. Since the 1980s, he has been researching and publishing on the history of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, the Yugoslav wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
and the history of the Slovenes in Italy.
He has taught history of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
at the universities of Pisa, Trieste and Padova. He is currently head of the history department at the University of Primorska
University of Primorska
University of Primorska is the third university in Slovenia. It is located in Koper, Izola, and Portorož and is named for the Slovenian Littoral region , where it is located.-History:The very first efforts to found a university in the Littoral were made almost one hundred years ago,...
in Koper. In 1995, he became member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy....
.
He has also been active in public life, including party politics. In the 1990s, he was an active member of the Slovene Union
Slovene Union
The Slovene Union is a centrist Italian political party representing the Slovene minority in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Its name in Slovene means literally "The Slovene Community", but the denomination "Slovene Union" is used in other languages....
, the centrist party of the Slovene minority in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli–Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,858 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...
. Since 2005, he has been an active member of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
Liberal Democracy of Slovenia is a liberal political party in Slovenia. It is led by Katarina Kresal and is a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party...
. In 2008, he unsuccessfully ran for the Slovenian Parliament
Slovenian Parliament
The Slovenian Parliament is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia....
in the district of Sežana
Sežana
Sežana is a town and a municipality in the Slovenian Littoral region of Slovenia, near the border with Italy. According to the census of 2008, it has a population of 12,470, of which around 5,332 live in the town of Sežana and the rest in the neighbouring rural areas.Sežana is located about on the...
.
Pirjevec is both an Italian and Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n citizen. Besides Slovene and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, he is fluent in English, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
He is member of the Advisory Board of the European Association of History Educators
European Association of History Educators
The European Association of History Educators was established in 1992 with the support of the Council of Europe. EUROCLIO is an International NGO that actively functions as a European wide facilitator for innovation and progress in History Education...
.
Major works
In Italian- Niccolò Tommaseo tra Italia e Slavia ("Niccolò TommaseoNiccolò TommaseoNiccolò Tommaseo was an Italian Dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a Dizionario della Lingua Italiana in eight volumes , of a dictionary of synonyms and other works...
between Italy and the Slavic World"). Venice: Marsilio, 1977. - Storia della Russia del XIX secolo (1800-1917) ("History of Russia in the 19th Century (1800-1917)"). Padua: Francesco Vallardi, 1984.
- Tito, Stalin e l'Occidente ("TitoJosip Broz TitoMarshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, Stalin and the West"). Trieste: Editoriale Stampa Triestina, 1985. - Trieste, città di frontiera ("Trieste, a City on the Border). Trieste: Lint, 1989.
- Il Giorno di san Vito. Jugoslavia 1918-1992: storia di una tragedia ("St. Vitus Day. Yugoslavia 1918-1992: History of a Tragedy). Turin: Nuova Eri, 1993.
- Serbi, Croati, Sloveni : storia di tre nazioni ("SerbsSerbsThe Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, CroatsCroatsCroats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
, Slovenes: History of Three Nations"). Bologna: Il Mulino, 1995. - L'altra resistenza: la guerra di liberazione a Trieste e nella Venezia Giulia ("The Other Resistance: the Liberation Fight in Trieste and the Julian MarchJulian MarchThe Julian March is a former political region of southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy...
"), co-authored with Marta VerginellaMarta VerginellaMarta Verginella is a Slovenian-Italian historian from Trieste, and one of the most prominent contemporary Slovene historians.- Biography :She was born in Trieste, Italy, where she attended Slovene language schools...
and Roberto Spazzali. Trieste: Qualestoria, 1995. - Storia degli sloveni in Italia, 1866-1998 ("History of the Slovenes in Italy, 1866-1998). Co-authored with Milica Kacin WohinzMilica Kacin WohinzMilica Kacin Wohinz is a Slovenian historian, renowned for her seminal study on the history of the Slovenes in the Julian March during the Italian administration between 1918 and 1943....
. Venice: Marsilio, 1998. - Le guerre jugoslave, 1991-1999 ("The Yugoslav Wars"). Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 2001.
- Foibe : una storia d'Italia ("Foibe killingsFoibe killingsThe Foibe killings or Foibe massacres refers to the killings that took place mainly in Istria during and shortly after World War II from 1943 to 1949, perpetrated mainly by Yugoslav Partisans. The name derives from a local geological feature, a type of deep karst sinkhole called a foiba...
: An Italian History). Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 2009.
In Slovene
- Tržaški vozel. 1945-1980 ("The Trieste Knot. 1945-1980"). Trieste: Založništvo tržaškega tiska, 1985.
- Vojna in mir na Primorskem ("War and Peace in the Slovenian LittoralSlovenian LittoralThe Slovenian Littoral is a historical region of Slovenia. Its name recalls the historical Habsburg crown land of the Austrian Littoral, of which the Slovenian Littoral was a part....
"), editor. Koper: University of PrimorskaUniversity of PrimorskaUniversity of Primorska is the third university in Slovenia. It is located in Koper, Izola, and Portorož and is named for the Slovenian Littoral region , where it is located.-History:The very first efforts to found a university in the Littoral were made almost one hundred years ago,...
, 2005. - "Trst je naš!" Boj Slovencev za morje (1848-1954) ("'Trieste Is Ours!' The Slovene Struggle for the Access to the Sea (1848-1954)"). Ljubljana: Nova revijaNova revijaNova revija is a Slovenian publishing house and cultural institute that developed from the literary journal with the same name.- The magazine :...
, 2007. - Tito in tovariši ("Tito and the Comerades"). Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 2011.