Documentary Film »The Image of a Soldier: Rudolf Maister, a General and a Poet«

In June 2023, at its 56th regular session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a decision of declaring the year 2024 as the Year of General Rudolf Maister. General and poet Rudolf Maister-Vojanov was born on March 29, 1874 in Kamnik and died on July 26, 1934 in Unec near Rakek, which means this year marks the 150th anniversary of his birth and the 90th anniversary of his death.

In 1894, when he was twenty years old, Maister completed his officer training at the Home Guard Cadet School in Vienna. As an officer he served in a number of places across the then Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. At the start of the First World War he was stationed in Celje where he served as a commander of a unit, before being transferred to Maribor. In his memoires, published in the Maribor newspaper Večernik in commemoration of the 5th anniversary of Maister's death, Jože Malenšek describes his meeting Maister in Celje: "It was August 1, 1914. Sitting in the garden of the National Home in Celje, my colleagues and I were trying to dispel our thoughts about the approaching war, and someone suggested singing a song. We all sang in unison a succession of familiar folk songs like Barka zaplavala, Vsi so prihajali, Nikar, nikar se me ne boj, etc. Eventually, we became quite cheerful. At around nine o’clock, we suddenly saw a tall, strong military figure with black moustache and clear eyes, standing at the door. We got up and saluted. It was Captain Maister, whom we had already known by his poetic name of Vojanov. He sat down and said to us: 'Boys you just keep on singing, I like listening to our nation’s songs. And you do sing so well. Here, to make your throats less dry, let me buy you another case of beer.' After that, we all introduced ourselves to him.”

When the First World War ended, Maister was in Maribor, which the German city council declared part of the German Austria on October 30, 1918. The very next day, on November 1, while stationed at the military barracks in Melje, Rudolf Maister took military command over the city of Maribor and the entire Lower Styria. The National Council for Styria awarded him the rank of a General. On the same day, all military barracks and other military facilities came under Maister’s command. The situation in Maribor became difficult and Maister decided to take military action and declared mobilization on November 9, 1918. Slovenian men answered his call and in a matter of weeks he was able to gather an army of about 4000 men and 270 officers and re-established his control over the city of Maribor. General Maister became a commander of Maribor and received a number of honours and decorations. At the beginning of October 1923, he retired with a rank of Division General. He spent his retirement actively in Maribor and at his family estate in Unec near Rakek.

Maister’s historical legacy is not only military; he also managed to leave an indelible impression in the field of arts with his poems and his amateur painting. He was an enthusiastic collector of books and his extensive private library of almost 6000 units is today part of the University Library of Maribor.  In 2018, his library was declared a cultural monument of national importance.

His heroic actions in the midst of troubled times of the Slovenian history also served as an inspiration for artists of all sorts, and he was depicted by many Slovenian painters and sculpturers, such as Hinko Smrekar, Maksim Gaspari, Nikolaj Pirnat, Božidar Jakac, Franjo Sterle and others. Many of Maister’s poems have been set to music, the most famous of them being the cycle “Slovenske gorice”, for which the music was written by Emil Adamič.

Included in the collection of films kept by the Slovenian Film Archives is a short documentary film titled “The Image of a Soldier: Rudolf Maister, a General and a Poet”. Written and directed by Milan Ljubić, the film is in our film collection preserved under the reference code of SI AS 1086/12396. Using the documents, photographs and film shots of places where Maister resided, the author of the film portrays a narrative of Maister’s life and work. A lot of careful thought also went into selecting the music for the film; in addition to original music by composer Slavko Avsenik Jr., the film uses a number of settings of Maister’s poetry to music as well.

In his film Milan Ljubić used archival footage, the only thus far known and preserved film record that captures our visual memory of General Maister. It was shot in 1918 on a 16 mm film tape, in black and white silent format by a Croatian filmmaker Josip Hall. The film depicts Rudolf Maister addressing the Yugoslav army officers in Zagreb, the arrival of the army on horses and a playing of military bands. The original of the film is kept by the Croatian Film Archives, but the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia managed to get a copy of it some years ago.

Upon Maister’s death in the summer of 1934, his hearse was driven through several towns from Unec to Maribor, where he was eventually buried, which gave the locals of these places an opportunity to say final farewell to this esteemed Slovenian. Unfortunately, there is no data that suggests that in addition to the existing photographic records of the funeral itself any film records of the actual funeral ceremony have been preserved as well.   

Primož Frajle and Tatjana Rezec Stibilj