"The Statement of a Single Reliable Slovenian is Enough". Denunciations of the Pro-German Elements after the Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy in the Documents of the District Court in Slovenske Konjice

Abstract

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the establishment of the new Yugoslav state, Germans in the Lower Styria were not ready to accept new political circumstances. They explicitly disapproved of the new "Southern Slavic" state and strove for their inclusion into the "German Austria". This spurred the Slovenian authorities to become even more severe and determined in the implementation of the systematic policy of "nationalisation". Slovenians hastened to "rectify" the old injustices. Slovenian newspapers demanded "unscrupulous cleansing" of anything that was German or in any way reminiscent of the old Austria and the former German dominion. In the initial post-war years the "ethos of vengeance" absolutely prevailed over the sense of justice. After the overturn "different elements which sow the seeds of discontent with Yugoslavia" also appear and "deliberately disseminate horrible fabricated news". The authorities called upon the people to denounce the anti-state elements. Practically that was supposed to be the duty of each reliable Slovenian. The following discussion focuses on the denunciations based on the speech against the state, preserved in the documents of the District Court in Slovenske Konjice, and on the incidents which reflected national intolerance in the everyday life in the new state after the World War I.