Boris Kidrič was a leading Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

n Communist who was, jointly with Edvard Kardelj

Edvard Kardelj

Edvard Kardelj also known under the pseudonyms Sperans and Krištof was a Yugoslav communist political leader, economist, partisan, publicist, and full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts...

, one of the chief organizers of the Partisan

Partisans (Yugoslavia)

The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...

 struggle in Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 from 1941 to 1945.

Kidrič was born in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, then capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

, as the son of the prominent Slovene liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 literary critic France Kidrič. In the early 1930s, Kidrič was persuaded by the communist publicist Vlado Kozak to join the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. He soon rose to high political posts in the Drava Banovina

Drava Banovina

The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slovenia and was named for the Drava River...

 and was among the founders of the autonomous Communist Party of Slovenia in 1937.

After the Axis

Axis Powers

The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

 invasion of Yugoslavia

Invasion of Yugoslavia

The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...

 in April 1941, he became the de facto leader of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People

Liberation Front of the Slovenian People

On 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union"...

. As such, he had a crucial role in the anti-Fascist liberation struggle in Slovenia between 1941 and 1945. In May 1945, after the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Slovenian National Liberation Council appointed him as the first president of the Slovenian socialist

Socialist Republic of Slovenia

The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...

 government.

He became a member of the Yugoslav Politburo

Politburo

Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...

 in 1948, and was in charge of the Yugoslav

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

 economy from 1946 until his death.

He was awarded the title of People's Hero of Yugoslavia

People's Hero of Yugoslavia

The Order of the People's Hero was a Yugoslav gallantry medal, the second highest military award, and third overall Yugoslav decoration. It was awarded to individuals, military units, political and other organisations who distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroic deeds during war and in...

, the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

's Order of Kutuzov

Order of Kutuzov

The Order of Kutuzov is a Soviet and Russian military award, named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov ....

, and several other honors.

He died of leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

 in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

 in 1953. After his death, the eastern Slovenian industrial town of Strnišče was renamed Kidričevo

Kidricevo

Kidričevo is a town and a municipality near Ptuj in northeastern Slovenia. The town was formerly called Strnišče, but was renamed after the Second World War in honour of Boris Kidrič, the first president of the Slovenian government, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. Traditionally the area was...

 in his honour. The main award for scientific achievements in Slovenia was called "Kidrič Prize" until 1990. In 1959, a large monument was erected in his honour in front of the Slovenian Government Office in Ljubljana, where it still stands despite some protests by anti-Communist groups and victims of Communist persecution. The Institute for Physics

Vinča Nuclear Institute

Vinča Nuclear Institute is a nuclear physics research institution near Belgrade, in Serbia.-History:The Institute was originally established in 1948 as the Institute for Physics. In 1953 it was renamed in favour of Boris Kidrič. Several different research groups started in the 1950s, and two...

, near Belgrade, was renamed in his honour.