First-Generation Russian Emigrants to Slovenia: Representatives of the Russian Intelligentsia

The article deals with the intellectually elite first generation of Russian emigrants to Slovenia between the two world wars. Along with an outline of the broader historical and political background in then Slovenia and Yugoslavia, the article presents the destinies and activities of some prominent representatives who, among other things, also influenced the Slovenian cultural events at the time. It highlights E. V. Spektorski, A. Bubnov, and A. V. Issatchenko, who greatly enriched and expanded Slovenian cultural consciousness through their academic activity. This investigation also presents their works in more detail.
Keywords: first-generation Russian immigrants, Russian intelligentsia, University of Ljubljana, “Russian Matica”, Russian culture, Slovenia

The article provides the research on the lives of the first generation of Russian emigrants to Slovenia, which also represent the first contacts that Slovenian people had with immigrants in general. Based on published and manuscript materials, which enable an analysis of the period between the two world wars, the authors show the progress of the Russian intelligentsia who—as professors at the “young” University of Ljubljana—had gained the pick of their scientific and creative potentials. The life destinies of the counter-admiral A. D. Bubnov, the social philosopher and law expert E. V. Spektorski, and the philologist (a prominent linguist and a specialist in Slavic studies) A. V. Issatschenko are shown in more detail. The article also partially illuminates the lives of other Russian immigrants, focusing especially on the cultural contacts between Slovenians and Russians. The insightful survey demonstrates that, in fact, the Russian professors significantly built the future of Slovenian science. At the same time, it is evident that in Slovenia, they achieved possibilities for developing their spiritual and intellectual sources in a way that was, probably, practically impossible in other European countries in the complex and difficult interwar period in the first half of the twentieth century.