Preliminary communication
Zagreb’s Slovenian Exiles’ ("izgnanci") Memories of Forced Deportations from Slovenia during World War II
Filip Škiljan
orcid.org/0000-0001-7979-1359
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Barbara Riman
; Institute for Etnic Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Based on the testimonies of individuals from the Zagreb Section of the
Society of Slovenian Exiles, the authors record various data on the forced
exile from Slovenia in 1941. Following the short military conflict in April
1941, Slovenia was divided between Hungary, Germany and Italy. The
Germans had a plan wherein they would forcibly deport the local
Slovenian population from Styria (and in part Lower Carniola), then resettle
migrants of German nationality (primarily from Gottschee) into their homes.
The storytellers, most of whom were at the time children, recount their
preparations for this forced exile, leaving their homes, and being brought
to the labour camp Brestanica/Rajhenburg (ger. Reichenburg) and to
Maribor, after which they were deported to Germany, the Independent
State of Croatia or Serbia. Life in camps in Germany was very hard for most
storytellers, and only few of them were lucky enough to be placed in
German homes as help. In German camps, the Slovenians underwent heavy
Germanisation, which is recounted by most of the witnesses, who were
children at the time. After being forcibly moved to the Independent State of
Croatia and its camp in Slavonska Požega, the Slovenians were then
reallocated to the estates of Serbs who were previously forcibly deported to
Serbia. Research shows that the position of the izgnanci in Croatia was
worse than that of the izgnanci in Germany, as they were, for the most
part, left to their own devices in Croatia. After the end of the war, most of
the exiled Slovenians returned to their original homes. Upon return, they
largely found ruined and abandoned houses, and were forced to start their
lives over with nothing.
Today, there are almost no living izgnanci who were older than 15 at
the time of the exile and deportation. Therefore, the statements given by the witnesses in 2019 and 2020 were mostly given by persons who were no
older than 8 at the moment of the exile. Collecting their memories is a
challenge and it is high time to record their statements about these events
from those witnesses who are still alive.
Keywords
Slovenians; migrations; forced deportation; World War II
Hrčak ID:
249010
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2020.
Visits: 1.543 *