Gregor Žerjav, sometimes spelled Žerjal (14 November 1882 – 27 June 1929), was a Slovene and Yugoslav

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and liberal

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 ...

. Together with

Albert Kramer Albert Kramer (6 October 1882 – 27 May 1943) was a Slovenian and Yugoslavian politician and lawyer. Kramer studied philosophy and law at the University of Graz and the Charles University from 1903 until 1910 before working as a paralegal and co ...

, he was the leader of the Slovenian liberals in the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

Youth and schooling

Gregor Zerjav was born in

Lož Lož (, , ) is a settlement in the Municipality of Loška Dolina in the Inner Carniola region of Slovenia. Name Originally the settlement that is now Stari Trg pri Ložu was called ''Lož'', but in 1341 a new settlement was begun around Lož Cast ...

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica (plateau), Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the Goriška, Gor ...

Austria-Hungary 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#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now in Slovenia). He studied law at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, graduating in 1906.

Political career

In 1908, Gregor Zerjav became the chief coordinator of the National Progressive Party in

Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...

. Despite his young age, he became one of the main financial advisors of the Slovene national liberal political establishment. In 1910, he became notorious for his involvement in the bankruptcy of the Agro Merkur credit bank, established a few years earlier as a financial institution supporting the National Progressive Party. In 1911, he was elected to the

Austrian parliament The Austrian Parliament () is the bicameral federal legislature of Austria. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene as the Federal Assembly. The legislature meets i ...

, where he became the leader of the 'Yugoslav Club', a

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

South Slav 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, Hu ...

national liberal representatives from 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 ...

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

, and

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

. After the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Žerjav launched an underground network which was working against the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in favour of the creation of a unified Yugoslav state. Among his closest collaborators in this endeavour were two other radical liberal nationalists from the younger generation, Albert Kramer and

Bogumil Vošnjak Bogumil Vošnjak, also known as Bogomil Vošnjak (9 September 1882 – 18 June 1955), was a Slovenes, Slovene and Yugoslavia, Yugoslav jurist, politician, diplomat, author, and Legal history, legal historian. He often wrote under the pseudonym Il ...

.Igor Grdina, ''Slovenci med tradicijo in perspektivo'' (Ljubljana: Študentska založba, 2003), 251. The Austro-Hungarian authorities never disclosed the network. However, already in the first moths of the war, Žerjav was preventively arrested and imprisoned in

Ljubljana Castle Ljubljana Castle (, ) is a castle complex standing on Castle Hill above downtown Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is a key landmark of the town. Originally a medieval fortress, it was probably constructed in the 11th century and rebuilt in t ...

for his "notorious pro-

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n attitudes". He was released after less than a month. In May 1915, when his colleague Bogumil Vošnjak fled to the west in order to join the

Yugoslav Committee The Yugoslav Committee (, , ) was a World War I-era, unelected, '' ad-hoc'' committee. It largely consisted of émigré Croat, Slovene, and Bosnian Serb politicians and political activists whose aim was the detachment of Austro-Hungarian l ...

, Žerjav was again arrested and put into custody in the town of Gmund and later in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, where he spent most of the war. After the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Žerjav was part of the delegation of Austro-Hungarian South Slavs which in December 1918 signed the declaration establishing the

. After 1918, Žerjav became a fervent supporter of Yugoslav centralism and unitarism. In June 1918, he was among the co-founders of the

Yugoslav Democratic Party The Yugoslav Democratic Party, ''State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats'' and Democratic Party, also known as the Democratic Union was the name of a series of liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of S ...

, which in 1919 merged into the

State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats The Yugoslav Democratic Party, ''State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats'' and Democratic Party, also known as the Democratic Union was the name of a series of liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of S ...

. He was elected to the Yugoslav parliament for three consecutive terms, in 1920, 1925, and 1927 (the first time as representative of the Democratic Party, and the last two on the list of the Independent Democratic Party. From December 1921 to December 1922, he served as the Minister for Welfare, and between November 1924 and July 1925 as Minister of Forestry and Mining in the Democratic-

Radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

coalition governments of

Nikola Pašić Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat. During his political career, which spanned almost five decades, he served five times as prime minis ...

Private life

Gregor Žerjav was married to Milena Žerjav, née Lavrenčič. The couple had three children, first Borut, then the twins Nadina and Tatjana (born 5 March 1912 in Gorizia). The last years of his life he suffered tuberculosis; for an attempt of operative surgery he went to Berlin to the

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine; ) is Europe's List of hospitals by capacity, largest university hospital, affiliated with Humboldt University of Berlin, Humboldt University and the Free ...

as one of the first patients of

Ferdinand Sauerbruch Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (; 3 July 1875 – 2 July 1951) was a German surgeon. His major work was on the use of negative-pressure chambers for surgery. Biography Sauerbruch was born in Barmen (now a district of Wuppertal), Germany. He st ...

when using the

iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator, a medical ventilator, mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing. It assists breathing when Musc ...

there. About half a year later he died in his estate in Poljče near

Radovljica Radovljica (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Slovenia, town in the Upper Carniola region of northern Slovenia. It is the administrative seat of the Municipality of Radovljica. Geography The town is located on the southern slope of the Karawan ...

, and was buried in

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 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 ...

. His wife and this daughter Tatjana also died of tuberculosis later on. His son Borut Žerjav became a journalist and lived in Paris. His daughter Nadina Abarth-Žerjav was married to

Carlo Abarth Carlo Abarth (15 November 1908 – 24 October 1979), born Karl Albert Abarth, was an Italian automobile designer. Abarth was born in Austria, but later was naturalized as an Italian citizen; and at this time his first name Karl Albert was chang ...

. The family's grave site in

Cemetery is a protected monument

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zerjav, Gregor 1882 births 1929 deaths People from the Municipality of Loška Dolina National Progressive Party (Carniola) politicians Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians Independent Democratic Party (Yugoslavia) politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918) Representatives in the Yugoslav National Assembly (1921–1941) 20th-century Slovenian lawyers University of Vienna alumni Burials at Žale Yugoslav lawyers