Vasilij Melik (17 January 1921 – 28 January 2009) was a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, who mostly worked on

political history Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, socia ...

of the

Slovene Lands The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provin ...

in the 19th century.

Life

He was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

as the only son of the renowned geographer Anton Melik. After finishing the Ljubljana Classical Lyceum, he enrolled at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

, where he studied under the supervision of the historian

Fran Zwitter Fran Zwitter (24 October 1905 – 14 April 1988) was a Slovenian historian. Together with Milko Kos, Bogo Grafenauer, and Vasilij Melik, he is considered the co-founder of the Ljubljana School of Historiography. Life and work He was born ...

. During World War Two, he was sent to the

Gonars concentration camp The Gonars concentration camp was one of the several Italian concentration camps and it was established on February 23, 1942, near Gonars, Italy. Many internees were transferred to this camp from the other Italian concentration camp, Rab concen ...

by the Fascist Italian occupation authorities, and then to a

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

near Postojna. After the

Italian armistice The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brigad ...

in September 1943, he was released and returned to Ljubljana, where he graduated from history in 1944. In 1945, he worked shortly as a correspondent for the Yugoslav press agency ''

Tanjug Tanjug (/'tʌnjʊg/) ( sr-cyr, Танјуг; sometimes stylized as TANJUG) was a Serbian state news agency based in Belgrade, which officially ceased to exist in March 2021. Since then, Belgrade based private company Tanjug Tačno, acquired the r ...

'', and then continued the academic career.

Work

Melik's research was focused on the Slovene history of the 19th century. He first dedicated to the economic history, but then shifted to political history, especially history of legal and political institutions. Particularly important is his study on the elections in the Slovene Lands between 1861 and 1918. He also researched history of everyday life, especially of the period of modernization and industrialization of the Slovene countryside in Carniola and

Lower Styria Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...

. He was also the editor-in-chief of ''

Zgodovinski časopis ''Zgodovinski časopis'' (''Historical Review'') is a peer-reviewed historical academic journal. It is published by the Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, based in Ljubljana and the editor-in-chief is Peter Štih. The journal was established i ...

'', the leading Slovenian historical journal.SiStory.si - Zgodovinski časopis
/ref> In the 1980s, he collaborated with the publishing house ''

Slovenska matica The Slovene Society ( sl, Slovenska matica,The name Matica can be literally translated into English as the "Queen Bee," which is a metaphor meaning "the parent body of the Slovenes." also ) is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, found ...

'' in the critical editions of memoirs by prominent Slovene politicians of the 19th century, including

Ivan Hribar Ivan Hribar (19 September 1851 – 18 April 1941) was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. During the start of the 20th century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the mos ...

and

Josip Vošnjak Josip Vošnjak (4 January 1834 – 21 October 1911) was a Slovene politician and author, leader of the Slovene National Movement in the Duchy of Styria, one of the most prominent representatives of the Young Slovene movement. He was born in a ...

. He died in Ljubljana.

Controversy

Melik was frequently accused, especially after the

democratisation Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

of Slovenia in 1990, that he was too cooperative with the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

. One of the main accusations against Melik was that he was involved in the removal of the Catholic conservative literary historian

Anton Slodnjak Anton Slodnjak (, June 13, 1899 – March 13, 1983) was a Slovene literary historian, critic, writer, Prešeren scholar, and academy member. Slodnjak was a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) from 1967, and a corre ...

from the University of Ljubljana because of his alternative interpretations of the history of

Slovenian literature Slovene literature is the literature written in Slovene. It spans across all literary genres with historically the Slovene historical fiction as the most widespread Slovene fiction genre. The Romantic 19th-century epic poetry written by the lea ...

. In March 1959, in fact, in midst of an instigated massive denigration campaign against the distinguished scholar, Melik published a long negative critique of Slodnjak's historical interpretations, accusing him of non-scientific and

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

approach to literary history. Many, including Melik's colleague historian

Bogo Grafenauer Bogo Grafenauer (16 March 1916 – 12 May 1995) was a Slovenian historian, who mostly wrote about medieval history in the Slovene Lands. Together with Milko Kos, Fran Zwitter, and Vasilij Melik, he was one of the founders of the so-called ...

, interpreted this gesture as a service to the repressive cultural policies of the

Titoist Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in the ...

regime.Bogo Grafenauer, "Nekaj opomb k 'Zadnjem srečanju' s Tarasom Kermaunerjem". in ''Glasnik Slovenske matice'' 14, 1-2, 26-28. (1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melik, Vasilij 1921 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Slovenian historians University of Ljubljana alumni Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Journalists from Ljubljana Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana Yugoslav historians Yugoslav journalists