Maribor (historical German name: Marburg an der Drau) is the second largest city in Slovenia. The population of Maribor is approximately 133,000 [1]. Maribor lies on the river Drava at the meeting point of the Pohorje mountain, the Drava Valley, the Drava Plain, and the Kozjak and Slovenske gorice hill ranges. It is the center of the Slovenian region of Lower Styria and its largest city. Maribor Airport is the second largest international airport in Slovenia. The nearest larger urban center is Graz in Austria which is about 60 km (40 miles) away.
Maribor's coat of arms features a white pigeon flying downwards above a white castle with two towers and a portcullis on a red shield.
History
In 1164 a castle known as the Marchburch (Middle High German for "March Castle") was documented in the Styria. Maribor was first mentioned as a market near the castle in 1204, and received town privileges in 1254. It began to grow rapidly after the victory of Rudolf I of Habsburg over Otakar II of Bohemia in 1278. Maribor withstood sieges by Matthias Corvinus in 1480 and 1481 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1532 and 1683, and the city remained under the control of the Habsburg Monarchy until 1918.
Slomsek squareMaribor, previously in the Catholic Diocese of Graz-Seckau, became part of the Diocese of Lavant on 1 June 1859, and the seat of its Prince-Bishop. The name of the diocese (the name of a river in Carinthia flowing into the Drava at the Slovenian village of Dravograd) was changed to the Diocese of Maribor on March 5, 1962. It was elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Benedict XVI on April 7, 2006.
Before World War I, the city had a population of 80% Germans and 20% Slovenes, and most of the city's capital and public life was in German hands. Therefore, it was mainly known by its German name Marburg an der Drau. According to the last Austro-Hungarian census in 1910, Maribor and the suburbs Studenci (Brunndorf), Pobrežje (Pobersch), Tezno (Thesen), Radvanje (Rothwein), Krčevina (Kartschowin), and Košaki (Leitersberg) were composed of 31,995 Germans and 6,151 Slovenes. The wider surrounding area was populated almost exclusively by Slovenes, although many Germans lived in smaller towns like Ptuj.
During World War I, many Slovenes in Carinthia and Styria were detained for allegedly being enemies of the empire, which led to further conflicts between German Austrians and Slovenes. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Maribor was claimed by both the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and German Austria. On November 1, 1918, a meeting was held by Colonel Anton Holik in Melje's barracks, where it was determined the city would be part of German Austria. Major Rudolf Maister, who was present at the meeting, renounced the decision. He was awarded the rank of General[2] by the National Council for (Slovenian) Styria on the same day and organized Slovenian military units in Maribor to successfully take control of the city. All German soldiers and officers were demobilized and sent home to new German Austria. The city council held a secret meeting where a decision was taken to do whatever possible to gain Maribor for German Austria. They organized a military unit, the so-called Green Guard (Schutzwehr). The approximately 400 well-armed soldiers of this unit threatened Maister, leading the Slovenian troops to disarm them in the early morning of November 23. Thereafter there was no real threat to the authority of Maister in the city.
On 27 January 1919, Germans awaiting the American peace delegation at the city's marketplace were taken under fire by Slovenian troops which feared the crowd of thousands of citizens. Nine people were killed and more than eighteen were seriously wounded[3]; who was responsible for the shooting has not been conclusively established. German sources accused Maister's troops of shooting without cause, while Slovene witnesses, such as Dr. Maks Pohar, testified that the Germans attacked Slovenian soldiers guarding city hall. Anyway, the killed Germans had been unarmed. German media called the incident Marburg's Bloody Sunday.
Since Maribor was firmly in the hands of the Slovenian forces and encircled with completely Slovenian territory, it was recognized as part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes without a plebiscite in the Treaty of Saint-Germain of September 1919 between the victors of WWI and German Austria.
After 1918, many of Maribor's Germans emigrated to Austria, especially officials who did not originate from the region. German schools, clubs, and organisations were closed in the new state of Yugoslavia, although Germans made up more than 25% of the city's population in the 1930s. A policy of cultural assimilation was pursued in Yugoslavia against the German minority in response to the Germanization policy of Austria against its Slovene minority. However, in the 1930s this policy was abandoned and German minority's position improved significantly.
In 1941 Lower Styria, the Yugoslav part of Styria, was annexed by Nazi Germany. In late April Adolf Hitler, who encouraged his followers to "make this land German again", visited Maribor where a grand reception was organized by local Germans in the city castle. Immediately after the occupation, Nazi Germany began mass expulsions of Slovenes to the Independent State of Croatia, Serbia, and later on to the concentration and work camps in Germany. The Nazi goal was to exterminate or Germanize the Slovene population of Lower Styria after the war. Many patriots were taken hostages and later shot in the prisons of Maribor and Graz. This led to organized partisans resistance. The city, a major industrial center with extensive armaments industry, later was systematically bombed by the Allies in the last years of World War II. Many local Germans were involved in crimes against local Slovenes; the remaining German population was expelled after the end of the war in 1945 without proof of individual guilt.
After the liberation, Maribor capitalized on its proximity to Austria as well as its skilled workforce, and developed into a major transit and cultural center of Northern Slovenia and the biggest industrial city in Yugoslavia[citation needed], - enabled by Tito's decision not to build an Iron Curtain at the borders towards Austria and Italy and to provide passports to the citizens.
When Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, the loss of the Yugoslav market severely strained the city's economy which was based on heavy industry, resulting in record levels of unemployment of almost 25%. The situation has improved since the mid-1990s with the development of small and medium sized businesses and industry. Slovenia entered the European Union in 2004, introduced the Euro currency in 2007 and joined the Schengen treaty; accordingly all border controls between Slovenia and Austria ceased at Christmas of 2007.
Unemployment in June 2007 is 11,5% (ILO:7,8% )


Popular tourist sites in Maribor include the 12th century cathedral in the Gothic style and the town hall constructed in the Renaissance fashion. The castle dates from the 15th century.
The city hosts the University of Maribor, established in 1961[4], and many other schools. It is also home to the oldest grapevine in the world called Stara trta, which is more than 400 years old.
University of MariborMaribor is hometown of NK Maribor (www), a Slovenian football team. They participated in the UEFA Champions League in the 1999-2000 season.
Every January, the skiing centre of Mariborsko Pohorje, situated on the outskirts of the city on the slopes of the Pohorje mountain range, hosts women's slalom and giant slalom races for the Alpine Skiing World Cup known as Zlata lisica (The Golden Fox). Every June, the two-week Festival Lent (named after the waterfront district called Lent) is held, with hundreds of musical, theatrical and other events.
Maribor was named as an Alpine city in 2000 and chosen as European Capital of Culture 2012 alongside with Guimarães, Portugal. Maribor will be the host city of the 2013 Winter Universiade.
Source: www.en.wikipedia.org
Visit also: Peter H. Burks, In memory of, www.aSoldiersList.com