You are invited to view a special exhibition from the collection of local history newspapers.

Somehow by sheer coincidence, in December 1963, the humorous newspaper Pipec was founded in the Celje region and has survived to this day, the first and only one in Slovenia that was conceived and published by an active journalist. There were obviously always enough anti-social elements or individuals among the journalists here, who found social events, whether they were phenomena or individuals, funny and entertaining enough to attack them with humor and satire, of course also with some necessary courage, to face the reactions even of the forums of the system, although most often like Cervantes' warriors, without hitting the target. It is true that the humorous front was most often like a slingshot attack, as the newspaper was received very peacefully, either because it itself - in the spirit of a sense of proportion - was too peaceful, or because they were sufficiently well protected by their positions from humor and satire, as and to the extent that they already understood it.

It is not excluded that the Celjske bodice, published by the Celjski tednik (writer Franjo Roš was among its regular contributors), contributed a little to the creation of Pipac, but otherwise the first issue was signed by the editorial board – Drago Hribar, Jure Krašovec, Franjo Krivec, Vlado Smeh (editor-in-chief) and Janko Volf. We printed it in a circulation of 5 thousand copies, and each copy cost 30 dinars.

Just as Pipec was initially created collectively (in a special room at the Celeia Hotel), sometimes the elements prevailed later, also as a result of financial difficulties.

(It even happened that at the end of one issue, the material ran out and a considerable gap appeared. In order for the meter in the bookmaker's office to be able to connect the page, it had to be filled as quickly as possible. And so to speak, in an instant, the Celje Personnel Report was born, referring to a whole series of directors who were running for mayor, without anyone running them at all.) In fact, in those critical times, only the great understanding of Cetis saved the newspaper, which would otherwise have been in decline from the very beginning. Of course, neither then nor in the last thirteen years, when, due to social transformation, Pipec became larger, certainly more diverse in content and published in a much higher circulation every year, the basic guideline has not been lost – to remain in words and illustrations a kind of year-round or even biennial

a critical humorous chronicle, since most of the social phenomena to which it was dedicated were sufficiently symptomatic of such long periods.

Drago Hribar

Source: Pipec – 40 years (1963-2003)