Vasko Simoniti
Encyclopedia
Vasko Simoniti is a Slovenia
n historian
and politician
. Between 2004 and 2008, he served as the Minister of Culture
of Slovenia
. He is an active member of the Slovenian Democratic Party
.
as the son of the renowned composer and choir leader Rado Simoniti who had moved to the Slovenian capital from the Goriška
region in the 1930s in order to escape the violent policies of Fascist Italianization in the Julian March
. Vasko frequented the prestigious Classical Lyceum of Ljubljana. He studied at the University of Ljubljana
, graduating from history
in 1977. After a short period of work in the public administration of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia
, he started teaching at the Ljubljana University in 1981. In 1989 he obtained his PhD
at the same university and started teaching history of the early modern period
of South Eastern Europe.
As a historian, he dedicated himself mostly to the history of Slovene Lands
in the early modern period, especially the relations of the Slovene Lands and the Ottoman Empire
. He has also written on problems of methodology
and epistemology in historical sciences. In the late 1990s, he was the co-author, together with the writer and public intellectual Drago Jančar
and journalist and historian Alenka Puhar
, of the exhibition "The Dark Side of the Moon" on the authoritarian and totalitarian elements of the Communist dictatorship in the former Yugoslavia
, with an emphasis on Slovenia.
). In the presidential elections of 2002
, he served as the chief advisor of the centre-right
candidate Barbara Brezigar
who eventually lost against the centre-left candidate Janez Drnovšek
. In 2004, he was among the co-founders of the liberal conservative civic platform Rally for the Republic . Later in the same year, he became the Minister for Culture in the centre-right government led by prime minister Janez Janša
. After the victory of the left-wing coalition in 2008, he was replaced by Majda Širca
.
, German
, French
, Italian
and Serbo-Croatian
.
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n historian
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 study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. Between 2004 and 2008, he served as the Minister of Culture
Minister of culture
A culture minister is a Cabinet position in some governments responsible for protecting the national heritage of a country and promoting cultural expression....
of Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. He is an active member of the Slovenian Democratic Party
Slovenian Democratic Party
The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...
.
Early life and academic career
Simoniti was born in LjubljanaLjubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
as the son of the renowned composer and choir leader Rado Simoniti who had moved to the Slovenian capital from the Goriška
Goriška
Goriška is a traditional region in western Slovenia on the border with Italy. The name means "the Gorizia region" because it is named after Gorizia, Italy. It is part of the wider traditional region of the Slovenian Littoral . Its principal urban center is Nova Gorica...
region in the 1930s in order to escape the violent policies of Fascist Italianization in the Julian March
Julian March
The Julian March is a former political region of southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy...
. Vasko frequented the prestigious Classical Lyceum of Ljubljana. He studied at the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
, graduating from history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in 1977. After a short period of work in the public administration of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...
, he started teaching at the Ljubljana University in 1981. In 1989 he obtained his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at the same university and started teaching history of the early modern period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
of South Eastern Europe.
As a historian, he dedicated himself mostly to the history of Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
in the early modern period, especially the relations of the Slovene Lands and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. He has also written on problems of methodology
Methodology
Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...
and epistemology in historical sciences. In the late 1990s, he was the co-author, together with the writer and public intellectual Drago Jančar
Drago Jancar
Drago Jančar is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist. Jančar is one of the most known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement.-Life:...
and journalist and historian Alenka Puhar
Alenka Puhar
Alenka Puhar is a Slovenian journalist, author, translator, and historian. She is known for her columns in the Slovenian journal Delo, for her writings on the dissident movements in Socialist Slovenia and Yugoslavia, as well as for her book "The Primary Text of Life" , a combination of...
, of the exhibition "The Dark Side of the Moon" on the authoritarian and totalitarian elements of the Communist dictatorship in the former Yugoslavia
Former Yugoslavia
The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
, with an emphasis on Slovenia.
Political activity
He first became actively involved in politics in the parliamentary elections of 2000, when he ran unsuccessfully for the Slovenian National Assembly on the list of the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (now known as the Slovenian Democratic PartySlovenian Democratic Party
The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...
). In the presidential elections of 2002
Slovenian presidential election, 2002
Presidential elections were held in Slovenia in 2002. The first round was held on 10 November, with a run-off held on 1 December after no candidate passed the 50% threshold in the first round. The result was a victory for Janez Drnovšek, who won 56/6% of the vote in the second round. Voter turnout...
, he served as the chief advisor of the centre-right
Centre-right
The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...
candidate Barbara Brezigar
Barbara Brezigar
Barbara Brezigar is a Slovenian lawyer and politician. She currently serves as State Prosecutor General of the Republic of Slovenia.She was born in a middle class family in Ljubljana as Barbara Gregorin...
who eventually lost against the centre-left candidate Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek
Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia . He was born in Celje, Slovenia, then the Socialist Republic of Slovenia...
. In 2004, he was among the co-founders of the liberal conservative civic platform Rally for the Republic . Later in the same year, he became the Minister for Culture in the centre-right government led by prime minister Janez Janša
Janez Janša
Janez Janša is a Slovenian politician who was Prime Minister of Slovenia from November 2004 to November 2008. He has also been President of the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993...
. After the victory of the left-wing coalition in 2008, he was replaced by Majda Širca
Majda Širca
Majda Širca Ravnikar is a Slovenian art historian, journalist and politician. She is currently serving as Minister of Culture in the left-wing government of Borut Pahor....
.
Personal life
He is married to the journalist and TV host Alenka Zor Simoniti. He is the brother of the diplomat Iztok Simoniti and cousin of the philologist and translator Primož Simoniti. Besides Slovene, he is fluent in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
.
Selected bibliography
- Turki so v deželi že: Turški vpadi na slovensko ozemlje v 15. in 16. stoletju ("The Turks are Already in the Land: Ottoman Incursions in the Slovene Territory in the 15th and 16th Century"; Celje, 1990);
- Vojaška organizacija v 16. stoletju na Slovenskem ("Military Organization in the Slovene Lands in the 16th Century; Ljubljana, 1991);
- Slovenska zgodovina do razsvetljenstva ("Slovenian History until the Enlightenment", with Peter ŠtihPeter ŠtihPeter Štih is a Slovenian historian, specialising in medieval history.Štih was born in Ljubljana, but spent most of his childhood years in the town of Most na Soči in the Goriška region of western Slovenia. He attended grammar school in Tolmin and studied history at the University of Ljubljana,...
; Ljubljana & Klagenfurt, 1995); - Fanfare nasilja. Razprave in eseji. ("Fanfare of Violence. Treatises and Essays"; Ljubljana, 2003);
- Slowenische Geschichte : Gesellschaft - Politik - Kultur ("Slovenian History: Society - Politics - Culture", with Peter Štih and Peter VodopivecPeter VodopivecPeter Vodopivec is a Slovenian historian and public intellectual.He was born in a Slovene family in Belgrade, Serbia, then capital of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He studied history at the University of Ljubljana...
; Graz, 2008).