- Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes
Published by the EU Council and European Commission in 2008
One of the few references in English that discusses the crimes committed by totalitarian forces (communist/Partisan), in addition to fascist and Nazi totalitarian forces, in eastern Europe during WWII is “Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes”. It was organized by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission in 2008.
Articles are from throughout the EU, but a number of them are about Slovenia. A theme running throughout the articles is the need to treat all three forms of totalitarianism similarly. The three forms are Nazism, fascism, and communism. Slovenia was the only country in Europe to experience all three of these forms during WWII. Even today, Slovenia has yet to admit that communism is one form of totalitarianism.
The totalitarian regimes experienced by Europe in the past century managed to assume and strengthen their power not only through lies but also through mass murder, or, as we would call it today, crimes against humanity. A common expression for this is “gross and systematic violation of fundamental human rights”, which, as stated by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also includes the right to life. Many lives were taken without court proceedings and many guilty verdicts were passed by using discriminatory legislation without actual guilt being proven or a fair trial being enabled. The opponents of totalitarian authorities and of their laws were tortured and treated in an inhuman and humiliating way, and were sometimes forced to work in labour and concentration camps. What is more, totalitarian powers were also known for blatantly violating the freedom of expression and for discriminating.
Very importantly, these articles touch on the rule of law, specifically crimes against humanity. It seems that most discussions and books in English on Slovenia during this period do not discuss that it is illegal, a crime, to mass murder people without trials. It is a violation of law to take groups of refugees or former combatants off a train, execute them and dump them. It is a crime against humanity to take women, rape them, kill them, and dump them into caverns. If these actions came before an international tribunal today, most of the perpetrators would be found guilty.
List of Anti-German and Anti-Italian resistance forces and networks operating in Slovenia during WWII by Maria Velikonja
Slovenia was unique in Europe during World War II in that it was occupied by three fascist armies: German, Italy and Hungarian. Additionally, it was surrounded by enemy fascist forces on all sides: Austria to the north, Hungary to the east, the new Independent State of Croatia (Ustase) to the south, and fascist Italy to the west. There was nowhere for a Slovene to escape.
The following anti-German resistance forces and networks operated in Slovenia during the war:
- Jože Golec/Vauhnik-Anić network (began in 1939)
- Royal Yugoslavian Army (JV; began in April 1941)
- State Intelligence Service (DOS) (began April 1941)
- Communist Partisans (began December 1941)
- Slovene Home Guard, Styria section (fall 1943)
- Primorska Home Guard/National Guard
See the attached memo for more information.