World War II in the Slovene Lands started in April 1941 and lasted until May 1945. The
Slovene Lands were in a unique situation during World War II in Europe, with only
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
also sharing its experience of being trisected; however,
Drava Banovina (roughly today's
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
) was the only region that experienced a further step — absorption and annexation into neighboring
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
,
Fascist Italy, and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. The
Slovene-settled territory was divided largely between Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, with smaller territories occupied and annexed by Hungary and the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
.
Occupation, resistance, collaboration, civil war, and post-war killings
On 6 April 1941,
Yugoslavia was invaded by the
Axis Powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. On that day, part of the
Slovene-settled territory was occupied by Nazi Germany. On 11 April 1941, further parts of the territory were occupied by
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and Hungary. The Germans occupied the
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...
, the
Lower Styria
Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...
, the northwestern part of
Prekmurje
Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur R ...
and the northern part of the
Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region.
Geography
Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the n ...
. The Italians occupied the
Inner Carniola
Inner Carniola ( sl, Notranjska; german: Innerkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the ...
, the majority of the Lower Carniola and
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...
, whereas the Hungarians
occupied the major part of Prekmurje, which prior to WW1 belonged to Hungary. Resistance by the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
's army was insignificant. In 2005, Slovene authors first published information about six villages in Lower Carniola that were annexed by the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
, and a Maribor-based historian first published original research about it in 2011, but it remains unclear why the villages from
Drava Banovina were occupied contrary to a known German-Croatian treaty.
Under the Nazi occupation
The Germans had a plan of the forced location of the Slovene population in the so called ''Rann Triangle''. The area was the border area towards the Italian occupation zone. The German Gottscheers would have been relocated to that area and would form an ethnic barrier to other Slovene lands. The rest of the Slovene population in Lower Styria was seen as
Wends
Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people ...
, which should have been assimilated. Nationalist activists and people who moved from other parts of Yugoslavia after 1919 were expelled to the puppet states of
Nedić's Serbia and
NDH. Because Hitler opposed having the ethnic German
Gottscheers Gottscheers are the German settlers of the Kočevje region (a.k.a. Gottschee) of Slovenia, formerly Gottschee County. Until the Second World War, their main language of communication was Gottscheerish, a Bavarian dialect of German.
Origins
Th ...
in the Italian occupation zone, they were moved out of it. About 46,000 Slovenes were transported to
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
in Germany in order to make space for the relocated Gottscheers.
The majority of Slovene victims during the war were from the northern Slovenia, i.e.
Lower Styria
Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...
,
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...
,
Central Sava Valley
The Central Sava Valley ( sl, Zasavje) is a valley in the Sava Hills and a geographic region along the Sava in central Slovenia, now constituting the Central Sava Statistical Region. The region consists of three municipalities: Zagorje ob Savi, ...
, and
Slovenian Carinthia
Carinthia ( sl, Koroška ; german: Kärnten), also Slovene Carinthia or Slovenian Carinthia (''Slovenska Koroška''), is a traditional region in northern Slovenia. The term refers to the small southeasternmost area of the former Duchy of Carinthi ...
. However, their formal annexation to the "German Reich" was postponed because of the installation of the new "Gauleiter" and "Reichsstatthalter" of
Carinthia first, and later the Nazis dropped the plan because of the
Slovene Partisans
The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, (NOV in POS) were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western ...
, with which they wanted to deal first. Only Meža valley initially became part of "
Reichsgau Carinthia
A (plural ) was an administrative subdivision created in a number of areas annexed by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945.
Overview
The term was formed from the words (realm, empire) and , the latter a deliberately medieval-sounding word wi ...
".
Nazi persecution of the Church
The Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in annexed Slovenia was akin to
that which occurred in the annexed regions of Poland. Within six weeks of the Nazi occupation, only 100 of the 831 priests in the
Diocese of Maribor and part of the
Diocese of Ljubljana remained free. Clergy were persecuted and sent to concentration camps, and religious Orders had their properties seized.
Under Fascist Italy's occupation
Compared to the German policies in the northern Nazi-occupied area of Slovenia and the forced
Fascist italianization
Italianization ( it, italianizzazione; hr, talijanizacija; french: italianisation; sl, poitaljančevanje; german: Italianisierung; el, Ιταλοποίηση) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or ass ...
in the former
Austrian Littoral that was annexed after the First World War, the initial Italian policy in the central Slovenia was not as violent. Tens of thousands of
Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their na ...
from German-occupied
Lower Styria
Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...
and
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...
escaped to the Province of Ljubljana until June 1941.
However, after resistance started in
Province of Ljubljana, Italian violence against the Slovene civil population easily matched that of the Germans.
[James H. Burgwyn (2004)]
General Roatta's war against the partisans in Yugoslavia: 1942
Journal of Modern Italian Studies, Volume 9, Number 3, pp. 314-329(16) The province saw the deportation of 25,000 people — which equated to 7.5% of the total population of the province — in one of the most drastic operations in Europe that filled up many
Italian concentration camps, such as
Rab concentration camp
The Rab concentration camp ( it, Campo di concentramento per internati civili di Guerra – Arbe; hr, Koncentracijski logor Rab; sl, Koncentracijsko taborišče Rab) was one of several Italian concentration camps. It was established during World ...
, in
Gonars concentration camp
The Gonars concentration camp was one of the several Italian concentration camps and it was established on February 23, 1942, near Gonars, Italy.
Many internees were transferred to this camp from the other Italian concentration camp, Rab concen ...
, Monigo (Treviso), Renicci d'Anghiari, Chiesanuova and elsewhere. To suppress the mounting resistance by the
Slovene Partisans
The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, (NOV in POS) were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western ...
,
Mario Roatta adopted draconian measures of
summary executions, hostage-taking, reprisals, internments, and the burning of houses and whole villages. The "3C" pamphlet, tantamount to a declaration of war on civilians, involved him in
Italian war crimes. A
barbed wire fence - which is now the
Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship - was put around
Ljubljana
Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center.
During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...
in order to prevent communication between the city's underground activists in Ljubljana and the majority of partisans in the surrounding countryside.
Resistance
On 26 April 1941, several groups formed the
Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation
The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation ( sl, Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene ...
, which was the leading resistance force during the war. The front was initially a democratic platform. With the
Dolomiti Declaration, signed in March 1943, the Communists, however, monopolized it.
It emitted its own radio program called ''Kričač'' the location of which never became known to occupying forces and they had to confiscate the receivers' antennas from the local population in order to prevent listening to the radio of the Slovene
Liberation Front. Its military arm was the Slovene Partisans. The Slovene Partisans retained their specific organizational structure and
Slovene language
Slovene ( or ), or alternatively Slovenian (; or ), is a South Slavic language, a sub-branch that is part of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by about 2.5 million speakers worldwide (excluding speak ...
as their commanding language until the last months of World War II, when their language was removed as the commanding language.
In March 1945, the Slovene Partisan Units were officially merged with the
Yugoslav Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...
and thus ceased to exist as a separate formation.
At the very beginning
Slovene Partisan forces were relatively small, poorly armed and without any infrastructure, but
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
veterans amongst them had some experience with guerrilla methods of fighting the enemy.
The partisan activities in the Slovene Lands were initially independent of Tito's Partisans in the south. In autumn 1942, Tito attempted for the first time to control the Slovene resistance movement. The merger of the Slovene Partisans with Tito's forces happened in 1944.
In December 1943,
Franja Partisan Hospital was built in difficult and rugged terrain, deep inside German-occupied Europe, only a few hours from Austria and the central parts of the Third Reich. German military activity was frequent in the general region throughout the operation of the hospital. It saw continuous improvements until May 1945.
Civil war and post-war killings
In the summer of 1942, a civil war between Slovenes broke out. The two fighting factions were the
Slovenian Partisans and the
Italian-sponsored anti-communist militia, nicknamed by communists the "White Guard", later re-organized under Nazi command as the
Slovene Home Guard
The Slovene Home Guard ( sl, Slovensko domobranstvo, SD; german: Slowenische Landeswehr) was a Slovene anti- Partisan military organization that was active during the 1943–1945 German occupation of the formerly Italian-occupied Province of Ljub ...
. Small units of Slovenian
Chetniks also existed in
Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region.
Geography
Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the n ...
and
Styria. The Partisans were under the command of the Liberation Front (OF) and
Tito's Yugoslav resistance, while the
Slovenian Covenant served as the political arm of the anti-Communist militia. The civil war was mostly restricted to the
Province of Ljubljana, where more than 80% of the Slovene anti-partisan units were active. Between 1943–1945, smaller anti-Communist militia existed in parts of the
Slovenian Littoral and in
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...
, while they were virtually non-existent in the rest of the country. By 1945, the total number of Slovene anti-Communist militiamen reached 17,500.
Immediately after the war, some 12,000 members of the Slovene Home Guard were killed in the
Kočevski Rog massacres, while thousands of anti-communist civilians were killed in the first year after the war.
[Godeša B., Mlakar B., Šorn M., Tominšek Rihtar T. (2002): "Žrtve druge svetovne vojne v Sloveniji". In: ''Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino'', str. 125–130.] These massacres were silenced, and remained a taboo topic until an interview with
Edvard Kocbek
Edvard Kocbek () (27 September 1904 – 3 November 1981) was a Slovenian poet, writer, essayist, translator, member of Christian Socialists in the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation and Slovene Partisans. He is considered one of the best au ...
was published by
Boris Pahor in his publication
Zaliv, causing the
1975 Zaliv Scandal in
Tito's Yugoslavia.
End of war and aftermath
World War II in the Slovene Lands lasted until the middle of May 1945. On 3 May, the
National State of Slovenia was proclaimed as part of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
. The liberation of Ljubljana, the capital city of the now independent
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
, was announced on 9 May 1945. The last battle was the
Battle of Poljana
The Battle of Poljana (Monday May 14 – Tuesday May 15, 1945) was a battle of World War II in Yugoslavia. It started outside of Poljana, near the village of Prevalje in Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), and was the culmination of a series of engageme ...
, which took place near
Prevalje
Prevalje (; German language, German: ''Prävali'') is a settlement in northern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Prevalje. It lies in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia, Slovenia, Carinthia. Prevalje lies in a valley wh ...
on 14 and 15 May 1945, a few days after the
formal surrender of the Nazi Germany. Hundreds of
ethnic Italians from the
Julian March
Venezia Giulia, traditionally called Julian March (Serbo-Croatian, Slovene: ''Julijska krajina'') or Julian Venetia ( it, Venezia Giulia; vec, Venesia Julia; fur, Vignesie Julie; german: Julisch Venetien) is an area of southeastern Europe wh ...
were killed by the Yugoslav Army and partisan forces in the
Foibe massacres; some 27,000
Istrian Italians
Istrian Italians are an ethnic group from the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic region of Istria in modern northwestern Croatia and southwestern Slovenia. Istrian Italians descend from the original Latinized population of Roman Empire, Roman Istria#Early h ...
fled
Slovenian Istria
Slovene Istria ( sl, slovenska Istra, it, Istria slovena) is a region in southwest Slovenia. It comprises the northern part of the Istrian peninsula, and it is part of the wider geographical-historical region known as the Slovene Littoral. Its l ...
from Communist persecution in the so-called
Istrian–Dalmatian exodus. Members of the ethnic German minority either fled or were expelled from Slovenia.
Number of victims
The overall number of World War II casualties in Slovenia is estimated at 97,000. The number includes about 14,000 people who were killed or died for other war-related reasons immediately after the end of the war,
and the tiny Jewish community, which was nearly annihilated in the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.
In addition, tens of thousands of Slovenes left their homeland soon after the end of the war. Most of them settled in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, Australia and in the United States.
The overall number of World War Two casualties in Slovenia is estimated to 89,000, while 14,000 people were killed immediately after the end of the war.
The overall number of World War II casualties in Slovenia was thus of around 7.2% of the pre-war population, which is above the Yugoslav average, and among the highest percentages in Europe.
Non-extradition of the Italian war criminals
The documents found in British archives by the British historian
Effie Pedaliu
Effie G. H. Pedaliu is an international historian, author and Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS. She has held posts at LSE, KCL and UWE. She is the author of Britain, Italy and the Origins of the Cold War, (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2003; pbk. edition 2 ...
and by Italian historian Davide Conti,
pointed out that the memory of the existence of the
Italian concentration camps and Italian war crimes has been repressed due to the Cold War.
[ Effie G. H. Pedaliu (2004]
Britain and the 'Hand-over' of Italian War Criminals to Yugoslavia, 1945-48.
''Journal of Contemporary History''. Vol. 39, No. 4, Special Issue: Collective Memory, pp. 503-529 (JStor.org preview) Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
requested
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
of 1,200 Italian war criminals who however never saw anything like
Nuremberg trial. The extradition never took place because the western allies' governments saw in
Pietro Badoglio's government a guarantee of an
anti-communist post-war Italy.
See also
*
Areas annexed by Nazi Germany
There were many areas annexed by Germany both immediately before and throughout the course of World War II. Territories that were part of Germany before the annexations were known as the "Altreich" (Old Reich).
Fully annexed territories
Ac ...
*
Foibe massacres
*
Gonars concentration camp
The Gonars concentration camp was one of the several Italian concentration camps and it was established on February 23, 1942, near Gonars, Italy.
Many internees were transferred to this camp from the other Italian concentration camp, Rab concen ...
*
Invasion of Yugoslavia
*
Italian war crimes
*
Maribor prison massacres
*
Province of Ljubljana
*
Rab concentration camp
The Rab concentration camp ( it, Campo di concentramento per internati civili di Guerra – Arbe; hr, Koncentracijski logor Rab; sl, Koncentracijsko taborišče Rab) was one of several Italian concentration camps. It was established during World ...
*
World War II in Yugoslavia
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the US ...
References
External links
*
*
Videoof the contribution by historian Damijan Guštin, delivered at th
Repression during World War II and in the post-war period in Slovenia and in the neighbouring countriesinternational conference, held at the
Institute of Contemporary History, Ljubljana, 2012.
{{Authority control
Yugoslavia in World War II
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...