This monograph about occupation borders built upon the eponymous exhibition which was initially on display in the Slovene Parliament and then travelled to various parts of Slovenia.
F.28 Organising an exhibition
COBISS.SI-ID: 299668992Dolenjska suffered the most when Slovenia was divided among four occupiers during World War II. The remaining regions remained mostly undivided and thus part of territory occupied by the same occupier. However, Dolenjska was divided among Germans, Italians, and the Independent State of Croatia. The border was outlined by Germans, shifting it 10 to 15 km to the south of the river Sava for military, economic, and transport-related reasons. By June 1941 Germans had occupied some areas on the other side of the delimitation line as well. To the local population, these borders represented a major obstacle. A pass was needed to cross the border. They cut them off from their jobs or, in the case of farmers, from their land, leaving it untilled because the border could not be crossed without restrictions. Transporting goods from one state to the other was difficult as well. Along with state borders, various military structures standing nearby were also a source of disruption for the local population.
F.28 Organising an exhibition
COBISS.SI-ID: 19183363Before the German attack of Yugoslavia (6 April 1941) Prekmurje was, according to the Treaty of Trianon, part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes or the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Along with Bačka, Baranja, Banat, and Međimurje, Prekmurje constituted an entity which was referred to as Southern Territories (Délvidék) by Hungarians. Following the onset of the war and diplomatic negotiations, Hungarians managed to regain Prekmurje which they had lost in 1920. Despite an agreement between Yugoslavia and Hungary, the latter yielded under the German pressure and broke its promise not to demand the return the Trianon territories.
F.28 Organising an exhibition
COBISS.SI-ID: 33887747The exhibition Border Stones, Barbed Wire, Watchtowers and Minefields. Life along the Occupation Borders in Slovenia, 1941–1945 showcases work results of researchers from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of History and the following institutions: Anton Melik Geographical Institute at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, as well as the Institute of Contemporary History. They sought answers in archives, museums and on location among the people to the question of where the boundaries between occupied areas during World War II ran, which material remnants are identifiable at the present and how these borders impacted the population. “There were five different types of borders in the Slovene territory during World War II, i.e. the border between Germans and Croats, Germans and Hungarians, Germans and Italians, Hungarians and Croats, Croats and Italians, and three tripoints,” as the division of modern-day Slovene territory is depicted by the historian Bojan Balkovec, maintaining that up to this point researchers did not have data on where these borders were actually located on site. Consequently, equipped with digitalized German military maps and modern-day geographical maps, as well as modern technology, researchers set off on location, where former borders were drawn on modern-day maps. Additionally, they recorded and made lists of material remnants of border systems, such as border stones, remnants of watchtowers, barbed wire, etc. These remnants are still identifiable on location and left a permanent mark in the lives of people living along these borders. Namely, forced labourers had to clear the border strip and put up obstacles using timber and tools which often had to be provided by the local population. The borders disrupted everyday life at one blow, people could not go to their churches because these stood in territories under a different occupying force, families were separated, people were prevented from going to work. The consequences of division during World War II were felt long after its end. People died due to mine explosions a decade after the war, even though German prisoners of war and regular army had cleared the border areas. Traumas caused by this division is still noticeable in people living there.
B.06 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 69372770A lecture on the Rapallo border that divided Italy and Yugoslavia between 1918 (1920) and 1945 (1947). With the attack of 1941 a section of the border was transformed into a state border between Italy and Germany, while another section became an internal administrative border between Italy and the Italian-occupied Ljubljana Province
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 65889634