A plaque near the Slovene Door of St. Nicholas' Cathedral relating to 22-year-old Rudolf Lunder and 15-year-old Ivan Adamic, who were killed in the protests in Ljubljana on 20 September 1908.
Below the sign is a bronze memorial plaque with their profiles.
"Early 20th century saw rising tensions between the Slovenian and German-speaking communities, with increases in vandalism and violence. Ethnic tensions peaked in September 1908 after an incident in the city of Ptuj on September 13, when the German and the Slovenian community both held nationally significant gatherings on the same day (the Germans purposefully scheduled theirs to coincide with the Slovenian one). Upon their arrival by train, ten Slovenians were arrested for flying the then-banned Slovenian flag, and the rest were prevented from leaving the station by the Germans, who pelted them with stones and smashed windows of Slovenian-owned establishments. After some physical violence, which the local police did nothing to stop, both gatherings did take place, but tensions once again flared in the afternoon when Slovenians attempted to board the train. A crowd of about 400 Slovenians and 800 Germans engaged in a fist fight, both on and off the train.
The events at Ptuj triggered nation-wide demonstrations. On September 18, 10,000 Slovenians organised a peaceful protest at Ljubljana City Hall. As the crowd began to leave the scene, however, German onlookers poured ink on the protesters, infuriating the protesters, who immediately attacked the German Casino, a symbol of the German community in Ljubljana, broke through police lines and smashed all of its windows. The Carniolan government building and a local German bank met a similar fate, as did many German-owned establishments. As the local police failed to stop the rioting, the local government responded by calling in the military, which was authorised to use deadly force and imposed a curfew and duly arrested anyone caught violating it.
That Sunday, on September 20, 22-year-old Rudolf Lunder had been out celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Carniolan Printing Society, of which he was a member, and was on his way home with his fiancée. Since major streets had been cordoned off, they took a different path, which led them to St. Nicolas’ Cathedral, where the army had just suddenly opened fire on a small number of civilians singing Slovenian songs. Rudolf was shot in the back trying to flee the scene and died in his fiancée’s arms.
15-year-old Ivan Adamic, the son of a prominent Slovenian family, had been showing an American relative around Ljubljana, and narrowly missed the 8pm curfew. He, too, was on his way home when the military opened fire, and immediately joined the fleeing crowd. Like Lunder, Adamic was fatally shot in the back.
7 other young men were shot or stabbed by the soldiers, but later recovered.
Over 20,000 Slovenians from all Slovenian lands were reported to have attended Adamic and Lunder’s funeral."
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The sign is in Slovenian and all capital letters. The spacing between words not clear if one does not know the language. I have attempted to make as much sense of it as I can, and then poorly translated with google translate.
[SLO]
"na tem svetem mestu
je dne dvajse tega septembra
leta tisoc devetsto osmega
ljubljana izzvana in
uzaljena ocitajoc voljo vsega sloven
skega narod av sloz
nem uporu proti nasil
ju tujstva in orozju
avstrijske voja ci ne
slutec blizino nove
usode s krvjo svojih
sinov lundra i
adamica placala
delez sedanji svobodi"
[EN]
"In this holy place
On the twentieth of this September
year one thousand nine hundred eight
Ljubljana challenged and
offended reproachfully available to all Slovenian
European nation but harmonious
Revolt against violent
foreignness and weapons
Austrian military not
Presenting the new appliance adjacent
their destiny with blood
Lunder and sons
Adamic pay
proportion of the current Freedom"