Dragotin Lončar (November 5, 1876 – July 29, 1954) 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 ...

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 species; as well as the ...

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

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

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 ...

. He was born in Selo near Lukovica pri Domžalah in

Upper Carniola Upper Carniola ( ; ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The largest town in the region is Kranj, and other urban centers include Kamnik, Jesenice, Jesenice, Jesenice, Domžale and ...

and baptized Carl Lonzhar. After graduating from the State Gymnasium 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 ...

, he studied history at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

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 ...

, graduating in 1904. In Prague, he joined the circle of young Slovene left-wing intellectuals that became influenced by the political and social thought of

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Tomáš () is a Czech name, Czech and Slovak name, Slovak given name, equivalent to the name Thomas (name), Thomas. Tomáš is also a surname (feminine: Tomášová). Notable people with the name include: Given name Sport *Tomáš Berdych (born 198 ...

, which included figures such as Anton Dermota and

Josip Ferfolja Josip Ferfolja (27 September 1880 – 11 December 1958) was a Slovene lawyer and social democratic politician, and human rights activist from the Province of Gorizia. Although he was an Italian citizen for most of his life, he considered himself ...

. After returning to the

Slovene Lands The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( 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 provinces, the Austrian Empi ...

, he taught history at Ljubljana's First Gymnasium, briefly serving as its director. He later served as the director of the National Museum of Slovenia, and, from 1920, as head of the

Slovene Society The Slovene Society (, also ) is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, founded on 4 February 1864 as an institution for the scholarly and cultural progress of Slovenes. History The Slovene Society was founded upon the proposal of sev ...

publishing house (''Slovenska matica''). Before World War One, he joined the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party, where he belonged to its right wing led by Albin Prepeluh. He left the party after it merged with the so-called Centrists in 1921, who supported Yugoslav centralism. In 1924, Lončar was among the co-founders of the Slovenian Labour Agrarian Republican Party, which in 1927 merged with the Independent Agrarian Party into the Slovenian Peasant Party, a Slovenian counterpart to the

Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...

, with which it maintained strong ties. After the establishment of the royal 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 his assassinati ...

, Lončar withdrew from politics, dedicating himself to his scholarly and editorial work. He died in Ljubljana and was buried in the

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.

Major works

*''Politično življenje Slovencev'' (Political Life of Slovenes, 1906) *''Dr. Janez Bleiweis in njegova doba'' (Dr. Janez Bleiweis and His Epoch, 1910) *''Slovenci: načrt slovenske socialne zgodovine'' (Slovenes: A Sketch of Slovene Social History, 1911) *''Janko Kersnik, njega delo in doba'' (

Janko Kersnik Janko Kersnik (4 September 1852 – 28 July 1897) was a writer and politician from Austria-Hungary who was an ethnic Slovenes, Slovene. Together with Josip Jurčič, he is considered the most important representative of literary realism in the ...

: His Work and Epoch, 1914) *''Politika in zgodovina : nekoliko odgovorov na dnevna vprašanja'' (Politics and History: Some Answers to Current Questions, 1923) *''Kako je nastalo današnje delavstvo in njegovo gibanje'' (The Genesis of the Modern Working Class and Its Political Movement, 1930) *''Dragotin Dežman in slovenstvo'' ( Dragotin Dežman and the Slovene Identity, 1930) *''The Slovenes: A Social History from the Earliest Times to 1910'' (1940)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loncar, Dragotin 20th-century Slovenian historians Writers from Ljubljana Slovenian socialists Charles University alumni People from the Municipality of Lukovica Politicians from Ljubljana 1954 deaths Yugoslav Social-Democratic Party politicians Slovene Peasant Party politicians 1876 births Burials at Žale Educators from Austria-Hungary