Original scientific paper
Summary: Krk and Kvarner during the First World War in the autobiographical writings of Ante Pilepić (Mali Lošinj, 1887 – Split, 1968)
Franjo Velčić
orcid.org/0000-0002-5088-4217
Abstract
The Kvarner islands, together with Istria and Dalmatia, although spared from direct warfare and combat operations by the warring sides during the First World War, became – in the wake of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s collapse – a sort of “no man’s land” coveted by, firstly, the Kingdom of Italy as a member of the Entente, but also other political powers, each of which had their own plan for how to resolve the newly-emergent South Slav political question. At a moment when the older structures had crumbled, and new ones were not yet clear and defined, it was necessary to act quickly to convince those who were deciding the fate of Europe at the time, i.e., the victorious Entente powers, what was the best for those who were not yet political and state factors, and those were the South Slavs of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In this turmoil, alongside the many politicians and public figures, otherwise well-known to the historiography of that time, a young and ambitious priest in Krk, Rev. Ante Pilepić, at the time Krk Bishop Antun Mahnić’s secretary, was actively contemplating, assessing and taking part – especially in his writings – in all of these matters. He left behind a manuscript of his autobiography which, in a shelter during the Second World War, as the bombs were falling on Split, he attempted to compile on the basis of his personal diary that he had begun writing at the age of fifteen as a young schoolboy in Port Said in Egypt, where he had spent his youth. His autobiographical manuscripts, written in several notebooks, are held in the Diocesan Archives of Krk (BAK) under the file Ostavština svećenika Anta Pilepića (Bequest of the priest Ante Pilepić).
Keywords
Island of Krk; Kvarner; First World War; autobiographical writings; Ante Pilepić (1887 – 1968)
Hrčak ID:
284383
URI
Publication date:
11.11.2021.
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