Bojan Štih (18 February 1923 – 14 October 1986), was a Slovene

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

. He was one of the most influential figures in modern Slovene theatre after 1945. Štih was born 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 ...

, where he attended Bežigrad High School. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he collaborated with the

Liberation Front of the Slovenian People The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation (), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene anti-fascist political party. The Anti-Imp ...

. In 1942 he was arrested by the

Italian Fascist Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

authorities and 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 prisoners were transferred to this camp from another Italian concentration camp, the Rab co ...

. In late August 1942 he escaped from the camp along with a group of Slovene Communist activists, among whom was also the

Partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

leader

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and Boris Kraigher, who later who became prime minister of the

Socialist Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia (, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Socialist Slovenia or simply Slovenia, was one ...

. Štih actively participated in the Slovene Partisan resistance in the

Julian March The Julian March ( Croatian and ), also called Julian Venetia (; ; ; ), is an area of southern Central Europe which is currently divided among Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia.

. After the end of the war in 1945, he worked as a journalist and editor. In 1957, he received a bachelor's degree in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

from 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 ...

. The same year, he started working as a director at the

Drama Theatre Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been co ...

in Ljubljana, where he worked together with the playwright and author

Jože Javoršek Jože Javoršek was the pen name of Jože Brejc (October 20, 1920 – September 2, 1990), a Slovenian playwright, writer, poet, translator and essayist.Žale Žale Central Cemetery (), often simply Žale, is the largest and the central cemetery in Ljubljana and Slovenia. It is located in the Bežigrad District and operated by the Žale Public Company. History The cemetery was built in 1906 behin ...

Cemetery. Štih Hall () in

Cankar Hall The Cankar Centre or Cankar Hall () is the largest Slovenian convention, congress and culture center. The building was designed by the architect Edvard Ravnikar and was built at the southern edge of Republic Square in Ljubljana between 1977 and 1 ...

, the largest cultural and congress centre in Slovenia, was named after him, as was Štih Street () in the Bežigrad district of Ljubljana. He was the uncle of

Barbara Brezigar Barbara Brezigar (born 1 December 1953) is a Slovenian lawyer and politician. She currently serves as Secretary General at the Ministry of the Interior of Slovenia. She was born in a middle-class family in Ljubljana as Barbara Gregorin. Her uncl ...

, Slovene jurist and politician and current Chief

Public Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

of the Republic of Slovenia.

Sources

Jože Pogačnik Jože Pogačnik (22 April 1932 – 16 February 2016) was a Slovenian film director and screenwriter. After studying film directing, Pogačnik first worked as a film critic, before becoming a prominent author of documentary films in the 1960s, ...

, "Bojan Štih" in ''Slovenska misel: eseji o slovenstvu'' (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1987), 470-71. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stih, Bojan Yugoslav Partisans members Journalists from Ljubljana 1923 births 1986 deaths University of Ljubljana alumni Slovenian editors 20th-century Slovenian essayists Yugoslav journalists