KOROŠEC, ANTON. - Slovenian priest and politician, b. at Sv. Jurig on the Scavnica in Styria in 1872, d. at Belgrade on 14 Dec. 1940. In 1906, elected representative of the Slovenian People’s Party, he entered the Austrian Parliament, where he remained until the fall of the Habsburg monarchy.
He was responsible for the famous “May Declaration” (30 May 1917), which advocated the union of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs in a free and democratic state community, recognizing only the personal sovereignty of the Habsburgs. President of the National Council of Ljubljana and Zagreb, after the fall of the mo-
narchy he concluded with Pasic the “Geneva Pact,” which brought into being the new Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian State (SHS). He took part in the government on several occasions and in 1928 also held its presidency. Subsequently, since the Slovenian People’s Party had been dissolved owing to the worsening conflict between the Serbo-Croats on the one hand and the Slovenes on the other, he joined the opposition, and in 1932 he was condemned to confinement by the dictatorial regime established by the Serbo-Croats. He returned after the assassination of King Alessandro, having associated himself with the national mourning, and again received (1935) the Ministry of the Interior together with the Presidency of the Senate.