President Drnovsek Calls for Reconciliation and Forgiveness

Teharje, 11 June

President Janez Drnovsek called for reconciliation and forgiveness as he addressed the national remembrance ceremony for the victims of post-war summary killings at the Teharje Memorial Park on Saturday.

"Never again may Slovenians kill Slovenians. We may never forget what happened in the Second World War and after it. Let us honour the victims and give them dignity at least in death," Drnovsek stressed.
Emphasising that life today and tomorrow may not be encumbered with the past and old grudges, Drnovsek said it nevertheless needs to be based on truth, including the truth of what happened at Teharje 60 years ago.
Disputes may only be resolved peacefully, with democratic dialogue and legal means, "with respect for each human being, understanding and respect for mutual differences. Sometimes we have to forgive each other," he said.
According to the president, "for decades we only celebrated the stellar victory over the occupying forces and domestic traitors, while the dark sides of the revolutionary victory were kept secret. Most Slovenians knew nothing about that, for a long time they only suspected a human tragedy."
"This crime does not weigh down on the many partisans who fought bravely against the occupying forces...Nor does it weigh down on most people, Communists who wanter a more just society. But it does weigh down on revolutionary leaders who were unscrupulously willing to kill thousands of people, regardless of their actual guilt," he added.
Attended among others by by PM Janez Jansa, government ministers and members of the diplomatic corps, the ceremony was held at the Teharje memorial near Celje, which was unveiled in October 2004.
Designed by architect Marko Music at the site of what was initially a Nazi-run prison camp which the the partisans took control of after the withdrawal of the German army at the end of WWI, the Teharje memorial is the largest such monument in Slovenia.
Some 5,000 suspected "Domobranci" or "Home Guard" are believed to have been brought to the location in the period immediately after the end of the Second World War. The majority of the prisoners, some 4,000 adults, were executed for their alleged links to the Germans.

President Drnovsek Calls for Reconciliation and Forgiveness

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