The article deals with occupiers’ borders in Slovenia during World War II. The occupation of the Slovene ethnic territory in 1941 resulted in fi ve different border areas and borders. Namely, the border between Germany and Hungary, between Hungary and NDH, between Germany and NDH, between Italy and Germany, and between Italy and NDH. Despite the formal annexation of the so-called Ljubljana Province to Italy, the Rapallo border remained in place, separating Littoral Slovenes from the rest. The delineation of borders by means of barbed wire fences, mine fi elds, bunkers, and watchtowers was accompanied by violence, deportations, and, frequently, escapes from one occupation zone to another. All this led to many traumas and broke off traditional patterns of migration, farming, and trade.
COBISS.SI-ID: 69922658
The monograph puts events unfolding during World War II in Slovene ethnic territory in a broader context of World War II in Yugoslavia and Europe. It begins with a chapter about the historical development of borders in Slovene ethnic territory up to the end of World War II. It addresses also the psychology of borders, demonstrating how it manifested itself in the case of Slovenia. The authors discuss the division of Slovene territory during World War II on the highest diplomatic level and the related international agreements that are based on the principle of the debellation of Yugoslavia; they describe the military occupation of the territory and marking out the occupied space on locations that witnessed occasional conflicts between the occupying forces that were otherwise allies; they explore the actual delineation of borders on the basis of work carried out by the border commissions (or where there were none by arbitrary decisions of the local military commanders and official); they also examined the modes of fortifying borders. Building upon a field research carried out by the research group, the authors aimed to extract shared characteristic features and differences between respective borders and respective occupying border regimes.
COBISS.SI-ID: 58375427
This multifaceted scientific monograph addresses occupation borders throughout Slovenia and explores the impact of borders by means of which four occupying forces divided Slovenia into four parts and planned to annihilate the Slovene population. This monograph features contributions marked by an multidisciplinary approach because the team included also a numerically strong group of geographers.
COBISS.SI-ID: 304499968
Present-day border between Slovenia and Croatia was during World War II the extreme south-eastern border of the German Reich. The course of the border between Germany and the newly established Independent State of Croatia was roughly demarcated in May 1941 by means of an agreement reached between these states; a German-Croatian delimitation commission was established to outline the border on location. Germans used barbed wire fencing and mine fields to protect the border. In more prominent sports a two-metre-high fence with barbed wire at the top was erected. Barbed wire measuring two to three metres in width was installed unevenly on the ground behind it. Additionally, they put up numerous watchtowers or bunkers and dug trenches, whose remnants are still identifiable on site. Border posts stood in spots that required particular control. The fortification of the border began in October 1942; the border was additionally fortified from the second half of 1944 onwards. The defence line was built mostly by forcibly mobilized locals and labourers who were forcibly transferred to the area at hand.
COBISS.SI-ID: 304767232
After the capitulation of Yugoslavia in 1941, Slovenian territory was split by 4 countries - Germany, Italy, Hungary and the NDH. The new national borders cut Slovenian land, separating its people for many years. A part of it, in between the German and the Italian occupier also ran across the Polhov Gradec Dolomites towards the Ljubljana Basin - from Suhi dol to Šentvid pri Ljubljani. The border was marked with boundary stones and was secured by barbed wire, guard towers and mine fields, remains still visible on the terrain even now. In the life of ordinary people, the border came with a lot of troubles, because there were not many border crossings and they were heavily guarded. People tried to survive in different ways, so they also engaged in smuggling, which led to many casualties among civilians.
COBISS.SI-ID: 51304195