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
A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...
[ Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence'', Oxford University Press, ]
p. 87
/ref>[Adams, Simon (2005): ''The Balkans'', Black Rabbit Books, ]
p. 1981
/ref> led by Yugoslav
Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to:
* Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name:
** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...
communists during World War II, the Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, Slovene language, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НО� ...
. Since a quarter of Slovene ethnic territory and approximately 327,000 out of total population of 1.3[Lipušček, U. (2012) ''Sacro egoismo: Slovenci v krempljih tajnega londonskega pakta 1915'', Cankarjeva založba, Ljubljana. ] million Slovenes were subjected to forced 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 a ...
[Cresciani, Gianfranco (2004]
Clash of civilisations
, Italian Historical Society Journal, Vol.12, No.2, p.4 since the end of the First World War, the objective of the movement was the establishment of the state of Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, History ...
that would include the majority of Slovenes within a socialist Yugoslav federation
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
in the postwar period.
Slovenia was in a rare position in Europe during the Second World War because only Greece shared its experience of being divided between three or more countries. However, Slovenia was the only one that experienced a further step—absorption and annexation into neighboring Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, 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 ...
, Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
, and Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
. As the very existence of the Slovene nation was threatened, the Slovene support for the Partisan movement was much more solid than in Croatia or Serbia. An emphasis on the defence of ethnic identity was shown by naming the troops after important Slovene poets and writers, following the example of the Ivan Cankar
Ivan Cankar (, ) (10 May 1876 – 11 December 1918) was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet, and political activist. Together with Oton Župančič, Dragotin Kette, and Josip Murn, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Sl ...
battalion.[Štih, P.; Simoniti, V.; Vodopivec, P. (2008) ''A Slovene History: Society, politics, culture''. Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino. Ljubljana.](_blank)
p.426. Slovene Partisans were the armed wing of 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 ...
, a resistance political organization and party coalition for what the Partisans referred to as the Slovene Lands
The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provi ...
. The Liberation Front was founded and directed by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...
(KPJ), more specifically its Slovene branch: the Communist Party of Slovenia
The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establi ...
.
Being the first organized military force in the history of Slovenes, the Slovene Partisans were in the beginning organized as guerrilla units, and later as an army. Their opponents were the Axis forces in Slovenia, and after the summer of 1942, also anti-Communist Slovene forces. The Slovene Partisans were mostly ethnically homogeneous and primarily communicated in Slovene. These two features have been considered vital for their success. Their most characteristic symbol was a cap known as a ''triglavka
The triglavka or Triglav cap (in Slovenia) or the partizanka or Partizan cap (in Croatia) is a side cap that was a part of the Yugoslav Partisan uniform in Croatia, Slovenia and western Bosnia. There, it was the most characteristic part of Partisan ...
''. They were subordinated to the civil resistance authority. The Partisan movement in Slovenia, though a part of the wider Yugoslav Partisans, was operationally autonomous from the rest of the movement, being geographically separated, and full contact with the remainder of the Partisan army occurred after the breakthrough of Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
's forces through to Slovenia in 1944.
Background
After World War I ended in 1918, the Slovene-settled territory partially fell under the rule of the neighboring states of Italy, Austria, and Hungary. Slovenes there were subjected to policies of forced assimilation
Forced assimilation is an involuntary process of cultural assimilation of religious or ethnic minority groups during which they are forced to adopt language, identity, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, way of ...
.
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 ...
. Slovenia was divided among the Axis powers: 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 ...
annexed southern Slovenia and Ljubljana, 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 ...
took northern and eastern Slovenia, and Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
annexed the 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 ...
region. Some villages 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 ...
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 ...
.
The Nazis started a policy of violent Germanisation
Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...
. In the frame of their plan for the ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population trans ...
of Slovene territory, tens of thousands of Slovenes were resettled or chased away, imprisoned, or transported to labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
, internment and extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s. The majority of Slovene victims of the Axis authorities were from the regions annexed by the Germans, 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 of ...
, 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 ...
.
The Italian policy in the Province of Ljubljana The Province of Ljubljana ( it, Provincia di Lubiana, sl, Ljubljanska pokrajina, german: Provinz Laibach) was the central-southern area of Slovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by Fascist Italy, and after 1943 occupied by Nazi Germany. Created on May 3 ...
gave Slovenes cultural autonomy, however the Fascist
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
system was systematically introduced. After the establishment of the Liberation Front, the violence against the Slovene civil population in the zone escalated and easily matched the German. The province was subjected to brutal repression. Alongside summary execution
A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a Right to a fair trial, full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary offense, summary justice (such as a drumhea ...
s, the burning of houses and villages, hostage-taking and hostage executions, the Province of Ljubljana saw the deportation of 25,000 people, which equaled 7.5% of the total population, to different concentration camps.
Formation, organisation, and ideological affiliation of the membership
In both Slovene Partisans squads and in the "field committees" of 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 ...
the Communists were indeed in the minority. During the course of the war, the influence of the Communist Party of Slovenia
The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establi ...
started to grow. Nowhere else in Yugoslav territory did the Partisan movement have a plural political composition like it did have in Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation, so the Yugoslav Communist Party wanted that the Slovene partisans should be brought under more exclusive Communist control. This was not officially declared until the Dolomite Declaration The Dolomite Declaration ( sl, Dolomitska izjava), signed on March 1, 1943,Cox, John K. 2005. ''Slovenia: Evolving Loyalties''. New York: Routledge, p. 43. marked the transition of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People
The Liberation Front ...
of 1 March 1943.
The High Command of the Slovene Partisans (Supreme Command at first) was established by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia
The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establi ...
on 22 June 1941. The command members were the commander Franc Leskošek
Frank Leskošek (nom de guerre Luka; 9 December 1897 Celje – 5 July 1983 Ljubljana) was a Yugoslav politician and partisan commander.
Biography
Born in Celje, Slovenia, Leskošek worked as a locksmith in his youth. He was drafted in to the Au ...
(nom de guerre Luka), the political commissar Boris Kidrič
Boris Kidrič (10 April 1912 – 11 April 1953) was a Slovene politician and revolutionary who was one of the chief organizers of the Slovene Partisans, the Slovene resistance against occupation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy after Operation ...
(succeeded by Miha Marinko
Miha Marinko (8 September 1900 – 19 August 1983) was a Slovenian revolutionary and communist statesman who served as Prime Minister of Slovenia from June 1946 to 1953. During the latter part of 1953, he served as the president of the executive c ...
), deputy commander Aleš Bebler
Aleš Bebler (8 June 1907 – 12 August 1981) was a Yugoslav diplomat and a political Commissar. He was a Slovene by ethnicity and was born in present day Slovenia.
Bebler joined the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1929, while the organization was ...
(nom de guerre Primož), and members Stane Žagar, Oskar Kovačič Oskar may refer to:
* oskar (gene), the Drosophila gene
* Oskar (given name), masculine given name
See also
* Oscar (disambiguation)
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name ...
, Miloš Zidanšek, Dušan Podgornik
Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Душан) is a Slavic given name primarily used in countries of Yugoslavia; and among Slovaks and Czechs. The name is derived from the Slavic noun ''duša'' "soul".
Occurrence
In Serbia, it was the 29th most popular name ...
, and Marijan Brecelj
Marijan is a male Croats, Croatian first name. The Macedonian version of this name is Marjan.
Marijan is also a last name found in Croatia.
People named Marijan
*Marijan Beneš – Croatian boxer
*Marijan Brkić Brk – Croatian musician
*Mari ...
. The decision to start armed resistance was passed at a meeting on 16 July 1941.
The first partisan shot in the Slovene Lands
The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provi ...
was fired by one Miha Novak on 22 July 1941 at a former Yugoslav policeman who was claimed to have collaborated with the Germans and to have betrayed to them local supporters of the Communist Party. The man was attacked by the Šmarna Gora
Mount Saint Mary ( sl, Šmarna gora, german: Großkahlenberg''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 115.), originally known as Holm, is an ins ...
Partisan group from an ambush at Pšatnik Forest near Tacen
Tacen (; in older sources also ''Tacenj'',''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 114–115. german: Tazen) is a formerly independent settle ...
. The Germans arrested about 30 people and executed two of them.
In the latter Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...
, 22 July was celebrated as the Day of the National Rising. The historian Jože Dežman
Jože Dežman (born 26 September 1955) is a Slovenian historian, museum curator, philosopher and editor. He served as the director of the National Museum of Contemporary History in Ljubljana. Since March 2012, he has been the director of the Arc ...
stated in 2005 that this was a celebration of a day when a Slovene wounded another Slovene by shooting and that it symbolised the victory of the Communist Party over its own nation. In addition to the war against the Axis forces, there was a civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
going on in the Slovene Lands and both the Communist and the anti-Communist side tried to cover it, according to Dežman.
At the very beginning the Partisan forces were 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 Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
veterans amongst them had some experience with guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run ...
. Some of the members of Liberation Front and partisans were ex-members of the TIGR
TIGR, an abbreviation for ''Trst'', ''Istra'', ''Gorica'', and ''Reka'', full name Revolutionary Organization of the Julian March T.I.G.R. ( sl, Revolucionarna organizacija Julijske krajine T.I.G.R.), was a militant anti-fascist and insurgent or ...
resistance movement.
Autonomy
The partisan activities in Slovenia 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. Arso Jovanović
Arsenije "Arso" Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Арсо Јовановић; 24 March 1907 – 12 August 1948) was a Yugoslav partisan general and one of the country's foremost military commanders during World War II in Yugoslavia.
Educated through the Y ...
, a leading Yugoslav communist who was sent from Tito's Supreme Command of Yugoslav partisan resistance, ended his mission to establish central control over the Slovene partisans unsuccessfully in April 1943.
The merger of the Slovene Partisans with Tito's forces happened in 1944. 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 spea ...
as commanding language until the last months of World War II, when their language was removed as the commanding language. From 1942 till after 1944, they wore the ''triglavka
The triglavka or Triglav cap (in Slovenia) or the partizanka or Partizan cap (in Croatia) is a side cap that was a part of the Yugoslav Partisan uniform in Croatia, Slovenia and western Bosnia. There, it was the most characteristic part of Partisan ...
'', which was then gradually replaced with the ''Titovka'' cap as part of their uniform. 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 arm ...
and thus ceased to exist as a separate formation. The General Staff of the Slovene Partisan Army was abolished in May 1945.
Cooperation with Allies
In June 1943 Major William Jones arrived at the high command of the Slovene resistance units located in the Kočevje forest as the envoy of a British-American military mission, and one month later the Slovene Partisans received their first consignment of arms from the Allies.
Number of combatants
The estimates of the number of Slovene Partisans differ. Despite solid support among Slovenes, the numbers of Slovene Partisans was quite small and increased only in the latter stages of the war. There were no more than 700–800 Slovene Partisans in August 1941, about 2000 in the end of 1941, 5,500 in September 1943, at the time of the capitulation of Italy
The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II.
It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Briga ...
. According to Slovene Historical Atlas
Slovene or Slovenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe
* Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia
* Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia
* Sl ...
, published in 2011, in summer 1942 there were 5,300 Slovene partisans and 400 members of the Home Guard, a year after in summer 1943 there was unchanged number, i.e. 5,300 Slovene partisans, but the number of members of the Home Guard increased to 6,000, also there were 200 members of the Slovene Chetniks, in autumn 1943 (after the capitulation of Italian army) there were 20,000 Slovene partisans, 3,000 members of the Home Guard and no Slovene Chetniks left, while in summer 1944 there were 30,000 Slovene partisans, 17,000 members of the Home Guard and 500 members of the Slovene Chetniks, and in winter 1945 the number of Slovene partisans increased to 34,000, while the number of members of the Home Guard and members of the Slovene Chetniks was unchanged.
In December 1944, there were 38,000 Slovene Partisans, which was the peak number.
Ethnic German Partisans
Although the majority of Gottschee
Gottschee (, sl, Kočevsko) refers to a former German-speaking region in Carniola, a crownland of the Habsburg Empire, part of the historical and traditional region of Lower Carniola, now in Slovenia. The region has been a county, duchy, district ...
ethnic Germans obeyed the Nazi Germany which issued an order that all of them should relocate from Province of Ljubljana The Province of Ljubljana ( it, Provincia di Lubiana, sl, Ljubljanska pokrajina, german: Provinz Laibach) was the central-southern area of Slovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by Fascist Italy, and after 1943 occupied by Nazi Germany. Created on May 3 ...
, which had been annexed by the Fascist Italy, to the "Ranner Dreieck" or Brežice
Brežice (; german: Rann ) is a town in eastern Slovenia in the Lower Sava Valley, near the Croatian border. It is the seat of the Municipality of Brežice. It lies in the center of the Brežice Plain ( sl, Brežiško polje), which is part of the ...
Triangle, which was in the German annexation zone, 56 refused to leave their homes, and instead joined Slovene Partisans fighting against the Italians.
Logistics
In December 1943, Franja Partisan Hospital
Franja Partisan Hospital ( sl, Partizanska bolnica Franja) was a secret World War II hospital at Dolenji Novaki near Cerkno in western Slovenia. It was run by the Slovene Partisans from December 1943 until the end of the war as part of a broadl ...
was built in difficult and rugged terrain, only a few hours from Austria and the central parts of Germany.
Civil war and postwar killings
The civil war that broke out in Slovenia during the Second World War was, ideologically and politically, the result of the conflict between two
authoritarian ideologies: Bolshevik communism and Catholic clericalism. Communists were unreceptive to warnings of harmful consequences of the rash elimination of opponents. With the success of the Slovene Partisan movement in spring and summer 1942, they began to be convinced that the national liberation phase was to be continued with the revolutionary one, which had already led to violent encounters with Catholic activists, who began to leave the Partisan ranks. The Communist security service killed 60 people in the first few months of 1942 in Ljubljana alone; people who the Communist leadership had proclaimed as collaborators and informers. After the assassination of Lambert Ehrlich
Lambert Ehrlich (18 September 1878 – 26 May 1942)Mlakar, Boris. 1989. “Lambert Ehrlich”. ''Enciklopedija Slovenije,'' vol. 3. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga. was a Carinthian Slovene Roman Catholic priest, political figure, and ethnologist.
E ...
, and 429 shot by VOS (varnostno-obeščevalna služba; security and intelligence service) agents in May 1942, and especially the murder of a number of priests, Bishop Rožman rejected the OF (osvobodilna fronta; liberation front) and Partisans outright. Part of the clergy continued to support the Partisan movement and performed religious ceremonies for them, burying killed Partisans in church graveyards, etc. Gottschee
Gottschee (, sl, Kočevsko) refers to a former German-speaking region in Carniola, a crownland of the Habsburg Empire, part of the historical and traditional region of Lower Carniola, now in Slovenia. The region has been a county, duchy, district ...
ethnic German priest Josef Gliebe, who preferred to stay with those who did not want to be moved away, has been helping Partisans with food, shoes and clothes, being labelled "red one" by 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 ...
.
In the summer of 1942, a civil war between Slovenes broke out. The two fighting factions were the Slovenian 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 ...
and the Italian-sponsored anti-communist militia, known as 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
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nation ...
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 ...
and Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
. The Partisans were under the command of the Liberation Front (OF) and Tito
Tito may refer to:
People Mononyms
*Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman
*Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journal ...
's Yugoslav resistance, while the Slovenian Covenant The Slovene Covenant (''Slovenska zaveza'') was an underground anti-communist organisation formed in Slovenia in April 1942 by a number of non-communist political parties after the killing of Avgust Praprotnik (1891–1942) by operatives from the Se ...
served as the political arm of the anti-Communist militia. The civil war was mostly restricted to the Province of Ljubljana The Province of Ljubljana ( it, Provincia di Lubiana, sl, Ljubljanska pokrajina, german: Provinz Laibach) was the central-southern area of Slovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by Fascist Italy, and after 1943 occupied by Nazi Germany. Created on May 3 ...
, where more than 80% of the Slovene anti-partisan units were active. Between 1943 and 1945, smaller anti-Communist militia existed in parts of the Slovene Littoral
The Slovene Littoral ( sl, Primorska, ; it, Litorale; german: Küstenland) is one of the five traditional regions of Slovenia. Its name recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg possessions on the upper Adr ...
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.[''Slovenski zgodovinski atlas'' (Ljubljana: Nova revija, 2011), 186.] Over 28,000 Partisans were killed due to the war, compared to over 14,000 anti-Communists, most of which were killed after the war. The Slovene Partisans and revolutionary forces killed over 24,000 Slovenes during and after World War II, and contributed to the killings of 15% of all Slovene victims of the war. The anti-communist forces killed about 4,400 Slovenes in their independent actions, not including those killed in joint actions with the Axis forces; those are attributed to the Axis forces.
Notable members
Members of Slovene Partisans who are today internationally most notable include:
*Jože Brilej
Jože Brilej (nom de guerre "Bolko," 1 January 1910 – 8 May 1981) was a diplomat, politician, ambassador, colonel, Partisan, war hero, revolutionary, lawyer, judge, and close associate of Josip Broz Tito.
Career
Brilej was born in Prese ...
(1910-1981) politician, diplomat, President of the United Nations Security Council
The presidency of the United Nations Security Council is responsible for leading the United Nations Security Council. It rotates among the 15 member-states of the council monthly. The head of the country's delegation is known as the President of t ...
, Chief Justice of the 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, and ...
n supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
* Karel "Kajuh" Destovnik (1922-1944) poet and literary hero
*Boris Pahor
Boris Pahor, OMRI (; 26 August 1913 – 30 May 2022) was a Slovene novelist from Trieste, Italy, who was best known for his heartfelt descriptions of life as a member of the Slovenian minority in pre–Second World War increasingly fascist It ...
, a writer and public intellectual, Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
survivor, who opposed Italian Fascism and Titoist
Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in the ...
Communism, as well.
See also
*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 U ...
*Monuments to the Slovene Partisans
Monuments to the Slovene Partisans is a common term for memorial plaques, obelisks, monuments, stationary and other sculptures erected after World War II in memory of deceased partisans and hostages shot or hung. They mark battle sites, partisa ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Website of
the Union of Societies of Combatants of the Slovene National Liberation Struggle
of the Union of Societies of Combatants of the Slovene National Liberation Struggle
the Union of Societies of Combatants of the Slovene National Liberation Struggle
{{Resistance in World War II by country
Slovene Resistance
*Slovene
Anti-fascism in Yugoslavia
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
Slovenia in World War II