Zusammenfassung / Abstract
“The Slovanian Priest Lambert Ehrlich: A Wanderer between the Worlds” – This article deals with the priest, scientist and politician Lambert Ehrlich, a restless wanderer between geographical, ideological and political worlds. Born in the Canal Valley (Valcanale/Kanaltal), he left his homeland (which fell to Italy) after the First World War and found a new one in Slovenia, which became part of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Metaphorically speaking, Ehrlich exchanged the lost Habsburg imperial crown for the Serbian royal crown for the sake of nation / nationalism. As a member of the Yugoslav delegation at the Paris Peace Conference he was responsible for issues relating to ethnic minorities. He was the co-author of several well-founded writings, which unsuccessfully argued for a fair ethnic and linguistic border between Austria, Yugoslavia and Italy. Although he was highly interdisciplinary and polyglot, Ehrlich carried out a transformation during the Interwar period. After the attack by Nazi Germany on Yugoslavia in 1941 and the division of Slovenia into an Italian and German zone, resistance groups formed, which also led to an ideological division. Ehrlich acted blatantly against the partisans who had been infiltrated by communists and who resisted both the occupiers and local people who thought differently. The controversial activity of Ehrlich’s Guards (Ehrlichove straže) und his writings led to his politically motivated murder in April 1942.