Education

Rudolf Maister began attending primary school in 1880/81 in Mengeš and finished grades one and two there. From 1835 to 1897, the school was located in the sexton’s house, which still stands beside the parish church of St. Michael. The teacher at that time was Franja Gonse, and later, from 1882 onwards, Emilija Gerkman, who kept teaching in Mengeš for another 42 years.

On 16 September 1883, he began attending a four-grade primary school for boys in Kranj. He was a good student and regularly and diligently attended the advanced agricultural school. He later enrolled in the lower grammar school in Kranj. In 1887 his father died. Shaken by his father’s death, he let up at school and had to repeat second grade. He had difficulties with Latin. He excelled in drawing, taught by the painter Ivan Franke. In fourth grade, Rudolf began publishing his own handwritten magazine Inter nos. After graduating from the lower gymnasium in Kranj, he enrolled in the 1st Higher State Grammar School (Staatsobergymnasyum) in Ljubljana in the school year 1890/91.