History of Slovenia - World War II

World War II

The Slovene-settled territory was divided between the Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, Hungary and the Independent State of Croatia. They all exercised cultural assimilation and tried to annex the occupied territory to their parent lands. Resistance started in April 1941. Its cover organisation was the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation. Its armed wing were the Slovene Partisans.

Due to the Communist violence towards the opponents of the Liberation Front as well as anti-revolutionary sentiments, some of the residents of cities as well as clericals and major farmers formed several anti-communist groups that collaborated with the occupying forces. After 1942, the situation in the Slovene Lands has been characterised as a civil war. After the war, large ideologically and ethnically motivated massacres took place.

Excluding Slovenes under Italian rule, between 20,000 and 25,000 thousand Slovenes were killed by Nazis or Italian Fascists, counting only civilian victims. The overall number of Slovene civilians killed by the Nazis, Italian Fascists and their allies is estimated at around 33,000 - this number does not include killed prisoners of war. The majority of these victims were from the German occupied territories Lower Styria, Upper Carniola, Zasavje, and Slovenian Carinthia, soon annexed to the Third Reich.