8 O O 58

TO DESTROV NAZISM OR TO
REWARD IT?

AN ASPECT OF THE QUESTION OF SLOVENE CARINTHIA

BY Dr. FRAN ZWITTER

PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA

YUGOSLAV INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

BEOGRAD 1947

TO DESTROY NAZISM OR TO
REWARD IT?

AN ASPECT OF THE OUESTION OF SLOVENE CARINTHIA

BY Dr. FRAN ZWITTER

PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA

YUGOSLAV INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

BEOGRAD 1947

80.J58

fr M. t.

The AlJies have always stated, in their struggle against Nazi
Germany, that there vvas no possibility of a compromise. Their
common aim vvas the complete surrender and the occupation of
the vvhole of Germany, incfluding the Austrian provinces; they set
forth as their aim the denazification and re-education of the popu-
lation of Germany and Austria. Nazism, on the other hand, main-
tained itself in povver until the very end. Its rale ended only vvith
the occupation of Germany and Austria by the Ailliied troops.

There vvas only one exception in this respect, and that vvas
Carinthia, an Austrian province on the Yugoslav border. In that
province, the Nazi regime, when it felt that its last moment had
come, handed over povver to a new team, in the hope that iit vvould
thereby preserve the Nazi heritage vvhich had a speeific character
in that province. And the British occupation authorities accepted
this team vvhich had assumed povver in Carinthia from the hands
of the Nazi regime and in accordance vvith Nazi lavvs. Continuity
betvveen the Nazi regime and the nevv regime vvas thus maintained,
and the men vvho had accepted povver from the Nazis are even novv
members of the Provincial Government of Carinthia.

Much noise vvas raised in this connection in January and
February 1947 at the Meeting of the Deputy Foreign Ministers in
London, because of the fact that the Austrian Delegation included
Hans Piesch, Landeshauptmann,  li. e. the highest Austrian dignitary
in Carinthia since May 7th, 1945, vvhen povver vvas handed ov-er to
him by authorized representatives of the Nazi regime. The Yugoslav
Delegation drevv the attention of the Deputies to this transfer of
povver, and to the coililaborationist activities of Hans Piesch in the
course of the vvar. The Deputies decided they vvould request infor-
mations from the Alilied Control Council for Austria. The first
result vvas that Hans Piesch tendered his resignation on March
12th, 1947, to th.e Office of Landeshauptmann  of Carinthia. Anyhovv
this change of a personal nature does not signify a corresponding
change in the system vvhich the person involved represented, the
system of maintaining Nazi remnants.

1 *

4

The facts regarding Nazism in Carinthia and its continuity
are worthy of notice, because their significance transcends the
framework of the political Lfe of an Austrian province and of the
fate of a small but sturdy branch of the Yugos|lav people, the
Slovenes of Carinthia. The question of whether justice wi)ll, be
meted out, and satisfaction given, to those who fought on the side
of the Allies, or whefher they will be sacrificed to a system which
wTtingly embodies the traditiions of Nazism, assumes the wider
aspect of the question of whether there is, in this čase, the d-esire
to implement the fundamental points of the program of the Anti-
Nazi Coalition, or whether, on the contrary, there is a wish ruth-
lessly to trampile under foot the loyalty the Allies owe to their
common aims.

1. THE NAZI REGIME IN CARINTHIA APPOINTS ITS RELAY.

The situation in Carinthia towards the end of the War.

There are three facts wh;ch -are characteristic of the situation
in Carinthia tc-wards the etose of the Secon-d World War: the armed
strugale of the Carinthian Slovenes against Nazis-m, the absen-ce
of any resistance movement worth mentioning a-mong the German-
speaking population, and the general awareness of the impending
col-lapse of Hitileris Army and of the Nazi system.

Carinthia differed from the other provinces of Austria in
that a part of its population, the Carinthian Slovenes, had ever
since 1942 waged an unceasing partisan struggle from the moun-
tains and forests of Slovene Carinthia. Si-de by side with this
milltary activity a political resistance movement was going on.
Both were incorporated in the movement of the "Liberation Front
of the Slovene People”, one of whose ai-ms had, from the -moment
it was forrned in 1941, been the un on of alll the Slovenes in-clu-
di-ng the Carinthian Slovenes, and which was a part o-f the National
Liberation Movement of the peoples of Yugoslavia, the same as the
partisan detachme-nts cf the Carinthian Slovenes were part of the
National Liberation Army of Yu : goslavia. This armed struggle and
the politicall movement of the Carinthian Slo-venes, were a very
important factor in Carinthia, even before the divisions of the
Yugoslav Army were appro-aching the borders of Carinthia early
in May 1945. This -can best be seen from the fact that there was
an Al-lied Military Mission with the partisan detach-ments in Car n-
thia as far back as 1944 (cf. The National Liberation Struggle of the
Slovenes of Carinthia during World War II,  Annex JNs 2 to the Memo¬
randum of the Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia on Slo-
v.ene 'Carinthia, the Slovene frontier areas of Styria and the Croats
of Burgenland).

There was, on the other hand. no such thing as a resistance
movement among the German speaking population of Carinth'a
during the war, with the exception of a few smalll groups of
Austrian anti-Fascists who were genuinely desirous of contributing
to the vlctory o-ver Nazism and who, therefore, linked themselves
up with, and reilied upon, the political force in Carinthia which was

6

alone conducting a real struggle against Nazism, i. e. the Liberation
Front of the Slovene People. Now the representatives of the pre-
sent regime in Carinthia are wont to speak a lot of such a move-
rnent and to describe themselves as great heroes. It can be seen,
however, from the account they themselves g;ve in the Volkszeitung,
organ of the People’s Party in Carinthia, of December 16, 1945,
that the people involved were those who had collaborated with the
Nazis throughout the war, manly officials of the Army, Gendar-
merie,  and Police, and also some followers of the former political
parties, who had not even then, on the eve of the downfall of the
Nazi regime, started any kind of struggle against the Hitlerism,
but were, towards the end of April 1945, merely consider.ng the
measures \vhich should be taken at the time of the collapse in order
to ”save the country from a catastrophe”. Dr. Rainer, the Nazi
Gauleiter  of Carinthia, who was handed over to the Yugoslav
authorities as a war crimin.il, stated in this connection: ”As regards
the so-called resistance movement, it should be generally remarked
that it failled practically to make itself felt throughout the whole
period. In fact, activity was shown only by the Communists and
rhe Slovenes organized from Carniola. It was only in May that
I was informed of the existence of a resistance movement, and
these reports sounded, in part, camipletely fantastic. I have expe-
rience from five years of underground struggle at the time of
Dolllfuss -and Schuschnigg and I therefore accepted such news with
considerable reserve. Certain events, it is true, which -in part are stili
not clear to me to-day, make the conclusion possible that perhaps
at the very end there were resistance groups in Carinthia and that
they had certain plans for actions, or else that they made certain
attempts at action. Nothng of any importance occured, however,
and I was in control of the siituation umtil the evening of May the
7th. Now, of course, many would like to have been ”fighters in the
resistance movem-ent”.

The situation after Hitler’s death is described by F. Kg. (Franz
Krassnig), who took an active part in the events of those days, as
one in which the imminent collapse of the Nazi Reich was the onlv
certain fact among the numerous uncertainties of the near future.
Fle then goes on to quote such uncertainties as these: ”Will the Bri-
tish be here before Tito’s troops? Will there be fighting here in
Carinthia? Will the Russians operate a break-through in Styria and
make their way into Carinthia?” (From the article ”A year ago”,
published in the Volkszeitung,  May 8th, 1946.)

The origin of the idea of handing over power to another team.

In the course of his interrogation, Dr. Rainer thus described the
origin of the idea to hand power in Carinthia over to a new team
and thus prevent the liberation of the Carinthian Slovenes:

He was called to Berchtesgaden on May 2nd, where he had an
interview with Marshal Kesselring, and on the following day he met

7

Dr. Kaltenbrunner, deputy Reich leader of the SS for the South, in
Strobl in the Salzkammergut. Iln the course of these interviews, he
had the opportunity of acquiring information regarding the military
and political situation. The Yugoslav claims to Carinthia caused him
no small concern, and he pointed this out to Kesselring, requesting
him to bring it to the notice of the then Prime Minister of Germany,
Admiral Doenitz; he thought that th.e German General Staff and
German Government were stili in a position to give consideration
to this fact when negotiating the Armistice. On his return journey
to Carinthia, he conceived the idea of establishing contact with
representatives of the former "democratic parties”. Upon his return
to Celovec (Klagenfurt), he called ten-of his closest collaborators
and told them of his idea. It turned out, in the course of the discus-
sion that his deputy, Gauhauptmann  Natmessnig, had had the same
idea and that he had already come into touch with certain persons
who had belonged to these parties.

According to the Karntner Volkszeitung  of December 16th,
1945, the origin of the idea to contact representatives of the former
parties is to be traced back to Lt. Gen. Noeldechen, who was in
command of the local troops in the Carinthia area and who was the
senior militarv official in the province. On May 4th, Noeldechen saw
two representatives of the so-called resistance movement. These
asked him to transmit the request to Rainer that power should be
handed over to the old parties, that Celovec (Klagenfurt) and Beljak
(Villach) should be declared open cities, and that contact should
immediatelly be established with the British 8th Army for the pur-
pose of ensuring that Carinthia be occupied by British troops.

Rainer denied that Noeldechen would have played a part in al!
this, and viewed the possibility of these two people having played
a part in any kind of a resistance movement with scepticism and
irony. However that may be, the idea of this maneuvre was obviously
conceived by the very highest representatives of the Nazi regime in
Carinthia.

The motives of the idea.

A very interesting light on the motives which lay at the back
of ali these events is shed by a letter addressed to Rainer on May 4th„
by Dr. Wutte, who had for many years been considered a leading
”scientific” representative. of anti-Slovene chauvinism in Carinthia,
for whom Rainer had great respect as for his professor and in whose
honour he established a special "Martin Wutte Prize” for scientific
works of this kind: ”The speech you delivered on Thursday and of
\vhich I, unfortunately, learnt only from the columns of the Karntner
Zeitung,  showed that what is to-day at stake is again the preserva-
tion of the unity and freedom of Carinthia from the Slav South-East
which is now B.olshevik and therefore ali the more dangerous.”
Dr. Wutte notes the differences existing between Great Britain and
the USA on the one hand, and the USSR and Yugoslavia on the other,
and expresses the hope that ”this will enable Carinthia to enjoy, as

8

she did in 1918—19, a certain measure of support on the part of
the USA and Great Britain. She must therefore be defended arms
in hand as was the čase in 1918—19, and preparations for this are
already being made owing to your foresight and activity”. Dr. Wutte
points out the importance of "scientific” work in this connection,
while Dr. Rainer takes ali the necessary measuresfor putting his
plans into effect.

Military measures.

The fact, that military preparations were being carried out in
this direction, is borne out by the article of F. Krassnig in the Volks-
zeitung,  of May 8th, 1946, wh.ere we read that on May 5th ”the
troops which were stili stationed along the Southern border of
Carinthia were instructed by Noeldechen and Payer to hold this
frontier until the arrival of the British units”, which meant that resi-
stance should be offered to the arrival of the Yugoslav troops until
the British arrived. Anton Stenzel wrote in the Volkszeitung  of
February 23rd, 1946, that while ali resistance to the Western powers
had ceased towards the end of April, a small band of Carinthian and
Styrian soldiers were fighting on the Koren ,Pass (Wurzenpass) on
the Karavanks against Tito’s troops until the British entered Carin¬
thia, and extolled the heroism of these members of the Germani
armed forces.

Discussions on the handing over of power.

Nor were the activities confined to the military sphere. Poli-
tical maneuvres were taking plače simultaneously. As early as May
5th Rainer met certain members of former political parties. Accor-
ding to the Volkszeitung  of December 16th, 1945, Rainer had
instructed his deputy Natmessnig ”to form a committee of the for¬
mer democratic parties to which he is prepared to hand over power.
Natmessnig is to introduce this committee to him at eleven a. m. in
the Palače of the Government”. When these representatives sub-
mitted to the Gauleiter  a list, including two representatives of the
Christian Social Party, two representatives of the Social Democratic
Party and one nominee who did not belong to any party, Dr. Rainer,
among other things, ”as,ked that the list of proposed members of the
Government should be extended to include eight to ten people”.
According to Rainer’s statement, Natmessnig expressed at this
meeting, obviously in the name of the representatives present, dissa-
tisfaction because of the fact that Rainer had in his speech on the
previous day proclaimed the necessity of resistance on ali fronts,
while in fact ali resistance to the British and Americans should cease,
because it was to be feared only the Russians and the Yugoslavs, and
requested the immediate establishing of contact wit|i the British HQ
in Udine (Friuli). Rainer said he was prepared to turn over power
the moment the Province was occupied, promised the representatives
of the old parties his protection and informed the police of this.

9

On the same day, May 5, two former Socialists, Hans Piesch
and Dr. Newole, established contact with other politicians of the old
parties, who were only beginning to come together at that time and
were stili lacking any form of organisation. Hans Piesch, who was
born in the Sudetens, was a school-master by profession, and, under
the Nazi regime, proved an extremely loyal and zealous collaborator
of the latter in his capacity of director of the higher elementary
school in Beljak (Villach). According to Dr. Rainer’s statement, the
Social-Democrats were left undisturbed in the civilian offices they
had previously occupied by the Nazi regime, because they were
keeping very quite and the Nazi Party organization and the police
had no cause to trouble themselves wlth them. In his capacity of
district commissioner ( Kreisbeauftragter)  for gathering salvage for
the Army, Hans Piesch issued for instance on January 24, 1942,
a circular to the Association of National-Socialist Teachers, in which
he called upon them to help gather in the salvage, "because military
and economic considerations make it imperative that not a single
kilogram of salvage should be wasted”, and then went on to con-
clude: ”The gathering of salvage is also part of the struggle against
the English”. It was in his district of Beljak-town that the best results
as regards salvage were achieved throughout the territory of the
Econorriic Administration of Salzburg, which consisted of several
Austrian provinces, including Carinthia, and this won him the praise
of the 18th Military District. (Communique  issued by the Press
Department of the Liberation Front on February 6, 1947, regarding
the afore mentioned circular on January, 24, 1942, and the commen-
dation of the 18th Military District, 13/43; the note addressed by the
Yugoslav Delegation to the Deputy Foreign Ministers in London on
February 18, 1947). Dr. Karl Newole was during the war Hauptmann
in the Rustungskommando  in Celovec (Klagenfurt).

On May 6, Piesch and Newole went to see Rainer. According
to Rainer’s statement,'they requested him to hand power over as
soon as possible to the new Government, because in'that čase Yugo-
slavia’s claim to Carinthia would surely be rejected,

They informed him the Socialists request that the new
Provincial Government should be headed by the Social-Democrat
Piesch.

On the.same day the representatives of the former political
parties agreed on a new proposal for the composition of the Provi-
sional Government which was to consist of ten members: 3 Social-
Democrats, 2 Christian Socialists, 2 members of the Agrarian Party
(Landbund),  2 Communists and 1 non-party. According to this list
Piesch was to be provisional Head of the Government. (Krassnig in
the article' already referred to). This list ■— minus the Communists,
because it had been agreed that ”the list submitted to Rainer should
not yet include Communists”, ■— was brought to Rainer by a dele¬
gation consisting of Piesch, Tauschitz, a member of the Landbund,
and Santer, who was not affiliated to any partv, in the afternoon of
the same day. Rainer agreed.

10

There are certain noteworthy differences between the first list,
submitted on May 5 and to which Rainer had not agreed, and the
second list to which he gave his consent. As new names appeared on
the second list Piesch himself, his deputy the Landbund- member
Tauschitz, who had been Austrian Minister to Berlin prior to 1938,
and had soon after May 1945 been obliged to resign his post of
Landeshauptmann-Deputy  and was sent to a camp for Nazis because
of his dubious activities at the time of his mission to Berlin, and
then Ferlitsch, also a member of the Landbund  and subsequently
Deputy Landeshauptmann.  So there are clear indications that Rainer
influenced the composition of the new Government, particularly as
legards the alotting of the most important functions.

He could not, however, make up his mind to turn power over
straight away. His own followers opposed to this at the meeting they
held in the morning of May 7; he was stili toying with the idea of
confining the role of the new Government to that of a consultative
body under himself; being a representative of the Reich, he wished
to obtain the approval of the highest Reich authorities. He was
extricated from this dilemma by a message from Kesselring summo-
ning him to Graz immediately. He went there in the company of
Tauschitz, in the capacity of nominee to Office in the Provincial
Government. It was only after Kesselring had told him on the after-
noon of May 7th, in Graz, of the imminent surrender of the German
Armed Force, and had approved of authority being transferred to
the new committee as the wisest it can be done under the circum-
stances, it was only then that Rainer decided to hand over power.

On the same day Enzfelder, one of the Socialists who had
taken part in the negotiations, had already establlished liaison wiith
Rome, i. e. with the HQ of the 8th Army in ali proba,bility (Karl
NewoIe, in the Carinthian Socialist paper D/e Neue Zeit  of May
Bth, 1946).

Authority handed over,

According to the Karntner Zeitung,  Rainer’s official organ,
which subsequently became the organ of th.e Provincial Government
of Carinthia, of May 8th, 1945, the formal transfer of authority in
the night of May 7th—8th, 1945, vas accomplished in the follovving
manner.

The Gauleiter  Dr. Rainer announced his resignation in a spe-
cial broadcast: ”The occupation of Carinthia by enemy forces has
begun, The political activity of the Party is thereby terminated. 1
order that ali activity shouild cease in the enemy occupied areas.
Being a National Socialist, I am neither acknowledged or listened
to by the enemy as a representative of the interests of Carinthia.
I am therefore resigning as Reichsstatthalter  in order to make it
possible for those forces, whiich better correspond to the concep-
tions of our enemies, to create a new political basis. I am therefore
handing the functions of Government over to the Gauhauptmann

11

and Provisional President of Government Meinhard Natmessnig”.
He then went on to call upon the population to maintain unitv
and order, and conduded his address in the following terms:
"National Socialist men and vvomen! I thank you for your loyalty
to the Fiihrer. His idea is livdng among us! Now dose your ranks
in the struggle for a free and undivided Carinthia!”

After Rainer’s speech, the Karntner Zeitung  published Gau-
haupimann  Natmessnig’s address to the members of the new Provi¬
sional Government. Natmessnig began by remarking that Rainer
had resigned ”on account of the general military situation, and
particularly of that prevailing in Carinthia”. He then ipointed out
that he had been conducting negotiations, in agreement with
Rainer, vvith representatives of the former Parties and stressed ”the
need of maintaining peace, order and security in our Carinthian land”.
He revealea the coramon basis on which it had b-een possiblle to
bring the negotiations to a successful close: ”1 feel 't to be particu-
larly nec-essary, and I think I am voicing the opimion of ali the
constructive and therefore positive forces of Carinthia, to thank
vou, gentlemen, for the unsvverving desire you have constantly
expressed on your own iniciative, in the course of your negotia¬
tions vvith the Gauleiter  and myself, that not a single of our
countrymen should be persecuted onily because h-e had belonged to
the Party.” ”You guarantee that the peopie of Carinthia will be
unaniimous in their determination, one already expressed twenty
five years ago, to safeguard the indivisibility of our Province, from
■domestic and foreign enemies. The determination you have ali
expressed to make the ancient battle-cry 'Free and undivided
Carinthia!’ your guiding pr.nciple, will meet with the approval of
the vvhole of Carinthia.” Natmessnig was thus caliling upon them
to f ght their domestic enemy i. e. the Carinthian Slovenes, and
the foreign enemy, i. e. Yugoslavia under the old watchword which
had served as a cloak for the oippression of the Carinthian Slovenes
at the hands of German imperialism. And finally Natmessnig for-
mal!y efeeted the transfer of authority: ”1 am hereby transmitting
to you the powers and rights belonging to the Reichsstatthalter
of Carinthia under the law of April 14th, 1939, and the orders and
decrees arising therefrom”.

The new Landeshauptmann Piesch took over vvith the follo-
vving words: ”Herr Gauhauptmann!  I declare here to you that we are
prepared to take over this arduous task which is full of respoin-
sibility..

The ne\v Provinciail Government simultaneously issued two
further proclamations. The first prodamation, signed by eight mem¬
bers of the ne\v Government (minus the Communists who had not
joined) was in the main a call to unio-n, prohiibiting ali acts of
terrorism and individual actions, as well as any removal of civl
servants without the approvail of the Provinciail Government and
proclaiming anyone who failed to comply with these orders to be
an enemy of the country and of freedom. The prodamation then

12

\vent on to say: ”The Provincial Government consider that their
main duty wifl be to safeguard the 'liberty and indivisibility of
Carinthia.” The second proclamation whieh was headed ”Let us
mainta n order and discipline!” was another calll to order, peace
and discipline, and confidence in the police.

The significance of the handover.

The new Government had thus accepted power from the
hands of representatives of the Nazi regime and in accordance
with Nazi laws. In vain we look for Nazism and Pan-Germanism
denounced in their proclamaCons. The only reason for a change of
regime was the mi(ldtary situation. The principile of the continuity
of authority, and of the Nazi Government apparatus, was proclai-
med. Natmessnig’s speech shows that the new Government had
pledged themsellves that no one vvould be persecuted because of
membership in the Nazi Party. Rainer had puhlicly caliled upon the
Nazis to support the new Government. This support was necessary
to this Goverment because they were backed by no political forces
of their own. These facts foreshadow the course future "denazifi-
cat on” in Carinthia was to take. The explanation why Carinthia
was the onily Province of Austria and of the German Reich where
Nazism was prepared to hand power to a new team, is to be
sought in the slogan of ”a free and undivided Carinthia”, which
means a continuation of the nationall oppression of the Carinthian
Slovenes, a slogan we encounter in ali the speeches and proclama-
tions we have quoted. Coupled with this idea we find the hope
that the new team wifl ensure the assistance of the British and
Americans against the Yugos!lavs.

Nazis subrait to the new Government.

Ali the Nazis and the Pan-Germanists pllaced themselves under
the orders of the new Government \vith remarkable discipline. On
May llth, Dr. Wutte wrote to Hans Piesch and pilaced himsetf at
the disposal of the new Provincial Government ”whose formation
I have eager.ly we!comed in view of the colllapse of the Nafonal
Socialist regime”. The Karntner VolkszeHung,  a Villach newspaper,
published on May 10, 1945, under British occupation already, a
highly characteristic leader, which, on the one hand, lamented the
downfall of Nazi Germany, and on the other, stressed that the
struggle for un ”undivided Carinthia” was the main task in the
new situation, expressing the hope that they would have, in this
respect, the support of the British and of the Americans. The
troops who were stili fighting the Yugoslavs in South Carinthd
recognized the new Provincial Government as one which ”had come
to power in a legal manner” (such are the terms used by the organ
of the Austrian People’s Party, Volkszeitung,  December 16th, 1945),
as iis shown by the fact that the SS units and other German troops

13

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^t. ni si-«r«n.i-rt Cmileitrr He mre »ar r* *m
~  aiwnd endlidtitk^n eehnmmen. <I«H ;
site. wntf aiuč'riieemd and sifcae-
en D p /<■«*, t(jKiiii«>2 »-«1  m i ippi  \mtt- ih

S Drahl-

Kirainrr on«l R«p«lnctlnH»B!

i Jit-setiTiB(s:kšarst(‘B« durdh ipiadlirflf-
IKtreitkrSil* bat bpponitfn. -Bie5 politucbč
Tutitckcdt-dcr fatit-) liadH tlatuil ikr tndis,
it« »n{ti*r d«» kin»trIlBnjf dr* T*lt^V.rii ia

•im tfi-bii-ICH. 'lis* v u b  Ffind Pomirit! »iad.

,lrh sritnd t-pllip ata ,\»« 0 H>ll 60 »i«ii»t
d*« Fcimira at« Njjrrdtrr Ittr Kiralaus
-!ntrre«»f» *ii<it aHcrknun! umi aidt« ge<
>w*. i* tBBibr dahre «l> Kridi»t<l«tlh«llPr
, Mat.', um jrtifii KrSfirn. dir tir* Awtt*\»an(r
Jannirr' IVin.l* ,Sr«vr PBtapm**-«,Crlrs«-#.
urit /ar Bi!tlttax, finrr uram pnlhindil'*
iMultfiirut /u  *<•!«•» ?.b  diruriB Z^riir BU*f*
|iras* idi ilir Hriit-ranrurM-bBllP drtu Cau-
i batipiniatta urni kdmmKsarivfir« Rcjili-
'rtin^irSMitanfru Mrtnhard Naltnrftaif. ta
•lifM-r MMoti* r»t« irii dir B*->ty|tre»»* Mat,
tiJulir. OKloiia* and Ktaiitkri* trn  be**»fcren..-
Frepart drto l.aad* »ritre* Opfre and Zrr-
stlimnicm  B»«rtitt-t, Rl^rnfartre »mi V«,
larhrr. <la8 inncrt- {'urtiltro mit d*« Ctt«-
; raktrr rinrr ottrurn Sladi alri.t »a v«rein-
ibarrn mbi!  end nadt <(►* Rrtahfua«*« ia
I Crr-dimiand dir <k-t«t»r voa Bo«i»ra.

■ mrrittvn  hrebrifObrrB. Brnrhml rarfc.
i Voll«*a*»iMi»rn nad -frradMluaru. wfirtl(?
j **«rmlt>re <lrr Brvabrt

j dir wa!inn*lr Fbre!

I N'«Ji«a»t«n>Ia!Wra ?  »ad Nati»«a!*omU-
' »tlaaraf irft dank* radi «Bf rarr Trrsr n«

: FBbrrr! Rrinr Iilrr IrM ia eet’ Tretri jrfzt
; ni),- «r*d<tf>*i<r'n »i| »lir« r«rr« Krbltrn ria
tUr da* ter ir'and snifririlfr KSmtlrn.
i mana .N i. i m r ln i *.: rmiiftna

| slfltii dtiMbiiriirad an dir R«tilaril!wfkl«-
tijtiii. De. Raiuft« dir Mnaltrdre ilrr »»tim
pr«» i«iet«djrn >fc»ri<lr«»nctceuaf and faferie
in  'M iner AR«wi«tt^>ui: : : iii’

Aaf Crtind det gr|f*brnrn mtlteSrtidirn
i ¥afa«l»»«ta im .attgcmriiirBi in ESralea ita
itr sonde trn uti d-r  Hrer ReitfciMaiihalter
Dr, Friedeirh ..Rainer »oo »rineni .'Pt>'i«n
rurfKlgpim-n. fr  hal bri dirarm Anla«»e
rrefiizi. tlsir id* dir Kuhrui« der Cr*rttdit«
•tre Rrtfb*siaS»haii<f* tewohI in det «*at-
litfeen VenraiiiirtK «,ls aaeb io det Gau*«!hsi-
•«e|ti>rje (ibr.r.trbm*

• Sctt t..

i»r.re pniitistbrn f'at!"irc

dio po|i(i*rlie VVrtrelnag ...

kr« rrprivrntierjrn. :in« Einttrnciimro mil
•trm <;«uM»rr umt Rrid»»*l«lthnilri Vrt-
; linn.dlaners-.-ireern fhrrnntsma.dre Vt>ewal»:

lena in kurnlrn **fBbri tV-r Virh-indltto-
; gen  iiORfltrii Vf  fttbf7rilie aberuii«"' -.)
»t dsrn. d*S fUe drn Tatl der Brrndisnnf
<b-i TMekrii dre NSDAP aari det
; • tmtiprn An«*pbridn*»,drs Hr>r» Rridi«»i«K-
; bniire« n »s dre VrtnnJinnc dr«'.Rri«fi»graare.
i «(>?-••« ein V(iH»UE‘nn*nd»Bl? «li* WtiK>rftib-
1  ton* dre A n f/e Krn dre <iffrntU«fe*n V«rwal-
LtW>. Umta  tMtimtjt . . *

Volk von K&mten!

:. Mil,-lMni^eeai T**r tkrniiHtoil d»e *oi
»tira Patdries grbildrtr aear ptovlaori-srhe :
Landrereiftreaag di« Vtewait»*«1 drs !j»r-
dr*. Stfewrrt .. Zritra lir*?.* binfrr eb*.
sabveere liegea vet,nas. Vlrtr Tnurmdc.Mad
de« Rrirjfe /«». Opfrr. jefalie.a. J* StbaM
«sd TrS*.«rr tirgea riks SiSdlr. Dag Vere;:
kekmwr«rt S«» zrrtfiltrt. Rreb«s»rw*et*ris
and Aaiorilit aind atiergrcbra. , .K«*.***-,
sfolil ni« drvbeadea l.ieaptast vor aas. Dra-
aodi Uegritk*  «tr dk  »tue Fnifcrii ia
tiara« drmokraltrtKcB Ortrrtriib. d«« w*hte
»otiaie Grreditigkeit aoaBbra »itd;

:Bs jriU bb«  t»wi»iaeB*B#tak*a and allre
f*e dra A alb«« dre Hei«al aad die Erh»l*
(bb* kostimvt*  l.r»m* im laa. Wl» rofr«
Vacfe.ott« ant i^isarbeit »at. EiataseSefeligr :
I}«BdS»»*ra, :  Tettoraklr. ««*«■ dieue .aatk-
verrtSaiUkfc ukriata, dttrtre nater Maria
i ntrtledrei tnrknraaitB' Jeder Sdialdiata
seird icat  or<)d*(l‘d;p« :  tSrrklit* .fWr*ebeiE

Di 4 Ordn«B(nun»eht irt ra  oatrrsiatrrn.
Atia VrrwaHaa*»Keii<Sr<tea rl«*.(blirltti«h-,dr»
firtfieinile« kobra ihrr Arbri! BnfrrebltB-
rrikiten. O« gleitbe *i!J' tftr di« Sondrr-
Kr in VerwaS(KafaaKt,. «•«
.Ab*e(j«ag vaa Venr«llBu|l%taBklioB*rra
od# 8ea«i««. *itt obae Zm.|i««tDn»* drr
La*rerejr»rr«td* retoigea. - Wer »kk abaeil*:
rtei|t umi rl*«.Tbrft!!r-l«!*r ImlrrarltaiBB-
*r4 begianl, i«t ein Frind »aisrtrs laiades
nad inintf Ftrikrii KSrniarr and -KSra<>
ae^netr!!. BMresIfiirt dii aeae • Inredesrrfdd-
<J*f,  dir Ktalrebf K.!, »Ure *e : ta», a® dir.
•Fat$eo dre Ktirgrs ra  ebrmietfrn. AI» Ibre
iiatfplaurjjats.i- viri  dir ar ur tmadeareidr.
ruMr die ErhaKua* dre fretea cnd BupHri!-
rraJKerBtca* brlracbtra. Klralaer deaiKber
na4 «lowrai»tfeer Sprariit, atbari eotb a»
die jRegtrrUB*.

B»-  trb**' da« demlntkdit KKraIra i®

trrjaa 0»i*rr«HjJ

Fb dia Ftavtoariodka &Gadana$iaraa|

i  Plaaeb, La»de»h*»pt*nami
r Tm  »■» c H*r

M«s* F e r H i * c b, Land««r«t
jtfooa B e r  k «, Ijmimrm '

;

ttw' L « * r, Inm&mrnt
lit*cbe»v Lanflearat
» S »  n t e r, Lsndear&t.
a»Bd Hedffllj, Inande&ntt

. K lanen t u r l, «m r. Mul im.

Sir, ®riiie Jtrrrro. wufdra

};oil*ie» Vrrsiandin« Ilir : dir : Votnuksn-ttun-
em aufljraibieo, die erldlii »ttdtn mn3irn.
um ein« reifiuiit!*!««* tberepb« drr Ve/aa.l-,
tun* 70 «ew<hrtristrn. F» ki  It, die Rube
end Ordnon* und d»* Sitlirrbetl m unarmii
(vkrninerlanti. liiltmastriieit. 'Da« Deutstbc,
Rrtrb bili rim Krte* terloten and ati* dirert
Taimibe bai tk. ppiitiisrbe Regimr drt leu«
ten Juhre *vati*»itiol:? «etnr Faijerajigrn

: K* H mir rin beaondem BridUefid.« und
ieb iriaiib« (krnit die SJrimtntr «Ut-r •uftuiu-
»-illtprn und tetrail po*lti»en Krati« nti-.err«
Kkentocr Volk« tJim i«“«lni<k hrirs*a. »ti
kiinnen. Ibiirn. meinr tlreprn dnfiir.ra Hun-
krn. d»R;Sir twi drn ;  Vcrbjiidloutrn rt»t mir
und drm flankilrr iaientie wtrrirr. mul
t»«r *M>n »ttb »tu. drn anabanderlubrn;
W.llrn itiB Aasiirnti btartiiea.' d.ift brin
Vn(k«cen'ik«r iriiijtlitb vw*rn seinre Partri-
MigrMirtrkeit vrrfoirt neerdoa darf,

- Dime Ibre ijattun* feSrjre nnr .dir €r*i»bt.
dal? Buhe and Ordmi.ne in misrerm frlirH-
trn Kbrnlnrrlaiul n idil lt»r jrett »ondrrn
a tub file die /.iklinft aufteifelrebaltrirt i» re¬
dni kiimien. Sič aarnnlirrm tUUit.  da8
ti«* Mrntnereidk letnig «nd stark »ein »i/d..
»rnn ra tl»e|im ffbl (.•<■■» rim-n llllirtm.
odrp. kuH.rrrn 1-einri snnro S»reit« -*«t
Jaheru turo'Aitsdnirie Krbeatbtrn Vn!l«v 4!m
»ul iinfeiibarkeil (tttsrreit.ljindes abrtrnj?*!:
»ne Olinn« ju btineen. Der run Ibnrn aMrli
rrkiRrir Wille. dr it aitrn Kainpfrnl ..Kapulrn
frei liiid tinpeleiii 1 * als f eit«air iheer Uand-
lunam »u m* ib‘‘-v. »itd dir Zustimmungvro«.
gan» fiarr.trn Čuden,

Irii ubrrtraier tbnea fclrmit die drm Reitbv
'tanhalter in Karnlei _«cf Grund det lia-

»'»m  »um I*. Aptli iy>b ubd rfer d#/uirebS*
iigeu  krfsittiuuttifeM ubij i.rl*?sc KuStebendeo
HrfBgftta-c dni! Itrdiie. . . ' ' ,•

MemP ikri m' Sir uiirriienmcn mil det
Volleiie-seHail riae' ariuvreo Veranluoev
tuni.' fur katutrn und iur *rm Volk aof
■ 1  Ut ‘ •

Ibsen

dtes* V r* n t w orj  Krt* -  jteriu
Dar Wdie rur Ij(  allrin sriiuo wird Ihf
fterter Meilrr tfl dri DnrrhftthruTi* iheer Auf-
r'ši«rn srinV D«; Rentnim und A«xe»trlWeo
<l»» ikade« karuie« ».;rilm .ihren Guiteii

dar« b.meaK>;ii,- Ibnva Jbre. Auignbr »n rr-

Irifktrin /u.m Wiihlp miMrrrM. viiii un< aiirn
»o «n-d?lirii “i-liuhirt, lin uatlandes Karoien..
i-Vnib‘«b,iiipttaann I’ ■ < s ib rrujderie.
..Herr; f-aubasipinsBiiit' !<b c

•lire.

umi

pln«"n'n‘ lik crkUre

r«. »tir Cbertutlmie


. . i in am w. m hiik  «i ollen A pIh‘. -

rrkluri b<.bf« «,•••! mi'..rite l.ieiir /u;
•lieirm »ikutnui i,nmif rialu ;< ;nebi'n hm

Dim- i irl*-. til«- !,• i , 1 , 1 « »» /,i lt  h>-’

'Stauden hat t.iMMins «»rh rit,- Kreft n'liun.

d..' .•..Wri4«T.« s M »nd d,.v

(.afetj und sfcin. VnlU a«s di u, Sibr<-tkniv-i*ii

‘ Vi,

/rit

»<> dir .MiiKlb-rier 'Žrinre Rn
d. stitli.fi l.umbilijiipuaami
einu ilr'rrte F.>n!< rn ub ruf, i
A tb> -i m erb-r' -

fllktlllft'

•ur

Rk neue JKegirrmtg rali die Karntner

B.dd Bj(b dur ilbmuhmo d-f KrjtirtMni:«-
te> »b duitli‘dir tieur Pruvisomdn- Landrs-
ppfiirftto* :  «ii  rib- . im, 'Kundfuuk .obl it Pr
Aufruf tk-e IVosimriMbi*«- la*ntirsregiefun*
»n rijs Karnlin-r Volk .serlreen
-- Ote .hm« l.andesrrjtlreun* in r.«n trn Amie.

Buhe und Bisziplm hewahren!

Kkratoer »ad. K«rninetia*en. Klagmiattrtf
la de« «fewrr«trB l-ekicfc»»l«slBndrB Kkro-
iea* rirbtrl rfk Poliaei «» ruti> alfe folgea-
dr« AafruSi •

Be»«het R«hr! Srid. heeonneBi E« dart
uk« »iemand ta riarr HaRdlun* biarriii.-o
i*s«en, dir ®it der Ekre der KUmlner aickt
m '■rretr.bnrrfi wgre.

H»bi »allrs Vrrfrauea t* de*  aoShrilkbra
Otrinu ao«oegtmira oni  dere« Fehreaa. Det
KSminer kroni kelara Aateatir. rt kr*o?
»n# kria«' PlUaderan*.. tim a*uh rfireea
»arediirk »Aseerea jakerei »oilra wlt as«
aiflkl ’ —*

I dr« KHHHs.tmdKMl habi-11. Dir Poli eri

»trki »olj tn.d gan e  fdt din lleimal ela. Sie
«or*t far Ruke tred Ordnun«. Grgra Pld»-
drensgen. ftanberrirn. DirbsMhlr a«»!e
j *e*m jrdr 'ti**ewt/ličke. ilandinn* »Ird
enrr*t*rn ei«RraAri(1rn.

Helft aaa dr» Atftlnun*Mli>nrt rr!rieb!r>B,

*♦« errltor«, di* nitbl Kiotlare Atf *<ml.
»eeldrl dira šotori det Piiii»eC
.CSrnlnrr. babi i-oilre Vrelraite*. dir Pn-
ii/ei kilti eoeb des erhalte« »«« ihr nofb

Hi.... -

Volt Ver( : r»Be»ibtitkt d** Karstee? EoSt *tsf.
dime MSnnet. deoen- e« gikubisra Hm(m
» nd mli ZuversiAl »eta» sanre* Tarttaas®
sibenkl. Es i*t dira w«ki -detr Hsreeatire*Mb;
*iier |iBftedile» Kkfr.faet. rfa8 e«

Regierun* geiin*«« mfige, sarer Utarf *»:
ra«b «!s -ritSirliA as* dea. Kriri*,*»«4«ebea'

bresti* ia wteikr erlrigUefc* Zeitre * B  ftkrres.

Wir wi«en m  nnr *v> ga.'. »i»
»iie.SAstierickriieo sinrf, di« eiA dt» r*ia*a;
and giiira Wi!len det eenret Uka«««
Kegemleitrn.;' die tiebe »ur Heitat «s4 *•:

.SlSSž

_ . Osireretdi *o>sie dbr rti..

»mo Lebetr »reden »iel Kfafi rjM
Kreft, sile* Marte. d»».»o<* me « BS _
«ber»i ati«*!.

rS

Alkobolverta*

Die KertUar r :  Lsndesregkraar ' gifet :  b*.:
•kannt: Ab aofott -i« Jeder AaaiAsak a»4
Verkagf »on »eitlifea Ge! r Sake« mboM«4
Die Aiditbefotjritnjr d te ter Anordaaait wief
n«A dre bretebeadeo BMli®ma»««i «k*»f*
sten* (trshnrfet, Die'Aotkebivn* dkese* VeF-i
botre witri reehtaeifig rfarA «k» Drabthsk
det Beebl&era«* feefcunnfft(rebrn. • : 1

.Aatatekrlok.«

U.-OI. r. kisi Da* rito-Re*in» i. _

bat die WirtKfcait»l«s» d»r werkt»li(ea 0a-
•vbiketaait »ufierordentiiA »ereAlediteit Alf
riner Tagon* der Syodik*t« sad A f bet tar et-
1. IS rte det Voreitaentk dieser Or«eai*«lio*W
Du*»n Sijaa. m.  „Oie betjreiiar Arb*4-'
tre und An*r«teilie». beCsdea «i«k brat«,
»edis Moaate • natb , dre- Refreioa*.: i* eJker:
■derarltjt mbfftsbten W!rt»<t«f«#la*e, d »S n«
šiiti nirfit einrn«! *ui rlew Eiisi*M®iai«si*
-hailen kiinnen. -Ob»obi -Arbeiter aud An*«e-
sti-lifr ifer Snfietste* bergeben, o*’rfie Prta
id uk (ion »u »teigera uod lladardb. di« Kkmpfs
sn dur Front »o iintrest-itren, a»»ea ob*
šeibst de.s erbSrm(i<h*ta' Dasein fri*««. - *:
Die«‘ Verhniini'«* b*!«'u ri*ar, gefsirf. <l#f
<-» in rier Bctiiikernng -ref*d»Vrfeat!i<* za
AuNtaiitien itet-nn da« Rešim* »ekommea i«,

Sbnlitk stnrf riie»rhaitni«»e ta Uriatae
netri-n, l-.bi-r ri«* Tito »rine blatiriefende«
Martrie frrhre-.t«! h»t,U® .M*8nebsnea *ee»a'
.dir »-»tksonrfea- Darobra ,i* diete« Grbi«
vorzubereifcB. b*t sitb Dr. Ribar, ei«er
der .entrsien. Mitetbeitet Tito*., si* Sem<kM»
brtoilmkrktigter Tito« ,aa*b Cctiaj* btgebe«.:
Fr h»t V rrSndetungen im BwntenegrtBi«k.
aiitifasrinstisibrn. Bat »otKenoiam« nad di«
Rtldnng ,rier fudrratrim Regieruaa Uontt-
nee.-o* nnsmtdaei.-ae dere* Spiize ei« »*-:
“r er J o r« n u  jrrstclli,warde. ia Ibalidier
Ifeise ist da« Tlto-Repime »ud* is Msieiio*
men «»fee*an**n. »o «nf eiaer TsceRB
«»»ter dem Emfluft de« antifanckistisriieB R*.,
ei.mfaiis rine tnažesloci»rite Fudcrstiaa*>
rejrierun* gebildel' wurdr.

itofie NVrrmtitii e i*S» nas šarit
<t-r Helsrarier Reoreuuir bemafkti*l. Daa^
tfhr »us drn MeHnahmen hetvor. die gege«
tiefcaiinlr _ serbisrke Petsiinlirbteilrn rejrrif-
rm;j, lir( jen «md ko w or de« dir »rader
.Otrtitretf.-, belannle Groflinduslrielki:
tn. Patannp »eten ..Vttruii  *» dre VolU-
befrptung»b!-weKun*" »erarl *’ "

'v' --------i " ’«iwiu Ds* Ab»-

m*« der Strete" wnrtj , , iHbf  beksaa*.

ereeben Dr,e«n;ob B t» * i e. etn ftkttatf«
Mitglied der .»rbisriiret dre»okral!*<fce* F,».
te. wn»d« »reurteilt. wril „ In »in.» „«l„
die  Errtinir*B»rfi*tr€B dre
volk»bt[nriiuitshewejntnz »nreeriffe* ftalt*.

?»«r Lape* is Trteat

r>D.

Ms«. -

im mer ootk rr'f>.«ent l»t «*d d<l n tu.™.
s.*r« sn bektupteu. rf»8 die C*irt»«*(» a  b».
rtu« hrbnben seirn. A a drr' ObrrilSrii* ist
es rerba!tni«ml(9i* i- s M« TitoSoirialrei
Iviiritiiilterni in drr ‘'treif and tretrn wbr
trtsnmiiif ant Die ,.Tim»t“ bejeiefcnut TrieM
Bls eiort. {«■(»!(reapunkt.

FIsjRev bemial

Die Kkrntci-r ! n-drert-giVrimr ersnekt riia
Rr-ii.ikrr.ma. u, ,!-*'»Stapt*. or,d f^i.d«-
fsfJn-B. rot-»eiR-roi und. gelh-nx-'»reP. **

mmimi-m- tl __. /a&f,-; -«.- j

The „Kartner Zeitung", May 8 1945, containing speeches
and proclamations regarding the handing over of power

14

refused to band over their arms and surrender to the Yugos!avs,
on the ground that they had not yet received authority to do so
from the new Government in Celovec (Annex IV to the Yugoslav
Memorandum on Carinthia,  p. 15).

British and Yugoslavs in Carinthia.

On May 8th, on the morrow of the assumption of power by
the new Provincial Government, troops of the British 8th Army
entered Celovec (Klagenfurt), tv/o hours later there were the Yugo-
slav troops, too. Slovene Carinthia was occupied partly by Yu.go-
slav and partly by British troops. On the basis of the politieal
organization of the Liberation Front which had for three years led
the struggle of the Carinthian Slovenes against Nazism, a "Pro¬
vincial National Liberation Comimittee for Slovene Carinthia” was
formed on May 16th, 1945, as the supreme representative of civi-
lian authority in the province, in a way similar to that in wh ch
civilian authorities had in the different provinces of Yugoslavia
emerged in the course of the Liberation War from politieal organi-
zations in the liberated territory. Two civilian authorities were thus
in existence: this Committee and the Provincial Government under
Piesch.

After the departure of the Yugoslav troops.

This duality of civilian and m?.Ltary power lasted, however,
only for a few days. The British and United States Governments
demanded the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Carinthia on
the grounds that this province came within the sphere of British
occupation under the agreement of the Great Allies, and that Yugo-
slavia’s olaim to the territory of Slovene Carinthia would be decided
upon at the time of the general peace settlement. Yugoslav troops
withdrew from Carinthia. The British occupation authorities then
disbanded the National Liberation Committee for Slovene Carinthia,
and maintained the Piesch Government as a Provisionai Provincial
Government.

Both the status and cormposition of that Government subse-
quently underwent several changes, but the principal members
remained throughout, headed by Hans Piesch who only resigned on
March 12th, 1947. His successor, the new Landeshauptmann  Ferdi¬
nand Wedenig, elected by the Carinthian Diet on April 22, 1947,
had been a member of the Piesch Provincial Government of May
7, 1945. Both his deputies are Hans Herke and Hans Ferlitsch, also
members of the Government formed on May 7, 1945. Stil! another
instance of the continuity of the system vvhich remained unchanged in
principle.

The manner in which the Piesch Government came into being
was known not meraly in Carinthia but was repeatedly deseribed

15

in the Yugoslav press (tke first time by Lojze Ude in the Slovenski
Poročevalec,  Ljubljana, May 25th, 1945). But the British Occupa-
tion Authorities simply took no notice.

The čase of Nazis handing power over in Carinthia in May 1945
to certain people selected by them, and of these people embodying
power of the Austrian State throughout a period of several years
and being recognized as such by the Allied Occupation Authorities,
is a unique one. It is only possible to grasp its importance if one
bears in mind to what extent the political life of the German spea-
king Carinthia was poisoned by Nazism.

II. THE GERMAN NATIONAL CHAUVINISM AND NAZISM
IN CARINTHIA.

The ideas of German National sm and Pan-Germanism have
a long tradition behind them in Austria. It was they which created
so favourable a soil for the growth of Nazism. No impartial observer
can to-day harbour any doubts regarding the strength of Nazism
in Austria. The provinces of Austria, however, differ among thern-
selves in this respect. And none of these provinces can bear compa-
rison with the German part of Carinthia as regards the intensity
of national chauvinism, Pan-Germanism and later of Nazism. The
political development of Carinthia in the course of the last hundred
years is evidence of this.

The political structure of German Carinthia under Austria—Hungary.

The main bearers of German nationalism and of the struggle
against the Slavs in the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were
th.e "National-Liberal” and later the ”German-National” partes. There
was, in actual fact, far more national-chauvinism than liberalism in
these parties. They were in the main satisfied vvith German hege-
mony in Austria and a pro-German foreign policy of Austria, while
certain groups \vere already openly coming out in favour of a pan-
German or even racist and anti-semitic program (e. g. the group of
Dr. Schonerer who had a decisive influence on Hitler). The principal
competitors of these groups among the German speaking population
in Austria were the various conservative, and later Christian Social
parties, whose loyalty went above ali to the dynasty of the Habs-
burgs. The German national movement had the most considerable
following among the Sudeten Germans; in the lands of what was to
become the Austrian Republic, its main supporters were drawn from
among the ranks of the bourgeoisie, while te vast maiority of the
rural population was to be found in the conservative camp.

An exception in this respect was constituted-by Carinthia which
was a stronghold of the German national parties, despite its predo-
minantly agrarian character: at least eight of a total of nine mem-
bers of Parliament for Carinthia prior to 1897 were always members
of these parties, while of the ten members whom the Province
elected after 1897, the number of those belonging to the German

17

national parties was nine at the first election, ali ten at the second
election, six at the third election and eight at the fourth election;
the remaining members wer.e either Slovenes or Conservatlves or
Socialists. We cannot enter here into the question why the Carinthian
Slovenes because*of the electoral system and the division of con-
stituencies d:d not enjoy a representation corresponding to their
number. The electoral system and the distribution of constituencies
represent in themselves a means for the national oppression of
Carinthian Slovenes. This German national attitude of the German
population precisely in Carinthia is explained even by German
authors as having been caused by their national struggle against the
Slovenes, which in reality means by the tendency of national oppres¬
sion of the Slovenes (Handworterbuch des Grenz- und Auslanddeutsch-
tums,  III, Breslau 1938, p. 564. Dr. Martin Wutte, Carinthia I,
Klagenfurt 1940, p. 56).

German chauvinism was felt above ali by the Carinthian Slo¬
venes. There is no doubt that it was precisely the idea of the ”fron-
ti.er mission” of Carinthia in the offensive of Pan-Germanism
towards the Adriatic, against the resistance of Carinthian Slovenes
— the chief opponents of German national parties — which repre-
sented a strong impetus for the development of national chauvinism
among the German-speaking population of Carinthia. Austria did
not in practice recognize equal national rights to the non-German
nationalities in the other provinces either; Carinthia however consti-
tutes a specific čase even within this general framework of Govern¬
ment policy. Here, the chauvinism of the autonomous provincial
adm nistration was added to this common policy. This administration
con rolled for instance, elementary education and did not allow the
establishment of any kind of Slovene elementary schools. There was
also the chauvinism of the owners of economic enterprises, of the
large landowners, who were linked up with the German-national
organizations and exerted pressure against the Slovenes in accor-
dance with instructions from these organizations thus promoting
the Germanization of the Slovenes.

In the Austrian Republic.

This political structure was changed in the Republic of Austria
in so far as the two most powerful political parties became the
Christian-Social and Social-Democratic parties; small groups, such
as the Pan-Germans, the Agrarian Party, which had emerged from
within the German national camp, only came third. Out of the total
number of members of the Vienna Parliament at the time of the
Republic between 1919 and 1933 (this number was 160 in 1919, 175
in 1920, and 165 at subsequent elections after 1923), the number of
Christian Socialists varied from 63 to 82, of Social-Democrats from
66 to 75, of Pan-Germans and of Agrarians etc. from 16 to 27. Social-
Democracy had its main stronghold in Vienna, and it drew the remain-
der of .ts following from among the workers in other provinces,
while the bulk of the rural population in other provinces gave its

2

18

support to the Christian-Social Party; the Pan-German parties were
mainly backed by the bourgeoisie and by the wealthy peasants. The
Pan-Germans were, naturally, ali in favoUr of the Anschluss  and of
German chauvinism, the Social-Democratic Party ,as a whole advo-
cated th-e Anschluss,  the majority of the Christian-Social Party was
also in favour of the Anschluss,  and the only section of this Party
which showed but small enthusiasm for Germany was the one which
stili hoped for the return of the Habsburgs. We thus had the curious
paradox in the Austrian Republic that in fact nobody was in favour
of the Austrian Republic; the republicans were not in favour of
Austria, while the legitimists, to whom Austria stili meant something,
v/ere not in favour of the Republic.

Carinthia’s situation within the Austrian Republic was a spe-
cific one, different from that of the other provinces with a similar
social structure. Three of the nine members of Parliament for
Car.nthia, i. e. a third, invariably belonged to the Pan-German or
Agrarian parties, a higher percentage than in any other of the
Austrian provinces; four members were Social-Democrats; only two
were Christian-Socialists, a smaller percentage than in other pro¬
vinces. This goes to show that German national chauvinism was
stronger in Carinthia than in other provinces of Austria, and that
Pan-German sentiments were even more powerful among the Ger-
man-speaking population of Carinthia than among the Austrian
population taken as a whole. This attitude of the German majority
in Carinthia made things even more difficult for the Carinthian
Slovenes than they had been in Austria-Hungary; they failed to find
protection anywhere, including the Social-Democratic Party which
did not differ in this respect from the bourgeois parties. The repre-
sentatives of Carinthian Slovenes struggled in vain for their national
rights in the Carinthian Diet; the Pan-German parties were so strong
and the national chauvinism poisoned to such an extent the entire
German-speaking population that the Slovenes, as a minority, could
achieve nothing.

The beginnings of Nazism,

Pt was from within the ranks of the German-nationals that
Nazism recruited its first adherents in Austria. Its progress was,
naturally enough, limited in the initial stages, but so it was in Ger-
many. It is a well-known fact that the Nazi Party had not been a
large mass party in Germany before 1930; as late as the 1928 elec-
tions for the Reichstag it had only obtained 2.63 p. c. of the votes;
at the 1930 elections the percentage of its votes already reached
18.3 p. c., while the votes čast fot this party had amounted to 37.4
p. c. in 1932 and 33.1 p. c. at the second elections held the same year;
even after Hitler had come to power, his party only obtained 43.9
p. c. of the votes at the elections of March 5, 1933, which were
carried out only a few days after the burning of the Reichstag and
\vere accompanied by terroristic methods. If one was to follow the
line of argumentation resorted to by the Austrians to-day, and con-

19

fine oneself to facts taken from the pre-Nazi period and to certain
individuai symptoms of resistance to Hitler later, one could exone-
rate Germany too from ali responsibility for Nazism and the war.

Any comparison between the development of Nazism in Austria
and in Germanv is rendered even more difficult by the fact that the
last parliamentary election in Austria took plače in 1930, while the
last election for some of the diets were held in 1932 and for a certain
number of municipal and communal councils in 1933; no elections
v/ere held after 1933, because the Dollfuss—Schuschnigg regim-e no
longer dared risik an electoral contest with the rising tide of Nazism
wher.eas they did not vvant to co-operate with the Austrian workers
who represented the most powerful anti-Nazi force in Austria.

Facts show that Nazism developed along the same ilines in
Austria, although at a somevvhat slovver pace, as in Germany, and
that its strength was comparativelv greater in Carinthia than in
the other provinces of Austria. Dr. Theodor Veiter, a publicist of
the Schuschnigg regime, wrote with some resignation in 1936 about
Nazism in Carinthia: ”Actually, it had long since been there... It
had, in fact, been endemic in Carinthia in the form of National-Libe-
ralism.” (Die SIowenen in Karntei},  Wien—Leipzig 1936, p. 109).
The National-Socialist Party made its appearance in this province
as eanly as the 1919 elections, the first Nazi paper was published
there in 1921, the Carinthian Nazis took no small pride in the fact
that they were the first to send to Hitler a message of loyalty when
he was arrested in 1923. Although the Nazi Party was stili small,
Carinthia was the only Austrian province vvhere the Nazis had a
representative in the Diet as far back as 1923, while after 1927 it
was the only province, besides Salzburg, with a Nazi member in the
Diet . In 1930, the Nazi Party polil ad 3. 3. p. c. of the votes in
Austria; the greatest percentage of ali the provinces was obtained
in Carinthia (6. 5). It was only after this election that the Nazi
movement in Austria and Carinthia shovved a very considerable
growth. No election for the Diet was held in Carinthia in 1932.
If we bear the fact in mind that the number of Nazi votes had
increased in Vienna from 2.3 to 17.3 p. c. betvveen 1930—32,
that they had increased from 4.1 to 14.1 p. c. in Lovver Austria
and from 3.6 to 20.7 p. c. in Salzburg in the same period, and that
they had at these elections practieallly completely absorbed the
Pan-German and Agrarian Party, if we bear the fact in mind that
their voices had increased at the municipal elections in Innsbruck
from 3.1 to 41.1 p. c. between 1931 and 1933 (cf. Gerd Riihle,
Das Grossdeutsche Reich,  Berlin 1940, p. 172—17-3; P. T. Lux,
Oesterreich 1918—1938 eine Demokratie?  Graz—Wien 1946, p. 54),
we can easilv imagine the advance of Nazism in Carinthia vvhere
it had been strong even before this recent upsurge and vvhere the
Pan-German and Agrarian Parties had obtained one third of the
votes. At the last municipal elections in 1933, the Nazis made their
vvay into practicatly ali the municipal and communal councils in
Carinthia. (The election data have been taken from the book by

2 *

20

Dr. Hans Volz "Daten der Geschichte der NSDAP”,  Berlin-Leipzig,
9th edition, 1939; and for Nazism in Carinthia the already quoted
Handworterbuch des Grenz- und Auslanddeutschtums  II, p. 581—84
has been used).

Under the dictatorship, in 1934, Austria ilived through two
serious crises: the struggle of the Vienna wor'kers in February of
that year and the attempted Nazi uprising in July.

Carinthia and the struggle of the Vienna workmen.

When the civil war started on February 12 th, 1934, the Vienna
v/ireless was able to announce only for two Austrian Socialist leaders
that thev had gone over to the side of the Government. They were
Zeinitzer, Deputy Landeshauptmann  for Carinthia, i. e. the highest
representative of the Socialists in the administration of the province,
and eng. Pichler, the mayor of Celovec (Klagenfurt), the main town
of Carinthia. They were the only Socialists, who had negotiated with
Dollfuss even before the uprising and were with him when the first
news of the uprising began coming in. They immediately denounced
the workers and resigned from the Social-Democratic Party. (Perti-
nax, Oesterreich 1934,  p. 300, Zurich 1935). ”From Vienna the
Socialist leaders of Carinthia immediately established contact with
their province, and succeeded in preventing the explosions and acts
of revolt which had already been prepared. The Social-Democrats in
Carinthia complied with the bidding of their leaders so that not a
single shot was fired in Carinthia on February 12 th, or on subse-
qent days. "(VoJkszeitupg,  the Carinthian paper of the People’s
Party, of February 10, 1946.) This fact, at a time when a heroic
struggle had been going on for several days in Vienna and in other
Austrian provinces against the dictatorship, shows the mentality of
the Socialist leaders in Car.nthia; their party was undoubtedly a
strong one, but their špirit cannot be compared to that shown by
the Vienna workers in 1934. They had come to an agreement with
the Dollfuss dictatorship against the Vienna workers, just'as they
had previously come together with the other parties in their policy
towards the Slovenes. And in 1945 a man, who had once been a mem-
ber of the Social Democratic ;Party, Hans Piesch, joined hands with
the Nazi Gauleiter,  Dr. Rainer in the struggle against the Carinthian
Slovenes and their striving for liberation from nationa! oppression
by the Germans, with the desire to save the situation, in his capacity
of "Socialist”, at a time, when the Nazi regime had lost the war.

The Nazi Putsch, July 1934.

Different was the situation in July 1934. The attempted Nazi
Putsch which' resulted .in the murder of Dollfuss in Vienna on
July 25th, was put down within a few hours, while, outside Vienna,
ther-e was fighting only in Styria, Carinthia and in certain fron-
tier vllages in Salzburg and Upper Austria. In Carinthia, the upri¬
sing bro-ke out on July 26th, and the f.ghting went on for five

21

days against the regular troops which \vere compelled to withdraw
several tim.es (cf. Schuschnigg, Dreimal Oesterreich,  Wien 1937,
p. 258). Entire areas of Carinthia (Lavanttal, Metnitztal, a part
of Gurktal, the town St. Veit an der Glan, Gegendtal, a great part
of the Upiper Drava Valley, the Upper Gailtal) were in the hands
of the Nazis, who had disarmed the Gendarmerie.  Practically the
w.hoile of the German part of Carinthia, with the exception of the
principal towns Celovec (Klagenfurt) and Beljak (V.llach), was for
several days under Nazi control (cf. the already mentioned Hand-
worterbuch  and Rohr\vig: Der Freiheitskampf der Ostmark-Deut-
schen,  Graz—Wien—Leipzig 1942, p. 153—204). In the Slovene
part of Carinthia the Nazis did not even attempt to start an upri-
sing. Even then it could be fe.lt that the Carinthian Silovenes will
represent in this province the only political force which would
seriousty oppose the Nazi tide.

Anschluss.

Even after the faiture of the July uprising, the political
strength of the Nazis was constantly on the increase in Austria,
while Carinthia was once again in the forefront of ali the Austrian
provinces in this respect. This was shown on the eve of the
Anschluss,  on March llth, 1938. Carinthia was the only Austrian
province where the Nazis had assumed power even before the
Austr.an Chancellor Schuschnigg had resigned in the evening of
March llth and announced that no resistance would be offered
the German troops in the event of their marching into Austria,
at a time when the situation in Vienna was stili uncertain. Descri-
bing the situation, Dr. Friedrich Rainer said: ”In the meamvhile
one Gau  and one Gau  only, proceeded to take over power, and
that was Carinthia!« (cf. his informative lecture read at the Niirn-
berg Trial and pubhshed in the Carinthian Socialist paper Die Neue
Zeit  of February 9th, 1946, under the sub-title »Karnten marschierte
zuerst ins Drhte Reich«),

The Nazi period. The Stovenes are the only opponents.

Under the Nazi regime, from 1938—1945, the German speak-
ing population of Carinthia was almost unanimously behind
Hitler. Therefore Nazi persecutions were limited almost exclusi-
vely to Slovenes as an element which it is impossible to a;bsorb
and which by the very nature of things was an adversary of Nazism.
In 1942 the deportations of Slovenes started and it was only due
to the lack of success on the fronts that this plan was not fully
carried out. In 1941, Carinthia was presented with »Southern
Carinthia«, a part of annexed Yugoslavia with a Slovene popula¬
tion of 200.000, for the purpose of Germanizmg it by means of
the methods already tried out upon the Carinthian Slov-enes. The
Nazis of Carinthia bear particular responsibility for this regime
of oppression, extermination and crime, because they were its

22

main protagonists. The limited i-nstances of anti-Nazi resistance
among the German-sp-eaking population of Carinthia in the course
of the war were sustained exclusively by the struggle of the
Carinthian Slovenes. Carinthia was the most nazified province of
Austria. This is confirmed by the registration of Nazis, i. e. of
members and candidates of the Nazi Party, members of the SS,
and SA, not inoluding the -members of their families, which was
accomplished by the present Austrian Government. This registra¬
tion. up to November Ist, 1946, which was incomplete because a

Map of the Nazi Putsch in Carinthia in the last days of July 1934.

J. Frontiers of Carint ia

2. Territory controlled by Nazis at the time of the Putsch of July 1934.

This map shows that practically the who!e of Carinthia, with the exception of
the main towns and of the Slovene part of the province, was at the time under

Nazi control.

not inconsiderable number of Nazis succeeded in evading it, showed
that the number of Nazis amounted to 536.660 or 7.5 percent of
the total population of Austria. In Carinthia, their number reached
46.753 or 11.5 p. c. of the total population. (Official report of
the Austrian Ministry for Home Affairs, Wiener Kurief,  N» 258
of November 8th, 1946). If we leave out the Carinthian Slovenes,
the percentage of registered Nazis rises to 14 p. c. of the German-
speaking population of Carinthia. Nazism in Carinthia is just as
strong as in those German provinces where the National-Socialist
Party wielded the greatest influence.

III. THE PRESENT SYSTEM IN CARINTHIA CONTINUES
THE TENDENCIES OF THE NAZI REGIME.*)

General features of the new policy.

Nazi Carinthia succeeded in legally surviving the dovvnfall of
Nazism, owing to the new team which had offered its Services
at the time of the collapse of the German Armed forces and
replaced the Nazi regime there. Carinthia thus preserved its essen-
tially Pan-German character before any kind of far reaching
change. She is prepared to disguise this character in ali sorts of
ways in order to maintain the Carinthian Slovenes under her domi-
nation. Her purpose is not merely to pursue the Germanization of
a part of the small Slovene nation, but also to ridicule the hope
which had led the Carinthian Slovenes to rise in a sanguinary
revolt against Nazism at the side of the Ahies, the hope that thev
were thereby contributing to the triumph of justice in general,
and of justice for themselves, that they were, that is, achieving
their national liberation. The system which is holding Carinthia
under its sway since May 1945, a system embodied in the person
of Hans Piesch, Landeshauptmann,  until March 12th, 1947, a system
which has not been changed by his resignation and which enjoys
the support of the British occupation authorities, is a system which
consists in evading denazification and continuing the national
oppression of the Carinthian Slovenes.

In the first plače, ah branches of the civil Service in Carin¬
thia, both at high and at lower levels, had been thoroughly nazi-
fied. As regards the Carinthian school-teachers, Hans Piesch, who
is himself a teacher by profession, said that ali schools would have
to be closed in Carinthia, if ali the Nazi teachers were dismissed
(Karntner Nachrichten,  organ of the British PWB, N° 55, of July
17th, 1945). This applies not only to the teachers, but to ali other
civil servants as well — including, of course, the police and the Gen-

*) In this chapter I am confining myself to the main facts which are
characteristic of the situatkm in Carinthia after May 1946. As regards the
motives and principles governing the policy of the British occupation authori¬
ties, I should like to draw the reader’s attention to the paraphlet by Kenneth
Syers, Austro-Yugoslav Frontier Problems, Slovene Carinthia, London 1947.

24

darmerie  — who had for decades b.een Pan-German, and had, in
their majority, turned to Nazism even before the Anschluss.  In
Slovene Carinthia, where the German-speaking population consists
in the main of civil servants, teachers, gendarmes etc., those who
were not Slovenes were practical!y ali Nazis.

The only way to start denazification in a land of this kind,
would have been to turn the Government over to those who had
waged a political and miilitary struggle aga nst the Nazis, to those
who proved in the course of the war to be the only anti-Fascist
force. It is on this basis alone that an anti-Nazi system, capable
of effecting denazification and re-educating the German-speaking
population of Carinthia, could have been built up. Instead of that,
power was, even under the British occupation authorities, left in
the hands of men who had accepted it from the Nazi reg'me and
who had promised that they would persecute no one because of
membership in the Nazi Party. Dr. Rainer called upon the Nazis
to support this regime in the struggle against the Carinthian Slo-
venes, i. e. against those who had waged an armed struggle against
Nazism. It is only too obvious that under such conditions denazi¬
fication can be nothing but a farce.

Elections.

The electoral law of October 19. 1945, issued by the Provi-
sional Austrian Government and approved by the Allied Control
Council for Austria, deprived certain categories of Nazis of the
right to vot-e. In Carinthia, the Chairman of the Provincial Elec¬
toral Commission was a Nazi narned Dr. Wolte; this shows the
manner in which the law was put into effect. The relevant figures
show that it was in Carinthia that the number of voters had suf-
fered the smallest decrease (Hans Riemer, Die Wah!en vom 25.
November 1945 im Lichte der Zahlen, Die Zukunft, Sozialistische
Monatsschrift,  mid-April, 1946, pag. 19). It is understandable that
the pro-Nazi voters čast their votes for parties whos.e representa-
tives had accepted power from the Nazis, i. e. for the Socialist
Party of Hans Piesch and for the People’s Party. Th.ese two par¬
ties won at the elections. It is significant that it was only in
Carinthia that a fourth party, the so-called Democratic Party, which
was exposed after the elections as a Nazi grouping, found it pos-
sible to contest the elections, while the Slovene Party, the Libera¬
tion Front, was not allowed to take part in the elections, of which
more will be said further on.

»Denazification«

There can be no question of the Nazis having been removed
from the administration, the judiciary, the police force etc.; ali.
the branches of the civil service are on the contrary infested with
Nazis from top to bottom. Among the senior officials of the Pro¬
vincial Gov-emment, of the administration and of the law courts,

25

%

among the mayors of towns and villages, within the police force
and the Gendarmerie,  we encounter a great number of Nazis, wbb
are, of course, not openly showing themselves as such, but are,
non the less, doing everything in practice to safeguard the Nazi
heritage under the existlng circumstances. Former Nazis are shiel-
ding one another, proceedings before law courts against Nazis are
practically non-existing, the political and administrative leaders
are endeavcurng to make use of their connections with the occu-
pation authorities in order to have Nazis released from prisons and
concentration camps; thus Rainer’s deputy, Natmessnig, was set
free, among others. The whole sltuation was described to a dele-
gation of Britlsh M. P. s. by Major Burness, an official of the
British Security Service in Carinthia, in these terrns: »At present
Austrians are responsible for the denazificatlon; it is our respon-
sibility to push them, bečause they don’t do anything if we do
not compel them. I think myself that they would best like to allow
everything to sink into obhvion.« (Quoted according to the German
translation, published in the Volksv/ille, Klagenfurt,  of February
26th, 1947).

Attitude towards Slovenes.

The feelings of the new regime towards the Carinthian Slo¬
venes are sufficiently obvious. The very reason why it was esta-
blished was ,to ensure the continuation of the oppression of the
Carinthian Slovenes with the ultimate aim of achieving their com-
plete disappearance, i. e. their complete Germanization, its pur-
pose is to defend the »:ndivisibility« of Carinthia, i. e. the system
of oppression carried on by Austria-Hungary, the Austrian R-epubhc
and the Third Reich, against the domestic enemy, i. e. the Carin¬
thian Slovenes, and against the foreign enemy, i. e. Yugoslavia.
The methods to-day cannot be quite the same as those applied
at the time of the Nazi regime, because the downfall of Nazism
is stili too recent, and because the question of Slovene Carinthia
is an open international quest;on, and it is therefore essential to
\veather this critical period by rneans of various promises similar
to those so freely indulged in 1918—1920, that the rights of the
Slovene minority would be respected.

The surest guarantee that the anti-Slovene policy would be
continued lies in the fact that the civil Service, the police and the
Gendarmerie  have remained unchanged. There was no room for
Slovenes in these institutions even at the time of the Austro-
Hungarian Monarchy, nor at that of the Austrian Republic, i. e.
not merely at the time wh.en the Nazi regime was in control. The
desmissal of individual Nazis from this Governmental apparatus,
\vhich is Nazi in its ovenvheiming majority, cannot operate any
fundamental change in the attitude of the apparatus itself. It is
obvious that in the eyes of these officials, the Slovene partisans
are even now »bandits« and traitors. Nor can gendarmes and poli-

26

čemeti, who had ben fighting these partisans as late as 1944 and
the beginning of 1945, civil servants who had served Nazism through-
out the war, be expected to have different feelings to-day. This
!'und.am.ental attitude explains why it has proved impossible to
discover the culprits of numerous terroristic outrages against Slo¬
venc meetings, gatherings, against Slovene homes and individua!
Slovenes, which are being perpetrated by Nazi Wurfkommandos,
sometimes in conjunction with »displaced persons«. The latter are
welcome because they are enemies of Yugoslavia. According to the
statement of the new Landeshauptmann  Wedenig, there are 54.000
d.splaced persons in Carinthia (Die Neue Zeit,  Klagenfurt, April
26, 1947). Reports from Carinthia speak of twenty attacks against
the Slovenes on the part of these » Wurfkommando « terrorists in
March 1947 alone. There exists a scheme to grant members of
German minorities from other countries Austrian citiz.ensh:p and
to have them settled 'in Carinthia (Oesterreichische Volksstimme,
Vienna, of February 1, 1947). There is no doubt that belrnd that
scheme there is the aim to have anti-Yugoslav elements in Austria,
and especiaily the German element, reinforced.

The same as the public administrat on has not changed, so
have no changes occured as regards the economic dependance of
the Slovenes upon their German employers, which is the second
main reason of the national oppression of the Carinthian Slovenes.
Thus for instance in February 1947 Count Thurn dismissed -twenty
Slovene workers and tenants, including some former partisans and
people who had been in his Service for many decades (Presse-
diemt  of the Liberation Front, Klagenfurt, II, Ne 8, March lst,
1947).

Political measures against Slovenes.

The frontier with Yugoslavia has been completely closed ever
since May 1945, a Sperrzone  has been established along the frontier,
and severe restrictions upon freedom of movement have been imposed
throughout this zone; this is an attempt to make ali contact between
the Carinthian Slovenes and Yugoslavia impossible. Although the
frontier question is admittedly stili an unsettled one, propaganda in
favour of Austria is carried on unimpeded and is indulged in even
by the press run by the British occupation authorities, while, on the
other hand, ali pro-Yugoslav propaganda has been considered illegal
and subject to persecution ever since the withdrawal of the Yugoslav
troops. At the beginning of October 1945, Austrian political parties
were allowed to organize and publish newspapers. The Slovene Libe¬
ration Front, which had a record of three years of political and
military struggle against Nazism, was, however, forbidden to engage
in any kind of political activity. Six weeks before the elections of
November 25th, 1945 were to take plače in Austria, the ban from
the Liberation Front was lifted (on October the 17th), but as soon as
it had become manifest at the pre-election meetings it was holding
that it had very considerable following among the masses of the

27

Slovene population, its representatives were requested to pledge
themselves to refrain from expressing their demand for the incor-
poration of Slovene Carinthia into Yugoslavia. When this request
vvas rejected, the Liberation Front was banned once again on No¬
vember 2 and 8, and that is why it did not participate in these
elections. Ever since the elections the Liberation Front has existed
under conditions of semi-legality: it is not recognized as are the
other .parties, its press is banned and it is not acknovvledged the
rights .enjoyed by the Austrian parties, its conferenc-es and meetings
are forbidden \vhenever the authorities think it fit, its adherents are
searched and arrested under the most various pretexts. The Libera¬
tion Front has not even been in the possibility of publishing its organ
in Carinthia, but has been compelled to publish it in Vienna since
the second part of 1946. At the time of the Moscow Conference
ali public meetings and gatherings, ali declarations in favour of union
with Yugoslavia were banned by the Occupation Authorities, and so
vere Slovene and Yugoslav flags and even the sending of telegram?
to-the Council of Foreign Ministers in Moscow (on April 11, 1947);
propaganda for Austria and an ”undivided Carinthia” is, however,
being carried on quite freely.

Hindering of cultural activities.

This system, hovvever, does not merely deprive the Carinthian
Slovenes of the possibility of political activity; it also makes cultural
work impossible for them. The Nazi regime had disbanded ali the
forty-three existing Slovene cultural organizations, burnt down,
looted or confiscated the cultural homes of the Slovenes, destroyed
or confiscated Slovene libraries, the archives of Slovene organiza¬
tions, the manuscripts of Slovene scientists, while it threw Slovene
cultural workers into prisons or concentration camps; many of them
lost their lives as victims of Nazi oppresslon. When, after the down-
fal.l of Nazism, the Slovenes requested permissi-on to renew their
cultural organizations, the British Military Government rejected this
request on September 7, 1945, and prohibited ali cultural work and
public performances by the Carinthian Slovenes. The representatives
of the Slovenes again intervened, but it was only after they had
sent a petition to the Allied Control Council in Vienna in 1946, that
the British Military Government asked that a new request be sub-
mitted and finally issued the necessary instructions to the Austrian
authorities, who delayed taking a decision on the matter until May
16th, 1946, when the Director of Security of Carinthia, a former
Colonel of the German Army, permitted the activities of the Slovene
Cultural League. Although the activities of the League had been
permitted, the renewal of practically half of its organizations
(sixteen out of forty-three) remains banned to the end of March
1947 (Slovenski Vestnik,  Vienna, March 28, 1947). The Slovenes
have not been given back their cultural homes, their cultural gathe¬
rings are frequently prohibited, terroristk raids against those gathe¬
rings vvhich are allowed, are organized. Thev are also forbidden to

)

28

print Slovene books. Slovene cultural societies are not given back
their confiscated libraries which are —- in so far as they have not
been destroyed by the Nazis — in the hand of the Austrian authori-
ties, while the Austrian gendarmerie searches the homes of Slovenes
in quest of books brought in from Yugoslavia. Ali this goes to show
that the Slovenes are, in the cultural field too, subjected in the main
to the system set up by Nazism, and that they had not been given
back even those limited rights which they had enjoyed prior to the
advent of Nazism.

Obstructing the restoration of cooperatives.

The Slovenes asked already in August 1945 to be premitted
to renew their cooperatives and that the property of their coope¬
ratives, confiscated by the Nazi regime, be returned. It was publicly
stated only on January -23, 1947, that the Carinthian Provincial Go¬
vernment on principle accepted this claim; now ali those measures
of indirect obstruction of the restoration of Slovene cooperatives are
to start which were already mentioned in connection with cultural
organizations.

Prohibition of various organizations :of Carinthian Slovenes.

The Union of Carinthian Partisans was forbidden (Volks-
zeitung,  March 30, 1946), and so far neither the organization of
Slovenes deported by the Nazis nor that of Slovene concentration
camp internees was permitted.

Continuation of the Nazi system in Church.

In the Austrian Republic the Slovene language enjoyed relati¬
ven the greatest rights in the Church; the Nazi regime expelled the
Slovene priests and even now pre-Nazi situation has not been restored;
a Slovene priest quotes as an instance 17 Slovene parishes from which
the Slovene language is now stili banned (Slovenski Vestnik,
January 31, 1947). Thus it is clear that on this field as well the
pre-Nazi situation has not been re-established and that the present
regime likes to continue the system introduced by the Nazis.

»Putting right« Nazi injustices.

The representatives of the present Austrian and occupation
regime aver that the injustices inflicted by the Nazi regime have
been ”put right”. They point to the fact that the land, which had
been taken away from the Slovenes, has been given back to them,
that the Slovenes, which had been driven from their homes by the
Nazis, are given indemnities, that bi-lingual schools have been esta-
blished. In actual fact, however, this return of property, the propriety
of which is surely self-evident enough, is carried out in such a manner
that, up to the beginning of 1947, i. e. twenty rnonths after the end
of the war, 242 out of a total of 300 expeiled Slovene families have

29

been given their land back (Statement of the Austrian Delegation at
the London Conference, p. 27); that means that one fifth of the
expelled Slovene families have not yet been given back the land they
were compelled to leave, in 1942, at a notice of not more than a few
hours. The assessing of the idemn/ties due to these families was
effected with the cooiperation of eng. Maierhoffer and of Hofrai
Stotter, who had conducted the expulsion of the Slovenes in 1942 in
conjunction with the war criminal Maier-Kaibitsch; this explains why
the losses involved were evaluated at not more than 3,150.000
shillings. Only 1,150.000 shillings of the idemnities thus evaluated had
been paid up to the beginning of 1947, according to the statement
of the Austrian Goverament, i. e. only one third (Statement o-f the
Austrian Delegation to the London Conference, p. 27). As regards
schools, the regulation on bi-lingual schools of October 31, 1945
(Karntner Nachrichten,  organ of thePWB, JNTs 152, November 11, 1945)
is being implemented — according to the statement of Kazianka, a
member of Carinthian Diet, at a meeting of the Diet in December
1946 on the basis of data which the Landeshauptmann  Hans Piesch
was unable to deny — only in 9 out of 69 supposedly bi-lingual
schools. Mr. Hands, an official of the British Occupation Authorities in
Carinthia, told a delegation of British M. P. s regarding th.e school
question: ”The Austrian authorities proceeded in a manner which
justifies the complaints of the Slovenes”. ”The Slovenes especially
complain that there are no teachers and that those teachers who
are able to teach in Slovene are dismissed, transferred and moved
about” (quo;ted from the German translation in VolkswiIle,  Klagen-
furt, February 26, 1947).

Perspectives of the future.

Moreover, th.e existing system does not only mean that the
Slovenes are stili being deprived of their rights, that they are being
Germanized with the ultimate aim of being made totally to disappear,
but this system is, even at this stage, hardly troubling to conceal its
intention to resort in the future to Nazi methods in order to attain
its goal. Mr. Sharp, an official of the British Military Government,
told the British M. P. s: ”The mentality of the German speaking
population as regards their Slovene countrymen is, in general, not
of a nature to inspire the Slovene element with great Austrian pa-
triotism”. 'Those who decide to make the same use of Slovene as of
German, are looked upon as traitors by Germans” (quoted from the
German translatioii of the official report in the Volkswille,  Klagen-
furt, February 26, 1947). En its campaign for an "indivisible” Carinthia
the existing system does not hesitate to threaten the Slovenes, in a
truely Nazi fashion, with expulsion from their land; such threats
have, in various forms, been expressed by Hans Piesch (Die Neue Zeit
of March 19, 1946), by the Austrian Minister for Home Affairs,
Helmer (Koroška Kronika,  organ of the British PWB, of March 29,
1946), and by the Deputy — Landeshauptmann  Hans Ferlitsch, at the
meeting of mayors of the Beljak (Villach) district in January 1947.

30

These representatives of the Nazi-inherited system in Carinthia are
saying, besides, that the bi-lingual schools will be closed down as
soon as the Peace Treaty is signed (e. g, Glantschnigg, member of
the Diet and one of the leaders of the People’s Party,  at a meeting
in Velikovec (Volkermarkt), second half of September 1946).

A decision which would leave the Carinthian Slovenes under
Austrian rule would grievously hurt the feelings of ali Yugoslav
peoples, because a part of the Yugoslavs would be handed over to
vanquished German secular oppressor of the Yugoslavs; the ethnical
principle would be violated. But the aim of this paper is not to throw
light from this basic, ethnical point of view. Its only purpose was to
sho\v that if after a heroic struggle they were handed over to the
rev-enge of the Nazis and their acolytes in a province where chauvi-
nism, Pan-Germanism and Nazism have always wielded greater influ¬
ence than in other provinces of Austria, the mtentions which in 1945
Dr. Rainer and his Nazi advisers had would be realised; Austria would
acquire a proof that her participation in the War at the side of Nazi
Germany remained without consequences for her and that she was
even allowed to keep the territory of a people which had fought
Nazism; ali those for whom Austria in her privileged position is a
starting point for the development of a new German imperialism
would be encouraged in their striving; such a decision would mean
a new ”Victory in the German Night”, as Hans Steinacher, a Carinthian
Nazi who became. subsequently in Berlin the organizer of ali the
fifth-columnist German minorities abroad, had described the 1920
plebiscite in Carinthia (Hans Steinacher, Sieg in deutscher Nacht.
Ein Buch vom Karntner Freiheitskampf.  Wien 1943).

On the other hand the inclusion of Carinthian Slovenes into
Yugoslavia would not only provide a settlement in conformity with
ethnical principles, not only a well-deserved satisfaction to Carinthian
Slovenes and other Yugoslavs for the blood shed in the common
Allied cause, but it would also mean a severe blow to Austrian Pan-
German and Nazi traditions. Through the liberation of Carinthian
Slovenes Austria would lose a powerful impetus for a chauvinlst po-
licy both at home and abroad. And it was precisely the destruction
of Nazism and its uprooting which represented the common Allied
war aim in the Second World War.

The question of Carinthian Slovenes is for the Allies one of
the touchstones of their faithfulness to the principles which they
proclaimed while they were waging war.

Destruction of Nazism or reward of Nazism.