General Rudolf Maister - Vojanov, who was born in Kamnik on 29 March 1874, performed his most important acts during the tumultuous collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918 - 1919 he and his army prevented Maribor and Styrian Podravje being incorporated into the newly established Republic of German Austria.

At the end of the First World War, the then-town council declared Maribor’s inclusion in the Republic of German Austria, so Maister immediately set up a Slovenian army in the area with about 4,000 soldiers and 200 officers and, on the night of 23 November 1918, he and his comrades disarmed the security guards or the so-called green guard of Maribor Germans. In November and December of that year Maister and his comrades occupied the ethnic border area in Styria. Maister, who served in various regions of Slovenia and of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, died in 1934 at Unec near Rakek, and was buried in Maribor.

Beside the City of Ljubljana delegation, tributes to General Maister were left at the statue in front of the Ministry of Defence building and at the statue on National Liberation Square by delegations from the Ministry of Defence and the Ljubljana General Maister Society.

The statue of General Rudolf Maister in the park on National Liberation Square is the work of academic sculptor Jakov Brdar and was erected by the City of Ljubljana in 1999. The General Maister statue in front of the Defence Ministry building is by academic sculptor Boštjan Putrih and was unveiled in 2000.