In the Tischler Hall in Celovec/Klagenfurt, on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, the opening of the exhibition and the presentation of the book Through the Time of Ordeal took place, which speaks about the life ordeals of Mrs Jelka Mrak Dolinar. The story of her family of speaks of her parents’ refugee experience due to fascist violence in the Primorska region, on how the Germans forced the family to migrate during the occupation period, and their escape from communist violence. When at the end of the war, she wanted to retreat to Carinthia, with the Slovenian Home Guards members and opponents of communism, she got stuck on the train along with wounded Slovenian Home Guards members through a series of circumstances. Her decision not to leave helpless people in distress, unlike other medical personnel, led her to being punished by the post-war authorities. Thus, she and her sister ended up in a camp in Šentvid nad Ljubljano, instead among refugees in Austria, and later in various women’s prisons, whereby the judicial proceedings against her were politically motivated. The organizers of the event were Celovška Mohorjeva, the Christian Cultural Association (KKZ) and the Study Centre for National Reconciliation. The audience was welcomed by Franc Kelih, Director of Mohorjeva, dr. Miha Vrbinc, Vice-President of the KKZ, and dr. Andreja Valič Zver, Director of the Study Center for National Reconciliation. The exhibition and the book were presented by dr. Jelka Piškuric, who also guided the audience through the exhibition.
F.29 Contribution to the development of national cultural identity
COBISS.SI-ID: 42902317The paper presents fascist, Nazist and communist violence in Slovenia, mainly the deportations and emigrations of Slovenians in 20-th Century comitted by these three totalitalitarian regims. During the Italian occupation of southern part of Slovenia in 1941 – 1943 the Italians sentenced more than 13,000 people, at least 3,500 were sentenced to many years’ imprisonment. During the Nazi occupation Germans deported to Germany or to Croatia and Serbia about 80,000 Slovenes. 17,000 people avoided deportation by escaping to Italian occupation territory. At the beginning of communist rule, at the end of May 1945 11,000 Home Guard soliders and about 600 civilians were returned from Carinthia to Slovenia and mostly killed. The rest of the people who withdrew to Austria in Maj 1945 emigratd in folowing years to Argentina or USA. The communists also organized concentration camps for members of the German and Hungarian national minority. A lot of people tried to escape from Jugoslavia. According to data from 1945 to the end of 1959, 34,256 Slovenes escaped across Slovenian northern and western border, and 26,710 persons were caught when attempting to escape. At the western border many people chose to leave the Yugoslav B zone and move to the A zone or Italy.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 44065069In the year 1884 vine merchant Viktor/Vittorio Bolaffio, who was born in a Jewish family of Gorizia with Sephardi roots, settled in Ljubljana. His sons Eugene/Eugenio and Charles/Carlo (1885 – 1942) continued the family business. After First World War Viktor's wife and Eugenio Bolaffio, took over the Yugoslav citizenship, other family members, however, opted for Italian citizenship. Dave and Karel Bolaffio were active among Jews in Ljubljana, who in 1927 became part of the Jewish religious municipality in Murska Sobota. After the Italian occupation, Eugenio in particular intervened for the Jews in Ljubljana and for a number of Jewish refugees, who were gathering in Ljubljana. DELASEM, an organization that was taking care of Jewish refugees, had its confidant also in Ljubljana. This was the role of Eugenio Bolaffio, born in 1888 in Ljubljana. His work became very important, in particular after the invasion of Axis forces in Yugoslavia and after the establishment of the Ustasha Regime in Croatia. Because of this, the number of Jewish refugees, who tried to survive on their way to Italy, highly increased. Many times Eugenio Bolaffio intervened for them. At the same time, he also became the unofficial representative of the Federation of Jewish communities of Italy for the annexed Ljubljana province. Apparently, he had good contacts to Emilio Grazioli, the Italian High Commissioner in Ljubljana, what helped him to rescue Jews. After the arrival of Germans in September 1943, the situation changed for Eugenio. He was arrested a year after and taken to the concentration camp Dachau, his wife Amalia, born Pegan, was brought to Auschwitz. After the war, Eugenio Bolaffio returned to Ljubljana. Soon the Yugoslav political police OZNA arrested him and he had to undergo interrogations because he was under suspicion of cooperation with the British intelligence services. In particular, they were interested in connection with Alexander Klein, Secretary of the Zagreb Jewish religious municipality. In prison, the interrogators ordered him to write the wartime memoirs. After the year 1948, Dave Bolaffio immigrated to Israel, where he died in 1954.
F.18 Transfer of new know-how to direct users (seminars, fora, conferences)
COBISS.SI-ID: 42566957The article discusses the meaning of human dignity as the common basis of a democratic political culture by including the historical perspective and elaborating on the two dimensions of the concept of human dignity, i.e. the initial dignity and the realized dignity. It reveals a great significance of human dignity for democratization of former Communist societies from Central and Eastern Europe, as the authors claim that the issue of human dignity is particularly relevant in those environments that have long tradition of abuse of power and violations of human rights and liberties. They shed light on the controversies regarding human dignity using the example of judicial interpretation of the Constitutional Court of the Republic Slovenia in the case of the Tito Street.
F.31 Development of standards
COBISS.SI-ID: 7877210The paper deals with the position of the Slovenian government in the 1918-1920 period, that is from the break-down of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy till the plebiscite on October 10, 1920. Two phases must be taken into account: • From 31 October 1918, when the government was formed, until the South Slavic attack at the end of April 1919, the Slovenian government was largely autonomous. At first the central government in Belgrade did not even exist, since the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was only founded on 1 December 1918. And when the time came, the government was still too weak to intervene decisively. The fate of Carinthia was still uncertain, a referendum had not yet been decided. Ljubljana and Klagenfurt negotiated directly with each other. In Klagenfurt there was a branch office of the Slovenian government, the so-called Slovenian Commissariat. • The second phase of development, initiated both by the second South Slavic attack and by the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference, included the preparation of the referendum. During this time the South Slavic administration developed in zone A. It was based on two administrative districts: Ferlach and Völkermarkt. The influence of the Slovenian government declined considerably after the arrival of the Interallied Plebiscite Commissio for Carinthia in the summer of 1920. The South Slav delegate, who was directly subordinate to Belgrade, had the last word on all decisive Zone A issues.
F.29 Contribution to the development of national cultural identity
COBISS.SI-ID: 43669549