Council of Europe- European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance


Ms Alenka PUHAR

Education and academic and other qualifications B. A., Faculty of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana

Professional activities

Concluded her job as journalist for daily Delo
Researches and writes on several projects (books and TV)
Member of ECRI in respect of Slovenia

Publications and other works

Author of 3 books: Prvotno besedilo zivljenja (1982, 2004); Peticije, pisma in tihotapski casi (1985); Slovenski avtoportret (1992)

Several studies on disentigration of Yugoslavia and emotional lives of its ethnic groups, mainly published in The Journal of Psychohistory (New York) and in Gruppenphantasien und Krieg (Heidelberg, 2000). Essays on the identity of Slovenia, (2001), the devastation of Jews (1996) and authoriarian phenomena. Articles, essays, reports, studies published in magazines, journals and books at home and abroad

Language skills

English, French, Serbo-Croat (and native Slovenian)

Other relevant information

Alenka Puhar helped establish and was active member of various dissident groups and the first human rights groups during the 1980s, when the civil society emerged in Slovenia/Yugoslavia. (i.e. The Helsinki Watch Group in 1987, Odbor za varstvo clovekovih pravic in 1988). She has been an active member of PEN since 1987, and member of the editorial board of Nova revija. She participated in groups for the abolition of capital punishment, for freedom of thought, against cruel treatment of children etc. One of her main interest lies in psychohistory and as a researcher of childhood history she has contributed to the activities of Institute for Psychohistory (New York) for two decades, studying various ethnic groups of (former) Yugoslavia, their aggressive tendencies and fantasies, stressing the role of child abuse in turning children intro militant, revengeful adults. She is a frequent speaker in national and international seminars and conferences, contributing papers on phenomena of hatred, intolerance, violence, repression and historical memory.

Ms Alenka PUHAR