By: Dr Janez Juhant
In these days, when we remember our dear ancestors, it is necessary to revive the memory of the victims of the revolution. An impartial insight into the situation is necessary for an appropriate approach, compassion for the victims, for whom we pray and remember their life’s ordeal. Albert Svetina Erno, who, as we also heard last year, led the excavation of the victims from the Brezar abyss and their burial here, is unequivocal in his record about these horrors: Matija Maček gave precise instructions that the inmates who were designated for murder in Šentvid and elsewhere, to collect everything they have of value. This is how the Udba people brought watches, gold, money, and other valuables to Maček’s seat in Slavija. Maček’s candid statement to Lojze Ude, in which Udba asks him why he did not talk about the atrocities in the Soviet Union, even though he knew about them, says it all. Maček replies that if he had talked about it, they would not have followed him, and the communists would not have been able to take over power in Slovenia. Only with a lie did they win power and seize property at the cost of so many precious lives. Lies and (now soft) terrorism are repeated in guises to this day.
But it was about something deeper, nothing less than the transformation of man and humanity. The Christian revolutionary Edvard Kocbek set himself the task of this transformation of the Church and Slovenian Catholics and therefore pushed them into the arms of the communists. They changed not only the character of Catholics, but also the entire Slovenian society. They harnessed Kocbek’s naïve youthful faith to their terrorist wagon when the VOS uncompromisingly cold-bloodedly and inhumanely carried out this destructive task. The consequences are the mutilation of consciousness and the influence of this shameless action to this day. The Hungarian social critic Bela Hamvas wrote provocative words about the European spirit at the beginning of the 20th century: “Young men who considered themselves serious, especially in Eastern Europe, without exception became victims of the epidemic of Marxism and Freudianism” and most did not convert.
Therefore, there are few bright exceptions who condemned the criminal regime, among them Leszek Kolakowski and Boris Pahor; with the help of the latter, Edvard Kocbek also did this at the end of his life. Post-war liquidators Simo Dubajić and Zdenko Zavadlav also admitted the mistake without corresponding consequences. The last one wrote at the end of his life that he was bullied and threatened “if he were to convert”, but he was determined that “no normal person can be indifferent after all these actions, and neither am I. It is human to tell the truth, to apologise and to be sorry for all the horrors”. Similarly, Dubajić, who talks about the massacre of 40,000 people in Kočevski rog alone. He speaks openly about young people who, doused in alcohol, carried out a bloody crime. He especially points out that before the murder, they tortured the victims, took it out on them; the women stood out, most cruelly Milka Planinc.
But even today, unfortunately, these obvious crimes against humanity, which took the lives and hopes of so many, are not officially recognised in Slovenia, even though this is a condition of a democratic country and a guarantee that they will be prevented in the future. Compromise with Putin is similar: the indecisiveness, inaction, and bribery of European politicians in relation to the Russian regime is causing terrible violence and extermination of the Ukrainian nation, reminiscent of the Holodomor committed against them by the Soviet regime in the 1930s. Even in our country, the successors of the former regime are maintained in irresponsibility towards the victims by the desire to preserve the stolen privileges. What should we think of the SD party, which is unable to recognise the consequences of the post-war confiscation of the property of the innocent, and of the Slovenian courts, which judge without historical insights and fundamental rights for the victims of Nazism and communism? The institutions of the democratic state are thus once again killing the victims who were murdered by the dictators. But neither the biased judgment of a democratic court nor the political agenda of the immortal soul of communism, which is a lie, can erase the truth spoken by the Slovenian independence man Janša. Therefore, as democrats, we have the right and duty to demand from those responsible in the country to ensure that all the victims of the revolution and war are given a decent burial and full rehabilitation. Only in this way will they end the revolution and ensure democratic conditions for all living members of the nation and state.
Christian hope defies time and circumstances because it is based on the blessed. Faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ lifts us out of disordered earthly conditions and relationships into a full life with God and our neighbours. That is why Christians live in the firm hope that our homeland is in heaven. At the same time, in the power of this faith, we work with the Risen One on earth and fight for the realisation of the Kingdom of God: in the name of Jesus, to show mercy, alleviate misery, share consolation, live meekly and with a pure heart, work for peace, even in the face of opposition, correct injustices and take care of justice in disordered social conditions. That is why Christians like Ehrlich, and many others were ready to suffer and die following the example of Jesus Christ, who sacrificed his life to testify the truth to the world and announce the year of God’s mercy. Thus, they awakened the conscience of the oppressors and gave hope to the oppressed.
Most of our brothers and sisters whom we remember today and who went through this calvary of Šentvid (Teharij, Kočevski rog, and other abysses and trenches), lived and died in faith in Christ’s resurrection and therefore valued truth and justice more than their life. Let us also accompany them with a life of deep fearless faith, committed to truth and justice, because this is how they will achieve their final peace, and with them all of us!