Obljubljena dežela med mitom in realnostjo: Korespondenca Franca Zajca iz ZDA (1907-1939)

Mandelc, Matjaž (author), Verginella, Marta (mentor), Kogovšek, Tina (mentor), Mandelc, Damjan (co-mentor), Strle, Urška (co-mentor)

V diplomskem delu želim predstaviti zgodbo slovenskega izseljenca Franca Zajca, ki je na začetku 20. stoletja emigriral v ZDA. Zgodbo želim predstaviti na podlagi njegovih osebnih pisem, ki jih je skozi leta pošiljal nazaj v domovino, ter sinteze obstoječe literature, ki je dostopna v Sloveniji. Delo podaja podroben uvid v zgodbo posameznika, ki je množično izseljevanje 20. stoletja doživel na lastni koži, ter svoj vsakdan v ZDA delil s svojimi bližnjimi v stari domovini. Izpostavlja življenje posameznika, ki se je odločil poskusiti novo življenje v ZDA, ter spremlja njegovo pot od navadnega delavca v topilnici rude v Koloradu do urednika petih levo usmerjenih slovenskih časopisov v ZDA (Proletarec, Ameriški družinski koledar, Majski glas, Prosveta in The Voice of youth). Naloga tudi poskuša v prvi vrsti poudariti, da je vsak posameznik, ki se je odločil za pot v ZDA, imel svojo zgodbo ter da ne smemo zgolj posplošiti življenja ameriških Slovencev v pojem ˝Slovenci v ZDA˝.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: ZDA, migracije, izseljevanje, Franc Zajc, domovina.
• Work type: Bachelor thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2019
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-111621
• Publication date in RUL: 05.10.2019

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: The Promised Land Between Myth and Reality: The Correspondence of Franc Zajc from the USA (1907-1939)

Abstract

In my diploma thesis I want to present the story of the Slovenian emigrant Franc Zajc who emigrated to the USA in the early 20th century. I want to present his story on the basis of personal letters, which he sent back to his home country over the years, as well as upon the synthesis of existing literature available in Slovenia. The work provides a detailed insight into the story of an individual who experienced mass emigration of the 20th century in his own shoes and shared his everyday life in the US with his loved ones in the old homeland. It exposes the life of an individual who has decided to try a new life in the United States and follows his path from an ordinary worker in Colorado to the editor of four left-wing Slovenian newspapers in the United States (Proletarec, Ameriški družinski koledar, Majski glas, Prosveta in The Voice of youth). The paper also tries to emphasize that every individual who chose to travel to the USA experienced particular story, and that we should not generalize the life of American Slovenes with the term “Slovenes in the USA”.

• Keywords: USA, migration, emigration, Franc Zajc, homeland