TheProvince of Ljubljana (Italian:Provincia di Lubiana,Slovene:Ljubljanska pokrajina,German:Provinz Laibach) was the central-southern area ofSlovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by theKingdom of Italy, and after 1943 occupied byNazi Germany. Created on May 3, 1941, it was abolished on May 9, 1945, when theSlovene Partisans and partisans from other parts of Yugoslavia liberated it from the NaziOperational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral. Its administrative centre wasLjubljana.
During World War II, theDrava Banovina was in a unique situation. WhereasGreece was trisected, this territory (roughly present-daySlovenia) experienced a further step—absorption and annexation into neighboringNazi Germany, theKingdom of Italy,Hungary, and theIndependent State of Croatia.[1][2] After Yugoslavia was invaded byAxis powers on 6 April 1941, Germany and Hungary occupied and annexed the northern part of the region. The ethnic GermanGottscheers were moved out of the province because Hitler opposed having them in the Italian zone.
After the attack on Yugoslavia by Germany andItaly, the central area of Slovenia was occupied by Italy as a territory that had historically belonged to theCounty of Gorizia, theDuchy of Friuli, and the AncientRoman provinces of Illyria, and the Roman city ofEmona (modern Ljubljana) had been an important hub of communication.[3]The bulk of its territory was:
The Kingdom of Italy occupiedMarindol and other villages that had previously belonged to theBanovina of Croatia, Milić-Selo, Paunović-Selo, Žunić-Selo, Vukobrati, Vidnjevići, and Vrhovci. These villages were annexed to the municipality ofČrnomelj as part of the Province of Ljubljana, despite being predominantly inhabited by Orthodox Serbs.
After the war the inhabitants of those areas demanded to be returned to thePeople’s Republic of Croatia as part of the county ofKarlovac[citation needed]. By the administrative organization of 1947, Marindol and the surrounding villages on the left bank ofKolpa constituted a local community in the composition of the county ofKarlovac. It was still a constituent part of the county at the time of 1948 census. After that the complete area was under Slovene authority. Parts of theŽumberak/Gorjanci area were also annexed by Italy to the Province of Ljubljana and parts ofGorski Kotar mainly in the Čabar area (villages around Prezid), all from what was earlier part of theBanovina of Croatia. This was an agreement between the Kingdom of Italy and the Independent State of Croatia on the border between the twoAxis states during the Second World War.
Compared to the German policies in the northern Nazi-occupied area of Slovenia and the forcedFascist italianization in the formerAustrian Littoral that was annexed after the First World War, the initial Italian policy in the central Slovenia was not as violent. Tens of thousands ofSlovenes from German-occupiedLower Styria andUpper Carniola escaped to the Province of Ljubljana until June 1941.
The central area of Slovenia was first occupied by theKingdom of Italy in April 1941. It was subjected to military occupation but in May 1941, after thedebellatio of theYugoslav State by theAxis powers, it was formally annexed by the Kingdom of Italy under the name ofProvincia di Lubiana. The province was created as a specific administration unit within Italy. Although considered as an integral part of Italy, it was treated as acorpus separatum. Unlike other provinces, it was administered by a High Commissioner, appointed by the Italian Government. The High Commissioner had a similar position asprefects in other Italian provinces, but was given wider competences. The first High Commissioner wasEmilio Grazioli. The province did enjoy some political or administrative autonomy and several concessions were given to the localSlovene population. In the countryside, most of the municipal administrations, elected in general elections during theKingdom of Yugoslavia, could continue to function. Judiciary and local administration personnel were also kept. BothItalian andSlovene were given the status ofofficial languages and also the status of an administrative language. Most Slovenian cultural and educational institutions of national importance, such as theUniversity of Ljubljana and theAcademy of Sciences and Arts, were kept. Education in Slovene was kept, although Italian was introduced as an obligatory second language. The population of the province was exempted from military service in the Italian Army.
Also, the Consult was created as an advisory council of the High Commissioner's office. It was composed by members of local economic and professional associations, as well as of those political party leaders that were willing tocollaborate with Italian authorities.
The initial tolerant policies of the Italian administration did not last long. After the establishment of theLiberation Front and the emergence of thepartisan resistance, the Italian army's opinion has been in accord with the 1920s speech byBenito Mussolini:
When dealing with such a race as Slavic—inferior and barbarian—we must not pursue the carrot, but the stick policy.... We should not be afraid of new victims.... The Italian border should run across theBrenner Pass,Monte Nevoso and theDinaric Alps.... I would say we can easily sacrifice 500,000 barbaric Slavs for 50,000 Italians....
As noted by Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mussolini government,Galeazzo Ciano, when describing a meeting with secretary general of theNational Fascist PartyAldo Vidussoni who wanted Italian army to kill all the Slovenes:
... I took the liberty of saying they (the Slovenes) totaled one million. It doesn't matter—he replied firmly—we should model ourselves upon ascari (auxiliary Eritrean troops infamous for their cruelty) and wipe them out".[6]
GeneralMario Robotti, Commander of the ItalianXI Corps (Italy) in Slovenia and Croatia, issued an order in line with a directive received from Mussolini in June 1942: "I would not be opposed to all (sic) Slovenes being imprisoned and replaced by Italians. In other words, we should take steps to ensure that political and ethnic frontiers coincide",[7][dead link] which qualifies asethnic cleansing policy.
The Province of Ljubljana saw the deportation of 25,000 people, which equaled 7.5% of the total population. The operation, one of the most drastic in Europe, filled upItalian concentration camps on the island Rab, in Gonars, Monigo (Treviso), Renicci d'Anghiari, Chiesanuova and elsewhere.
Mario Roatta's "Circular 3C" (Circolare 3C), tantamount to a declaration of war on theSlovene civil population, involved him inwar crimes while he was the commander of the 2nd Italian Army in the Province of Ljubljana.[8]
The Italians put abarbed wire fence—which is now the route of theTrail of Remembrance and Comradeship—around Ljubljana in order to prevent communication between theLiberation Front in the city and the Partisan resistance in the surrounding countryside.[9]
On February 25, 1942, only two days after theItalian Fascist regime establishedGonars concentration camp the first transport of 5,343 internees (1,643 of whom were children) arrived from the already overpopulatedRab concentration camp, from the Province of Ljubljana itself, and from anotherItalian concentration camp in Monigo (nearTreviso). The survivors received no compensation from Italy after the war.
The violence against the Slovene civil population easily matched the German.[10] For every major military operation, General M. Roatta issued additional special instructions, including one that the orders must be "carried out most energetically and without any false compassion".[11][dead link]
One of Roatta's soldiers wrote home on July 1, 1942: "We have destroyed everything from top to bottom without sparing the innocent. We kill entire families every night, beating them to death or shooting them."[12] The idea that Italian excesses in violence was due to anger or grief at the loss of comrades is false, since the process of killing and mass execution was a consequence of Fascist propaganda, de-humanizing the Slovenes as racially inferior.[13][14]
After the war, Roatta was on the list of the most sought afterItalian war criminals indicted by Yugoslavia and other countries, but never saw anything like theNuremberg Trials because the British government saw inPietro Badoglio, also on the list, a guarantee of ananti-communist post-warItaly within the context of theCold War. Some of the most notorious were put on trial however, including Roatta. But he escaped just before being jailed, and fled to Spain.[15][16]
The province was divided into five districts (Italian:distretti) based around the pre-existing Yugoslav district boundaries, plus the city of Lubiana. Each district was further sub-divided into municipalities (Italian:comuni). The five districts were:[17]
After theItalian armistice in September 1943, the province was occupied by Nazi Germany. The province was kept in the same borders that were set by Italian occupation forces. The province was included in theAdriatic Littoral. It was finally abolished on May 9, 1945.
During the Italian period (1941–1943), the province was ruled by a high commissioner; for most of its history this post was held byEmilio Grazioli, replaced in early 1943 byGiuseppe Lombrassa who after thefall of Fascism was in turn replaced by GeneralRiccardo Moizo, who only held the post for a month before theArmistice of Cassibile. In the first months after the province was officially annexed to Italy (May 1941), a so-called Consultation Council (consulta) was set up from high-ranking members of local economic, professional and political elites. The first chairman of the council wasMarko Natlačen, former Yugoslav governor of theDrava Banovina. Already in 1942, he stepped down in opposition to Italian occupation policies, and the Council itself ceased to be summoned.
After the German occupation in September 1943,Leon Rupnik was named president of the province. He managed to establish a fairly autonomous provincial administration with the help of a small circle of collaborators.
In 1942, village guard units started appearing spontaneously, as a self-defense against Partisan revolutionary violence. They turned to the Italians for weapons and equipment, and the Italians soon organized them as a part of theAnti-Communist Volunteer Militia. They were called the "White Guard" by the Partisans (and even the Germans later on).
After the capitulation of Italy, most of the SloveneChetniks were destroyed in theBattle of Grčarice (quietly helped by the Partisans, who then became the only resistance group in Slovenia) and members of the "White Guard" were killed, captured, dispersed, or fled to the Germans, where they formed the core of the newly establishedSlovenian Home Guard corps led by a former general of the Royal Yugoslav Army,Leon Rupnik. He became chief of the puppet provincial government of the Province of Ljubljana and came into the service of the Third Reich. Many previously captured or dispersed members of the White Guard soon joined theSlovenian Home Guard.
While the war was still going on, some of the leaders of the "White Guard" underwent a military court-martial inKočevje and were sentenced to death. The trial was organized by theSlovenian National Liberation Council.
On the Allied side, there was theLiberation Front of the Slovenian People, which was formed on 26 April 1941 by the decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia, which refrained from active participation in the fighting because the communist line at the time was that both sides were engaged in an "imperialist" war. Originally, organizations from the entire political spectrum participated; however, as the influence of the Communist Party within the Liberation Front started to grow, some of them turned against it.
The area of the Province of Ljubljana after the Second World War was united with the rest ofSlovene Lands that were under the control ofTito’s Yugoslavia and formed thePeople’s Republic of Slovenia in 1947, which in the meantime was called the Federal State of Slovenia (short form: Federal Slovenia).
Some of its territory was returned to Croatia but some was subsequently claimed by Slovenia.
The bulk of its territory is now theRepublic of Slovenia.
46°03′20″N14°30′30″E / 46.0556°N 14.5083°E /46.0556; 14.5083
