Page 140 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

of the mathematical world and his non-math-
ematical activities caused a negative feedback
loop. However, the decline of his passion for re-
search in mathematics had already begun earlier,
at least during the Balkan Wars.
Plemelj had strong political views that were
not in line with the policies of Austria-Hunga-
ry. Both he and Fabro were atheists with liber-
al views. Plemelj’s hostile attitude towards the
clerical party is evident from the congratulato-
ry message sent by Slovenian students, among
whom Plemelj was the only doctor, from the gen-
140 eral assembly of ‘Slovenia’ in Vienna upon the
victory of the liberals, which was published on 5
May 1899, in Slovenski Narod (Figure 1).
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
Plemelj was a Slavophile, or Pan-Slavist.
During the Balkan Wars, he defended the Ser-
bian side. Because of all this, he became politi-
cally unreliable, and after the end of the First
World War, he became a Yugoslavist and a uni-
tarian (Figure 2).
He strongly advocated the annexation of
Slovenian Carinthia to Yugoslavia. On 10 Janu-
ary 1919, he published a brief appeal in Sloven-
ski Narod to defend the northern border. Al-
though he wrote, ‘Brothers, follow our example!’
Slika/Figure 3 he did not mean this literally, as he did not par-
ticipate in the fighting himself. On 28 June 1919,
the Treaty of Versailles was signed, and in the au-
istega leta pa je prevzel rektorski položaj na Uni- tumn of the same year, he took up the position of
verzi v Ljubljani. rector at the University of Ljubljana.
Med prvo svetovno vojno mu je na pomoč During the First World War, Rihard Zu-
priskočil Rihard Zupančič in ga rešil fronte. Po pančič came to his aid and saved him from the
vojni pa se mu podre svet, v katerem je živel in front. After the war, the world in which he had
delal. Iz poražene in razkosane Avstro-Ogrske, lived and worked collapsed. From the defeated
katere pogin si je želel deset let, se preseli na Bal- and fragmented Austria-Hungary, whose de-
kan. Vse, kar je dotlej počel, je bilo v nemščini. mise he had wished for ten years, he moved to
Potem pa mora skočiti v neznano: na popolno- the Balkans. Everything he had done until then
ma novo, skoraj nedonošeno univerzo, brez ka- had been in German. Then he had to leap into
dra, brez jezika, ki bi bil primeren za poučevanje. the unknown: to an entirely new, almost pre-
Iz pretežno nemško govorečega univerzitetnega mature university, without staff, without a lan-
sveta v petdesetmilijonski Avstro-Ogrski mora guage suitable for teaching. From a predomi-
v majhno Slovenijo z amputiranima Koroško nantly German-speaking university world in
in Primorsko predavat v jeziku za dober milijon Austria-Hungary, with its population of 50 mil-
prebivalcev. Prvi slovenski učbenik matematike lion, he had to move to tiny Slovenia, with its
za ljudske šole (slika 3), ki ni bil prevod, je izšel amputated Carinthia and Primorska regions, to