Janez Oraže

Janez Oraže (born May 12, 1925 in Zell , Slovenian: Sele; died April 29, 1943 in Vienna ), also Johann Orasche , was a Carinthian Slovene who was beheaded by the Nazi regime at the age of 17 .

Life

The Slovenian partisans in Carinthia were one of the very few groups in Austria to offer armed resistance against the Nazi regime. “The basis was formed by Carinthian Slovenes who - in order not to have to serve in the German armed forces - fled to Yugoslavia from 1939 and returned after the German occupation in 1941. They hid near their home communities, where they could count on the support of relatives and friends. Often they later joined the Osvobodilna fronta (Liberation Front) - a coalition of several groups under communist leadership. "

The mother of Oraže lived with her brother Jernej Oraže on the farm vlg. Ožbavt in Zell / Sele . After the "Anschluss" of Austria, the family joined the resistance of the Carinthian Slovenes , which increased especially after the evacuation and deportation of over 900 Slovenes to the "Altreich" in April 1941. After attending elementary school in Zell, Johann became a post office worker (postman) and worked first in Klagenfurt and later in Mallnitz .

Mother and uncle supported the Wehrmacht deserters who had returned from Yugoslavia , and the family's house became a meeting place for the deserters . Johann looked after the deserters on the Setitsche Hill. After the bunker at the Hlipovtschnikhube was blown up on December 1, 1942, uncle, mother and Janez Oraže were arrested by the Gestapo on January 12, 1943 after evaluating Thomas Olip's diary .

In front of the People's Court , to which Roland Freisler came to take over the chairmanship, it was discussed that the armed forces deserters Jakob Oraže and Thomas Olip came and went on the family farm. “Oraze's“ crime ”consisted of meeting“ deserters ”several times - for example with his mother, who provided them with food - without filing a complaint. It was also proven that he had once brought wine and beer to one of their hiding places. The saying "Same brothers - same caps" applies to Oraže, the People's Court later ruled: "Anyone who has such a close association with the desert bandits belongs entirely to them."

The show trial took place in Klagenfurt from April 7th to 9th, 1943. 35 partisans and supporters were charged . A total of 13 death sentences were passed, including Janez and his uncle Jernej. Janez Oraže was treated like an adult according to the “Ordinance for the Protection against Young Criminals”. The mother was sentenced to 5 years in prison. One of the surviving defendants, Katarina Pasterk , later described in an interview: "They chased us into the hall, then the judges came, how bad that was, everyone in these red coats, they came in like devils."

The verdict against Janez Oraže says: “Those who acted like him adopt the methods and goals of the terrorists. The strong hatred against Germany that animates this accused is shown by the following: In the main hearing he - an employee of the German Reichspost !!! - In response to his police confessions meant that the officers could write a lot in it and as a suspicion that it was also read to him, it was possible that the officers withheld parts of the protocol while reading it out! If he is still young, his actions and doggedness show that he is already a full-fledged criminal. "

The 17-year-old was executed together with twelve other resistance fighters just twenty days later in the Vienna Regional Court. The report to the Oberreichsanwalt reads: “The judgment [...] was carried out on the 13 people sentenced to death on April 29, 1943 from 6:25 p.m. to 7:06 p.m. The enforcement went without any special features. "

memory

The remains of Oraže were transferred to Zell / Sele with those of the other resistance fighters in 1949. A plaque on the church of Sele-cerkev commemorates six executed Carinthian Slovenes from Sele-cerkev and Obirsko .

literature

• Franc Kattnig (Ed.): All Slovenes. Attempt of documentation from the files of the People's Court in Berlin . Self-published, Klagenfurt / Celovec 1978.
• Wilhelm Baum (Hrsg.): The diary of Thomas Olip. Like a bird in a cage . Klagenfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-902585-56-1 .
• Wilhelm Baum: The Freisler Trials in Carinthia, Kitab, Klagenfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-902585-77-6 .
• Bailer , Maderthaner , Scholz (ed.): "The enforcement went without any special features". Executions in Vienna, 1938-1945. Vienna, undated, 79-81. Online version (with a photograph of the memorial stone for the executed person): [1]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bailer, Maderthaner, Scholz, page 79
2. ↑ Bailer, Maderthaner, Scholz, page 81