Franjo Malgaj

He later became an officer in the Army of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He died during the Austrian-Yugoslav struggles in 1919. He is considered a Slovenian national hero.

• Name — Franjo Malgaj • Born — 10 November 1894 • Died — 6 May 1919 • Birthplace — Hruševec, Šentjur, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Slovenia) • Place of death — Tolsti Vrh near Dravograd in Carinthia • Allegiance — Austria-Hungary Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes • Unit — 87th Infantry regiment (Austria-Hungary) "Maister's fighters" • Battles — World War I Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia

He was born in Hruševec near the Lower Styrian town of Šentjur, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Slovenia). After finishing the elementary school in the nearby Styrian town of Celje, he enrolled in the Celje First Grammar School. He later studied in the Carniolan town of Kranj and in Pazin (Istria). After graduating from the school for infantry reserve officers in Graz, he participated in the Italian campaign during World War I. He participated in the first and second battles of the Isonzo, where he contracted Typhoid fever. After recovering, he was transferred to the Tyrolean sector of the front. For his bold attacks on the Italian stronghold on Monte Zebio he received the Golden Medal and transferred to the 87th Infantry regiment in Celje. In October 1918, he started to study law at the University of Graz.

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the establishment of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in late October 1918, he joined the Slovene volunteer army established by Rudolf Maister. This army, known as "Maister's fighters" (Maistrovi borci), seized the Slovene-inhabited territories in Lower Styria, and fought against the forces of the German Austria for the border areas in Styria and Carinthia. In early November, Malgaj gathered a group of Slovene volunteers around Celje and marched into southeast Carinthia (in what is now known as Slovenian Carinthia). Together with General Maister and a company of volunteers composed of soldiers of the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia that were retreating from imprisonment in Austria, he reached Lavamünd and captured the Carinthian town of Völkermarkt (Velikovec) in late November 1918.

Accounts vary regarding his death. He either committed suicide on May 6, 1919, at Tolsti Vrh near Dravograd in Carinthia after being surrounded by Austrian soldiers, or he died after he accidentally activated a hand grenade attached to his belt. Unconfirmed rumors suggest he was shot by a group of soldiers from Serbia with whom he was allegedly in conflict. He was buried in the Carinthian town of Guštanj (now Ravne na Koroškem).

The following is established of the heading itself.

The following is established of origins and background. Born in 1894 at Hruševec. The register further records that franjo Malgaj died in 1919 at Tolsti Vrh p.