Bertrand Patenaude in Slovenia and Italy

Bert Patenaude, MA ’79, PhD ’87, first became aware of Slovenia and the Slovenians as an undergrad studying in Austria in 1975. At the time, Slovenia was Austria’s Communist neighbor, as part of Tito’s Yugoslavia. Bert encountered Slovenian culture in Austria’s southeastern provinces, where Slovenes formed a significant ethnic minority under the Habsburgs. During our program, Bert will explain the mix of Slovenian and German ethnicities and culture on both sides of today’s Slovenian-Austrian border, and he will explore the complex historical relationship between Slovenes and Italians, close neighbors and often formerly fierce rivals.

As a lecturer in history and international relations at Stanford, Bert has taught courses on the history of Yugoslavia, the Balkan Wars of the 1990s after Yugoslavia’s break-up, and the emergence of independent Slovenia and neighboring Croatia as prime tourist destinations in the 21st century. During our program, his lecture topics will include Slovenia as a Habsburg vacation spot in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Habsburg rule in Italy and Slovenia, and why it is that the Cleveland metropolitan area is today home to the world’s largest population of ethnic Slovenes outside Slovenia.

Along the way, Bert will be our guide on Prague’s striking art nouveau architecture, the landmarks of its unforgettable Jewish Quarter, and how the performance in Prague in 1786 of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro was a tremendous success. He’ll also explain why the central Prague train station, which was founded as Franz Josef Station, after the Habsburg Emperor, was renamed for President Woodrow Wilson during the interwar years.

• Lecturer, history and international relations, Stanford University, since 1991

• Research fellow, Hoover Institution, since 1992

• Author, Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary (HarperCollins, 2009)

• Book review contributor, The Wall Street Journal

• Member, Board of Directors, Stanford Historical Society

• BA ’77, political science, Boston College

• MA ’79 and PhD ’87, history—both Stanford University