Liquidation of the Non-Essential: Bankruptcy Procedures in Slovenia under the Influence of Food Provisioning, 1918–1923

The article discusses the economic situation in Slovenia after World War I through
the lens of bankruptcy procedures. While bankruptcies were a common occurrence in the Aus-
tro-Hungarian economy, their number decreased significantly during World War I due to the
stagnation of the economic market. After the war, most of the Slovene lands became part of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The period until the mid-1920s was one of economic
prosperity, following a period of gradual recuperation in the first post-war years. In the years
after 1918, bankruptcies were relatively rare and mostly concerned enterprises that were con-
sidered non-essential, i.e. those which did not supply food; all other enterprises were rather dis-
pensable. From 1921, the economy stabilized and the number of bankruptcies slowly increased
until the 1925 deflationary crisis. Archival sources frequently mention foodstuffs as part of bank-
ruptcy estates, but they posed a problem for bankruptcy managers and debtors because their
questionable quality made them difficult to sell and they spoiled quickly.