Abstract
This paper transnationally examines the crucial role of public health after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, focusing on the new borderlands around the Slo- venian part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes: the “Rapallo Border” with the Italian Kingdom and the border with the Republic of German Austria, which cut through the former Duchies of Styria and Carinthia. Health and disease played central roles in redefining identities, legal affiliations, and trust-based relationships between civilians, physicians, and the new “successor states”. This text offers a broader view of public health, moving beyond state-centred perspectives to include the “patient’s viewpoint” and the intimate doctor-patient relationship.
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