Slovenia is celebrating the 60th anniversary of liberation from the Nazi occupation this month. At least 90,000 people are believed to have perished on the Slovenian territory during the four-year war and its aftermath.
The war started on 6 April 1941, when Germany, helped by its allies, invaded Yugoslavia, of which Slovenia was then part. The ethnically-divided kingdom capitulated only 11 days later to generate several resistance movements. Some later turned to collaborate with the invaders.
The foremost resistance movement to emerge in Slovenia was the "Anti-Imperialist Front", later known as the "Slovenian Liberation Front". It was established in Ljubljana as early as 26 April 1941, with the liberation and unification of all Slovenians set down as its main goals.
Soon after it was set up, the organisation became dominated by the Communist Party, which pledged to introduce socialism after the war and bring about the unity of five nations in the then Yugoslavia. It joined the Yugoslav Partisans led by Tito.
Yet the Front was fighting not only the Nazi and Fascist forces, but also the "White Guard", later known as "Domobranci" or "Home Guard", a militia that opposed the communist ideas and started to cooperate with the occupying forces. This resulted in what many historians describe as a civil war or revolution.
The Slovenian territory was not liberated all at once. Partisans first conquered the north-eastern region of Prekmurje in the first days of April 1945, while the last region to be liberated was Korosko, in the north, one month and a half later.
The nation welcomed the liberation torn apart: while some were rejoicing at the victory of the Communists, others saw in communism a threat to their future. In the first days of May, crowds of collaborators or merely communist opponents, including many intellectuals, tried to get out of the country.
According to some estimations, some 25,000 people (among them several thousand "domobranci") attempted to cross the borders, however most were sent back by the British troops only to face summary executions by partisans.
While the reasons for the repatriation of "domobranci" by the British remain unknown, it is estimated that 7,000 to 15,000 were executed in the aftermath of the war.
Most of the executions were carried out in the virgin forests of Kocevski Rog, south-east, and abandoned mineshafts of Zasavje coalmines, central Slovenia. Many were also killed at Teharje near the central city of Celje, where a memorial has been erected recently.
As for the total death toll of WWII, the figures of the Slovenian Institute of Contemporary History suggest that some 90,000 people died between April 1941 and February 1946. Some historians even put the number at 100,000.
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