Retired Archbishop Wonders When Slovenians Will Truly Be Free

Kocevje, 11 June

Franc Perko, the retired archbishop of Belgrade, wondered until when the Communist totalitarian mentality will reign in Slovenia, asking "when will we truly be free", at a mass commemorating the post World War II killings of domobranci (Home Guard) on Sunday.

At the 17th mass, which took place in the Kocevski Rog forest near a chapel marking one of the pits where the victorious Partisan forces committed the killings, Perko (77) added that reconciliation requires the condemnation of WWII crimes committed by both sides.
"People were force-fed Communist fairy tales... communists were heroes, while the others were traitors and collaborators," which is why revealing the truth and striving for justice and reconciliation are our moral duties, added Perko, who held the post between 1986 and 2001.
According to Perko, Slovenians were the victims of totalitarian Fascism, Nazism and Communism during WWII. While the Slovenian nation had rightly stood up in arms against the occupying, mainly German and Italian, forces, the communists used the uprising to carry out a revolution.
He claimed that Slovenian Communist leaders were heavily influenced by Stalin and his methods, while many Slovenes were in consequence forced to stand up against their terror and in defence of their lives and religious values.
Yet, he believes that things have been changing in the past years, as more and more information on crimes committed by the Communist Party are coming to light.
The mass and the ceremony were also attended by Speaker France Cukjati, Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk, Health Minister Andrej Brucan and Labour, Family and Social Affairs Minister Janez Drobnic.
It is believed that the majority of domobranci, transported back to Yugoslavia from Austria by the British allied forces between in late May 1945, were killed in Kocevski Rog. Some estimates put the numbers at 11,100 officers and up to 600 civilians.

Retired Archbishop Wonders When Slovenians Will Truly Be Free

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