Forgotten Victims? The Carinthian "Dragged Away" From May 1945 in the Light of Regional Historiography and Regional Historiography Policy

Authors

  • Brigitte Entner Institut für Geschichte, Alpen Adria Universität Klagenfurt, A-9020 Klagenfurt/Celovec, Universitätstr. 65-67

Keywords:

Carinthia, the end of war 1945, , politics of the past, politics of history, culture of remembering

Abstract

In the following article, the author explores the arrest of approximately 300 persons in the South Carinthia region, carried out immediately after 8 May 1945 by the special units of the Yugoslav army, which took some of the arrested to the Yugoslav territory. Of these persons who were "dragged away", 96 are deemed as missing, and it has to be assumed that they were victims of extrajudicial executions. The central focus of the analysis is looking at these events in the context of the Carinthian political discourse and historiography as well as establishing a certain overview of them. Since 1947 the German-national Carinthian circles have attempted to depict the "dragged away" as "innocent victims", executed because of their "loyalty to their homeland", while they conceal the participation of these people in the Nazi system (for example the denationalisation policy against Slovenians). A part of the Carinthian historiography has been reproducing these interpretations without any critical distance.

Published

2008-01-01

Issue

Section

Articles

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