Deportation of Carinthians to Yugoslavia in 1945

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For over of Carinthian to Yugoslavia occurred in May 1945 after advancing Yugoslav Partisans in the to Austria belonging Carinthia .

course

Table of Austrian civilians abducted, missing and murdered by partisans in May 1945 from the state of Carinthia (NIU Press Northern Illinois University Press, USA, 2016.)

The partisans had organized themselves underground in Carinthia from 1941. On 8 May 1945 reached regular units then the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army Carinthia in a race with the British Army and held parts of the country occupied until they withdrew under pressure from Britain until May 21

Austrian citizens accused of cooperating with the National Socialists were abducted from the Austrian Carinthia to Yugoslavia by the Slovenian security organs (VDV - Vojska državne varnosti, "State Security Army") . According to the “official account” of the Carinthian Security Directorate, over 220 people in the Klagenfurt and Rosental area and 43 in the Jauntal region were arrested by Yugoslav-Slovenian organs. While the latter 43 were brought to Katzenstein Castle in Begunje (Vigaun) in the Upper Carniola , the prisoners from the Rosental and Klagenfurt area, who were brought in the direction of Dravograd (Unterdrauburg, former Crown Land of Carinthia ), got into the area of ​​the final battles after the capitulation of the German Wehrmacht and the Bleiburg massacre . The prisoners were interrogated in Hirschenau Castle near Völkermarkt . 46 people were singled out and taken to Prevalje (Prävali), from where none returned. The others were taken to Streiteben Castle , where four people "disappeared". 32 men and women were taken to the Maribor prison from Streiteben and did not return either. The remaining Austrians imprisoned in Streiteben were transferred to the Sterntal camp at the end of May 1945 , where two of them died. In late summer 1945, a portion of the trapped in Sterntal Austrians held was released, the other early 1946. Of the 263 arrested in Carinthia men and women turned 96 not returned and as missing reported. Of the 38 captured in Klagenfurt and the surrounding area, 22 did not return. According to the chairman of the Slovenian commission for the investigation of the hidden graves from the post-war period, Marko Štrovs , according to the evaluation of testimony in the context of the most recent investigations by the Slovenian side, several are believed to be in a mass grave near Leše / Liescha .

Scientific assessments

More than half of the 263 Austrians arrested from Carinthia in May 1945 were released by the partisans. 96 of the so-called Austrian “deportees” from Carinthia, Austria, were not returned home and were most likely murdered. In addition to the 96 people, there are 32 Austrian Carinthian civil servants who were missing in Oberkrain and who also never returned home. A total of 128 Carinthian Austrian citizenship did not return in May 1945. There is evidence that two arrested people were killed on Austrian territory. According to scientific research, it can be assumed that 130 Austrian Carinthians were most likely killed by the Yugoslav partisans in May 1945. However, reliable data based on the actual exhumations of the so-called abducted Carinthians are not yet available. The figures given in the research refer mainly to sources from the Carinthian Security Directorate. The mass murder was mainly aimed at Yugoslav citizens: on the one hand, the victorious communist partisans took revenge on their inferior enemies, but the murders also served the purpose of eliminating possible future political competitors and securing rule in post-war Yugoslavia.

literature

  • Official description of the kidnappings of civilians from Carinthia in 1945 by members of the Yugoslav partisan associations and the fate of the civil officials from Austria who were missing in Upper Carniola. Written by the Security Directorate for the federal state of Carinthia. Zl. 500 / g / SD / 52 / A. 80 pages.
  • Alfred Elste, Michael Koschat, Paul Strohmaier: Victims, perpetrators, informers. "Partisan Justice" using the example of the kidnappings in Carinthia and Styria in May / June 1945: law or revenge? 2nd, unchanged edition. Mohorjeva, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-7086-0162-5 .
  • Tamara Griesser-Pečar: The torn people. Slovenia 1941-1946. Occupation, collaboration, civil war, revolution. (= Studies on politics and administration. Vol. 86). Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2003, ISBN 3-205-77062-5 .
  • Stefan Karner : The German-speaking ethnic group in Slovenia. Aspects of their development 1939–1997. Hermagoras, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85013-592-6 .
  • Florian Thomas Rulitz: The tragedy of Bleiburg and Viktring. Partisan violence in Carinthia using the example of anti-communist refugees in May 1945. New edition. Hermagoras, Klagenfurt / Ljubljana / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-7086-0616-3 .
  • Rulitz Florian Thomas: The Bleiburg massacre - forgotten victims of the partisans in May 1945 in Carinthia. The Carinthian Landsmannschaft culture, country, people; Contributions to folklore, history, society and natural history 9–10 / 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Carinthian Partisans. DÖW - Documentation Archive, accessed on May 11, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Lisa Rettl : Unbearable Austrian disease. In: diepresse.com. July 7, 2011, accessed August 28, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Official description of the kidnappings of civilians from Carinthia in 1945 by members of the Yugoslav partisan associations as well as the fate of the civil officials from Austria who were missing in Upper Carniola. Written by the Security Directorate for the federal state of Carinthia. Zl. 500 / g / SD / 52 / A. 80 pages.
  4. ↑ MN, Koroška: V na novo potrjenem povojnem grobišču 700 žrtev? [700 victims in the newly confirmed post-war mass grave?], RTV Slovenija, September 5, 2010.
  5. ↑ Peter Stachel: Review of: Rulitz, Florian Thomas: Die Tragödie von Bleiburg and Viktring. Partisan violence in Carinthia using the example of anti-communist refugees in May 1945. Klagenfurt 2011, in: H-Soz-Kult (communication and specialist information for the historical sciences), November 14, 2013.