Kraigher was born in
Postojna,
Austria-Hungary, modern-day
Slovenia. His uncle, Jurij Kraigher was a prominent American civil and war pilot. His other uncle, Alojz Kraigher, was a prominent writer and
left-wing activist, while his cousin
Boris also became an influential communist politician in post-war Yugoslavia. Kraigher rose through the ranks of the
Communist Party of Slovenia in the 1940s, and fought with the
partisan resistance during
World War II. After the war he served as governor of the
National Bank of Yugoslavia between 1951 and 1953, and then as director of the Federal Institute for Economic Planning and Secretary of State for Foreign Trade. Kraigher became chairman of the People's Assembly of Slovenia in 1967 and held that position until 1974, after which he served as
President of the Presidency of Slovenia until 1979. Following the death of
Edvard Kardelj, Kraigher became the Slovenian member of the collective
Presidency of Yugoslavia and served as its 3rd
President from 1981 to 1982, after the death of
Josip Broz Tito. He is also known for being the chairman of the Kraigher Commission, which was set up by the Yugoslav government to advise and give proposals in solving the
Yugoslav economic crisis which started to develop in the early to mid-1980s. The commission report was the basis of a reform package that was to be implemented by the
Milka Planinc cabinet, but never materialized. Kraigher died in
Ljubljana, Slovenia on 17 January 2001, at the age of 86. ==Honours and awards==