Poglavitne oblike in razsežnosti represije v povojni Evropi

Abstract

THE MAIN FORMS AND DIMENSIONS OF REPRESSION IN THE POST‐WAR EUROPE

On the basis of an extensive selection of literature, the author presents and briefly analyses the processes in the post‐war Europe characterised by various kinds of violence. First he focuses on the destiny of millions of prisoners of war in the Western and especially Soviet prisoner‐of‐war camps. In view of the fact that the German minorities in the Central and Eastern Europe collaborated with the Nazis before and during the war, after the war the Allies exiled them, and this represented one of the major population relocations in the contemporary European history. In the course of these deportations violence occurred, resulting in a significant number of deaths. The author presents the retaliation against wartime collaboration as the third characteristic process taking place in the context of post‐war repression. In the Western Europe this process unfolded at regular judicial proceedings with a partial exception of France and especially Italy. However, in the Central and Eastern Europe retaliation often exceeded the legal context of ensuring just punishment, turning into a payback against the actual or potential opponents of the new authorities and serving as a means of taking over the power and changing the social system.