»All six attained their honorary townsman title a bit like Pilate grew into religion.«

The fortunes and misfortunes surrounding honorary townsman title awards in Tržič

Abstract

The article presents a few bestowals of honorary townsman title in Tržič. Although the municipality keeps an official register of its honorary townsmen since 1988, archival materials reveal that the title was already awarded in the nineteenth century. During German-Slovenian national struggles in the early twentieth century, the honorary townsman title not only had a strong symbolic value, but it could also provide a decisive advantage at municipal elections. The article reveals that the Tržič honorary townsman title was conferred on numerous eminent figures, including Karel Dežman, Prince-Bishop Anton Bonaventura Jeglič, Anton Korošec, and Edvard Kardelj.