A Long Journey from the Noose to Freedom – the Maribor Trial in 1935

Abstract

The paper examines the cultural and historical context of the criminal case, which was upon its re-opening in 1935 referred to as the Maribor trial by the media. The criminal file, which was opened by the Maribor District Court under the name Markuzzi and Comrades and is one of the most comprehensive files kept in the Maribor Regional Archives, convincingly conveys the meaning of the terms smuggling and traffic after World War I, the post-war relations in the local community, the charismatic personality of the smuggler Ivan Markuzzi, the feat of the solicitor Danilo Komavli, a refugee from the Littoral, and the watershed character of the trial, which left its mark on the Slovene judicial system in the first decade of the new Yugoslav state.