Thursday, April 27, 2006
mass graves in Slovenia from 1945
I had about 4 essays ready to go for Townhall, but was informed that some changes were taking place there and to wait two weeks. I'm counting the days.
And so glad to see the Townhall web page being broadcast on CNN with Tony Snow's column. Hey! I've been published there too!
Following is an article from a reader and fellow American Slovenian, Yul Yost. He asked me to post this article about this too often overlooked part of history.
Here is Mr. Yost's article.
Lest we forget mass graves in Slovenia from 1945
by Yul Yost
3015 Fairview N
St. Paul, MN 55113-1244
As World War II ended in Europe in May 1945, Slovenia was a bottleneck for the masses fleeing from the Eastern Front. Soviet forces that drove the Nazis westward stopped at eastern Yugoslavia.. This allowed Tito's forces to sweep westward mostly unopposed through Yugoslavia and to reach Trieste on The Adriatic.Tito was the leader of the resistance on the Yugoslav territory and Stalin's ideological protégé for a long time. In the wake of “liberation” from Nazi terror a new one was imposed, communism. Thousands of soldiers and civilians of various nationalities from the Baltics to the Balkan fearing Stalin and/or Tito's forces tried to reach the British and American armies that pushed north thru Italy towards Nazi Germany. Among these refugees were members of Slovenian Home Guards (Domobranci) who escaped to Austria in early May 1945. On May 26, 1945 in Ljubljana, Tito, declared, "...only a minority of traitors has managed to escape....This minority will never see our beautiful mountains and flowering fields, and if this did happen, it would only last for a very short time." Would Tito respect the Geneva Convention of prisoners of war? Not applicable, these were men and whole families that were never taken prisoner; moreover, the war was over by then. It was time to go home. But, Tito's threat was an ominous prediction of what was to come. A recent book in English, by John Corsellis and Marcus Ferrar, Slovenia 1945, 276 pages. I.B. Tauris, 2005 (available via Amazon.com) deals very comprehensively with those events. The book mostly deals with the plight of Slovenians who managed to reach Austria. Then in a shady deal between the British and Tito, instead of promised free passage to Italy, they were in the week starting Sunday, May 27 to June 4 returned to Slovenia. A passage on page 71 mentions the agony of two teenaged Slovenian girls and their anticipated family reunion with their parents who had already escaped to Italy: "...the two sisters found themselves crammed into a filthy, suffocating cattle wagon heading back to Slovenia." These returnees were a threat to Tito's totalitarian regime. So, some seven to eleven thousand of them were executed at various sites in Slovenia, mostly at Teharje near Celje and at Kocevski Rog. Complicity of the British is dealt with on p.188 of Slovenia 1945, and in books, Victims of Yalta, 1976,. as well as in The Minister and the Massacres, London, 1986, both books by N. Tolstoy.The Englishman, Corsellis is credible, for he was in charge of the refugees in Austria for many years. The views here on the book are mine; mine too are the recollections of the events. Our home was within eyesight and earshot of the Teharje site. We called it Teharski Lager. During the war it was a German training camp. I recall that in June and July of 1945, shooting started by late afternoon and continued into the night. I had seen starved young men who had escaped from the Lager. Often evenings, as we were returning home from making hay, shooting started at the Lager. My father would then say: "The communists are shooting people again."
Forced return of the refugees was stopped by an order of the British Field Marshall, Harold Alexander, at noon, June 4, 1945. Alexander was then Allied commander for the Mediterranean war zone. By his order, the lives of escapees, Andrej Percic, Franc Medved and their families were spared by some six hours. By 1950, Percic and Medved and their families had emigrated to Minnesota, where their grateful descendents, among them Frank Medved Jr. and Andrew Percic Jr., who shared their memories with me, now make their homes.
In March 2006. Frank Medved went to Rome to see his camp mate from 57 years ago in Austria, Franc Rode. Rode had emigrated to Argentina and was on March 24, 2006 consecrated a cardinal, the first cardinal from Slovenia,.
Another recent book that contains chapters on the massacre at Teharje. is: Iz Zgodovine Celja, 1941-1945 (From History of Celje) by Tone Ferenc, 256 pgs., 2004. It is written in Slovenian, but sections are synopsized in German and in English. It cites that 10,100 Slovenians were returned from Austria. According to member of the Mass Grave Commission for Slovenia, Joe Bernik, there are in Slovenia some 400 mass graves from that period; these are graves of tens of thousand of refugees of various nationalities. Inexplicably, by 2005, nobody was held accountable for post-war atrocities in Slovenia, where monuments to Tito and street names to his cohorts still exist. Tito died in 1980,
. By 1989 communist regimes in Europe had crumbled. Slovenians too have rejected the social order which, in order to get established in 1945, liquidated thousands of freedom loving citizens. Then, fifteen years ago, in October, 1991, the Yugoslav People’s Army left Slovenia for Serbia, never to return. That year Slovenia became for the first time in history a free and democratic nation. Free at last!!
Slovenian government now does much to reconcile with the past and memorialize the lives that ended so mercilessly. Monuments to the victims were established at Teharje in 2004 and at Kocevski Rog . I highly recommend the book, Slovenia 1945. It is a tragic, dramatic and spellbinding historic record about memories of death and survival of freedom yearning Slovenians, Slovenia's greatest generation.
And so glad to see the Townhall web page being broadcast on CNN with Tony Snow's column. Hey! I've been published there too!
Following is an article from a reader and fellow American Slovenian, Yul Yost. He asked me to post this article about this too often overlooked part of history.
Here is Mr. Yost's article.
Lest we forget mass graves in Slovenia from 1945
by Yul Yost
3015 Fairview N
St. Paul, MN 55113-1244
As World War II ended in Europe in May 1945, Slovenia was a bottleneck for the masses fleeing from the Eastern Front. Soviet forces that drove the Nazis westward stopped at eastern Yugoslavia.. This allowed Tito's forces to sweep westward mostly unopposed through Yugoslavia and to reach Trieste on The Adriatic.Tito was the leader of the resistance on the Yugoslav territory and Stalin's ideological protégé for a long time. In the wake of “liberation” from Nazi terror a new one was imposed, communism. Thousands of soldiers and civilians of various nationalities from the Baltics to the Balkan fearing Stalin and/or Tito's forces tried to reach the British and American armies that pushed north thru Italy towards Nazi Germany. Among these refugees were members of Slovenian Home Guards (Domobranci) who escaped to Austria in early May 1945. On May 26, 1945 in Ljubljana, Tito, declared, "...only a minority of traitors has managed to escape....This minority will never see our beautiful mountains and flowering fields, and if this did happen, it would only last for a very short time." Would Tito respect the Geneva Convention of prisoners of war? Not applicable, these were men and whole families that were never taken prisoner; moreover, the war was over by then. It was time to go home. But, Tito's threat was an ominous prediction of what was to come. A recent book in English, by John Corsellis and Marcus Ferrar, Slovenia 1945, 276 pages. I.B. Tauris, 2005 (available via Amazon.com) deals very comprehensively with those events. The book mostly deals with the plight of Slovenians who managed to reach Austria. Then in a shady deal between the British and Tito, instead of promised free passage to Italy, they were in the week starting Sunday, May 27 to June 4 returned to Slovenia. A passage on page 71 mentions the agony of two teenaged Slovenian girls and their anticipated family reunion with their parents who had already escaped to Italy: "...the two sisters found themselves crammed into a filthy, suffocating cattle wagon heading back to Slovenia." These returnees were a threat to Tito's totalitarian regime. So, some seven to eleven thousand of them were executed at various sites in Slovenia, mostly at Teharje near Celje and at Kocevski Rog. Complicity of the British is dealt with on p.188 of Slovenia 1945, and in books, Victims of Yalta, 1976,. as well as in The Minister and the Massacres, London, 1986, both books by N. Tolstoy.The Englishman, Corsellis is credible, for he was in charge of the refugees in Austria for many years. The views here on the book are mine; mine too are the recollections of the events. Our home was within eyesight and earshot of the Teharje site. We called it Teharski Lager. During the war it was a German training camp. I recall that in June and July of 1945, shooting started by late afternoon and continued into the night. I had seen starved young men who had escaped from the Lager. Often evenings, as we were returning home from making hay, shooting started at the Lager. My father would then say: "The communists are shooting people again."
Forced return of the refugees was stopped by an order of the British Field Marshall, Harold Alexander, at noon, June 4, 1945. Alexander was then Allied commander for the Mediterranean war zone. By his order, the lives of escapees, Andrej Percic, Franc Medved and their families were spared by some six hours. By 1950, Percic and Medved and their families had emigrated to Minnesota, where their grateful descendents, among them Frank Medved Jr. and Andrew Percic Jr., who shared their memories with me, now make their homes.
In March 2006. Frank Medved went to Rome to see his camp mate from 57 years ago in Austria, Franc Rode. Rode had emigrated to Argentina and was on March 24, 2006 consecrated a cardinal, the first cardinal from Slovenia,.
Another recent book that contains chapters on the massacre at Teharje. is: Iz Zgodovine Celja, 1941-1945 (From History of Celje) by Tone Ferenc, 256 pgs., 2004. It is written in Slovenian, but sections are synopsized in German and in English. It cites that 10,100 Slovenians were returned from Austria. According to member of the Mass Grave Commission for Slovenia, Joe Bernik, there are in Slovenia some 400 mass graves from that period; these are graves of tens of thousand of refugees of various nationalities. Inexplicably, by 2005, nobody was held accountable for post-war atrocities in Slovenia, where monuments to Tito and street names to his cohorts still exist. Tito died in 1980,
. By 1989 communist regimes in Europe had crumbled. Slovenians too have rejected the social order which, in order to get established in 1945, liquidated thousands of freedom loving citizens. Then, fifteen years ago, in October, 1991, the Yugoslav People’s Army left Slovenia for Serbia, never to return. That year Slovenia became for the first time in history a free and democratic nation. Free at last!!
Slovenian government now does much to reconcile with the past and memorialize the lives that ended so mercilessly. Monuments to the victims were established at Teharje in 2004 and at Kocevski Rog . I highly recommend the book, Slovenia 1945. It is a tragic, dramatic and spellbinding historic record about memories of death and survival of freedom yearning Slovenians, Slovenia's greatest generation.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Cynthia and Catholics
I had two essays published last week. Here is the one on Cynthia McKinney from Townhall
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/marygrabar/2006/04/19/194160.html
Thank you again, everyone, for your letters and telephone calls. Some readers told me they would be distributing my column to friends and to e-mail lists. They got me through a week of student conferences (why do 95% of students not take advantage of the fact that I review their final paper drafts and hand in unfinished and unreadable garbage?). I am sorry that I was able to respond to only a few of your letters. Please keep writing. I love all that encouragement. I really, really do.
On a personal note, I'm gearing up for the end of the semester. But my respite won't be long because I'm scheduled to teach two World Lit classes in June (the super intensive four-week session). Also have to get cracking on the Flannery O'Connor paper for the ALA conference in San Francisco.
Meanwhile down at the fig farm (someday I'll post a picture of my humungous fig tree), the birds are chirping in from the treetops into which I look as I type this. My house is built into the side of a hill, so we look right into the treetops from the screened-in deck. A lovely place to write. I have been writing a lot, faster than I can get them published, can't stop myself. The housework has been pushed aside, but I hope to get some help next week from someone from the dance community who needs work. What I really need is a Mommy! Someone to clean, do the grocery shopping. I invited my friend Jude for dinner on Saturday and she brought the fixings for burritos and prepared them for me and my housemate. (I love to invite her over for dinner!) I made the margarittas and desserts. I finally got to my yoga class on Saturday afternoon, skipping the dance in Sautee to do it. (If I didn't get some real exercise soon--last weekend lost to doing taxes--I was going to punch someone.) Hot yoga (Bikram) is great exercise and the instructor we had on Saturday spared us the little chants and "thoughts for the day" that some of them indulge us with. (There's a column there.) What I need is someone to tell me to move, use my muscles, and stretch my body for 90 minutes. I can't do it by myself. It clears my head too.
Here is my latest from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Catholic Church's support of illegals. http://www.ajc.com/search/content/opinion/stories/0418edcatholic.html My original manuscript was cut for space.
Four letters to the editor were published, two over each of the next two days.
Watch for a posting from one of my fellow Slovenian readers on the Domobranci.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/marygrabar/2006/04/19/194160.html
Thank you again, everyone, for your letters and telephone calls. Some readers told me they would be distributing my column to friends and to e-mail lists. They got me through a week of student conferences (why do 95% of students not take advantage of the fact that I review their final paper drafts and hand in unfinished and unreadable garbage?). I am sorry that I was able to respond to only a few of your letters. Please keep writing. I love all that encouragement. I really, really do.
On a personal note, I'm gearing up for the end of the semester. But my respite won't be long because I'm scheduled to teach two World Lit classes in June (the super intensive four-week session). Also have to get cracking on the Flannery O'Connor paper for the ALA conference in San Francisco.
Meanwhile down at the fig farm (someday I'll post a picture of my humungous fig tree), the birds are chirping in from the treetops into which I look as I type this. My house is built into the side of a hill, so we look right into the treetops from the screened-in deck. A lovely place to write. I have been writing a lot, faster than I can get them published, can't stop myself. The housework has been pushed aside, but I hope to get some help next week from someone from the dance community who needs work. What I really need is a Mommy! Someone to clean, do the grocery shopping. I invited my friend Jude for dinner on Saturday and she brought the fixings for burritos and prepared them for me and my housemate. (I love to invite her over for dinner!) I made the margarittas and desserts. I finally got to my yoga class on Saturday afternoon, skipping the dance in Sautee to do it. (If I didn't get some real exercise soon--last weekend lost to doing taxes--I was going to punch someone.) Hot yoga (Bikram) is great exercise and the instructor we had on Saturday spared us the little chants and "thoughts for the day" that some of them indulge us with. (There's a column there.) What I need is someone to tell me to move, use my muscles, and stretch my body for 90 minutes. I can't do it by myself. It clears my head too.
Here is my latest from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Catholic Church's support of illegals. http://www.ajc.com/search/content/opinion/stories/0418edcatholic.html My original manuscript was cut for space.
Four letters to the editor were published, two over each of the next two days.
Watch for a posting from one of my fellow Slovenian readers on the Domobranci.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Your help requested
Here is the direct link http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/marygrabar/2006/04/02/191979.html
This is the most recent column on Townhall. It's a great web site; my columns are posted among those by Ann Coulter and George Will.
You can send me an e-mail by clicking on the "bio" link for Townhall column and then looking for the link for my e-mail. I am looking for stories from Slovenians who are immigrants or children of immigrants for my forthcoming book, Listening to Voices. I am especially interested in the domobranci, those who fought against the Partisans (Communists) in World War II. If you send an e-mail through that link it will get to me.
My novel, Dancing with Derrida, is out there hoping to seduce an agent. I also write poetry and am looking for a critique group of serious poets in Atlanta. I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Steve Kowit recently and he thinks I'm ready for publication. Oh, yay! If you think I am a compulsive writer, you are right. I try to balance that out with dancing (pun intended for my fellow contra dancers) and gardening.
This is the most recent column on Townhall. It's a great web site; my columns are posted among those by Ann Coulter and George Will.
You can send me an e-mail by clicking on the "bio" link for Townhall column and then looking for the link for my e-mail. I am looking for stories from Slovenians who are immigrants or children of immigrants for my forthcoming book, Listening to Voices. I am especially interested in the domobranci, those who fought against the Partisans (Communists) in World War II. If you send an e-mail through that link it will get to me.
My novel, Dancing with Derrida, is out there hoping to seduce an agent. I also write poetry and am looking for a critique group of serious poets in Atlanta. I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Steve Kowit recently and he thinks I'm ready for publication. Oh, yay! If you think I am a compulsive writer, you are right. I try to balance that out with dancing (pun intended for my fellow contra dancers) and gardening.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Thank you, letter writers
Thank you, letter writers to my column in www.townhall.com ("Slovenians take to the streets of Cleveland"). I was able to reply to almost all of the letter writers to my previous columns, but the number for this one may preclude personal replies to all. But I DO read all letters and get immense satisfaction from them. I save them. Some have good ideas for future articles and some give some very valuable information from all walks of life. And so full of support. So please keep sending the letters through the e-mail link or post comments. I may not reply right away, but I'll save the letters and maybe reply later.
Also, glad to know there are Slovenian readers out there. And conservative professors and high school teachers. I am inspired by all those working in the trenches and who have stuck to their principles.
Today, I taught "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. I always seem to get something more from her stories each time I read them or teach them. It was good because I am preparing my paper for the American Literature Association conference in San Francisco in May. Then, on the way home, I heard Alan Cheuse on NPR review Joyce Carol Oates's recent collection of short stories. Oates, to him, is "taking up the legacy of Flannery O'Connor." How dare he! Oates was also compared to D.H. Lawrence; she is "Lawrentian." Eww! And one of Oates's stories takes up the "problem of redemptive violence." (Is he thinking of O'Connor here? Well, it's not the violence that's "redemptive," buddy.) What!!!!
How did this guy get a monopoly on doing book reviews on a station that is supported with tax money?
No wonder English professors have such a bad reputation. And whoever reads Cheuse's books?
Things are a-blooming here in Georgia. The car and deck are covered with a fine chartreuse powder. I saw a fox in my backyard yesterday. I will do my part to keep my .6 acres as close to natural as God made it.
Also, glad to know there are Slovenian readers out there. And conservative professors and high school teachers. I am inspired by all those working in the trenches and who have stuck to their principles.
Today, I taught "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. I always seem to get something more from her stories each time I read them or teach them. It was good because I am preparing my paper for the American Literature Association conference in San Francisco in May. Then, on the way home, I heard Alan Cheuse on NPR review Joyce Carol Oates's recent collection of short stories. Oates, to him, is "taking up the legacy of Flannery O'Connor." How dare he! Oates was also compared to D.H. Lawrence; she is "Lawrentian." Eww! And one of Oates's stories takes up the "problem of redemptive violence." (Is he thinking of O'Connor here? Well, it's not the violence that's "redemptive," buddy.) What!!!!
How did this guy get a monopoly on doing book reviews on a station that is supported with tax money?
No wonder English professors have such a bad reputation. And whoever reads Cheuse's books?
Things are a-blooming here in Georgia. The car and deck are covered with a fine chartreuse powder. I saw a fox in my backyard yesterday. I will do my part to keep my .6 acres as close to natural as God made it.
