Rudolf Maister
March 29, 1874(1874-03-29) – July 26, 1934
Nickname	Vojanov
Place of birth	Kamnik, Duchy of Carniola, Austria-Hungary (now in Slovenia)
Place of death	Rakek, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now in Slovenia)
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Years of service	1890-1923
Rank	Divisional General
Commands held	Slovenian army Commander of Maribor
Awards	Signum laudis Order of White Eagle Order of Star of Karađorđe Order of Saint Sava
Other work	Poet and self-taught painter

Rudolf Maister Vojanov (29 March 1874 – 26 July 1934) was a Slovene military officer, poet and political activist. The soldiers who fought under Maister's command in northern Slovenia became known as "Maister's fighters" (Slovene: Maistrovi borci). Maister was also an accomplished poet and self-taught painter.

Maister was born in the Upper Carniolan commercial town of Kamnik, then part of Austria-Hungary. During World War I, he served as a major in the Austro-Hungarian Army. In 1918, towards the end of the war, he organized local Slovene volunteer forces and took control of the city of Maribor and the surrounding region of Lower Styria with a military action. He was awarded the rank of general by the Slovene National Council for Lower Styria on November 1. The city was thus secured for the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which united with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on December 1.

On 27 January 1919, a firefight broke out between the local ethnic Germans awaiting the American peace delegation at the city's marketplace and Slovenian troops under the command of Maister. Nine people were killed and more than eighteen were seriously wounded. The responsibility for the shooting has not been conclusively established. German sources accused Maister's troops of shooting without cause, while Slovenian witnesses, such as Dr. Maks Pohar, testified that the Germans (some still in the uniforms of the German paramilitary organization called Green Guard) attacked Slovene soldiers guarding city hall. The Germans allegedly attacked the police inspector, Ivan Senekovič, and pressed towards the Slovenian soldiers in front of the city hall. One German shot with a revolver in the direction of Slovenian soldiers and they responded spontaneously with shots against the crowd. The event became known in German as the Marburger Blutsonntag ("Marburg Bloody Sunday").

In November 1919, Maister's forces joined the Kingdom of SHS army's offensive in Carinthia. Maister joined them later and took part of the conquest of Klagenfurt. After the Carinthian Plebiscite, in which majority of the local Slovenian population decided to remain part of Austria, Maister withdrew to private life. He spent most of his later life in an estate near Planina in Inner Carniola. He died in Rakek.

Maister also wrote poetry, which he published in two collected volumes, in 1904 and in 1929. Most of his poetry follows the Post-Romantic aesthetics, and is influenced by 19th century Slovene lyrical and patriotic poetry of Simon Jenko, Simon Gregorčič and Anton Aškerc.

[edit] References

• Bruno Hartman, Rudolf Maister: general in pesnik (Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 2006)