Zwitter, Fran

Born Oct. 24, 1905, in Bela Crkva, Slovenia. Yugoslav historian. Member of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts (1947). A Slovene by nationality.

Zwitter studied at the universities of Ljubljana, Vienna, and Paris. From 1937 to 1941 he taught at the University of Ljubljana. In May 1941, after the occupation of Yugoslavia by fascist forces in April of that year, Zwitter was arrested and interned in northern Italy. In September 1943 he went to Gorica in Slovenia and until May 1945 fought in the ranks of the partisans.

Between 1945 and 1948, Zwitter took part in conferences in London, Paris, New York, and Moscow as a Yugoslav expert on the international commission dealing with the establishment of international boundaries. In 1945 he became a professor of philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. He was a member of the editorial board, and one of the authors, of The History of the Yugoslav People. Zwitter has written many works on medieval and modern Slovene history.