By: Aleksander Rant, editor at Nova24TV
History has the power to ensure that nothing can be erased forever. This becomes even more difficult in the modern age, where humanity has invented printing and other means of preserving information. Thus, communism as an ideology emerged at the wrong time to erase the past and reshape humanity. The pathological lust for power and violence, through which communists sought to establish themselves as rulers of the world, is well known today. Double standards, lies, inhumane abuse of fellow humans, deportations, gulags, executions – all of it is known, all of it recorded, all of it documented.
It is all the more absurd that there remains a small group of people willing to believe these lies. Unlike ideologically blinded individuals who might change their perspective upon encountering the truth, these people behave like members of some religious cult. But this group is worse than other believers. We believe without requiring proof; they believe despite proof to the contrary. And so, a few of them gathered in Dražgoše, which increasingly resembles the open ward of an institution each year. If once political dignitaries from all transitional parties and their entourages made a pilgrimage there, with speakers representing the best the left wing had to offer, that has not been the case for years.
Each year, fewer people attend. Young people are absent, except for those dragged along by misguided parents or attending out of party-related duty. The Prime Minister has not attended the ceremony for four consecutive years – twice under Janša and twice under Golob. Similarly, the President of the Republic has not attended for the past two years. In 2023, it would have been the first year with no representation from the state leadership, if not for the attendance of the President of the National Council, Marko Lotrič. In short, the event is dying. Too much truth has survived the cementing of history. It is too evident what Dražgoše truly represents.
Dražgoše is a victim of communists and partisans. Dražgoše is a victim of the communist tactic of provoking occupation forces to elicit reprisals, thereby impoverishing the people and stirring a reaction that would resonate among the population. The purpose of Dražgoše was partisan propaganda, as if to say, look what the terrible occupiers did. It is true that the partisans did everything to provoke severe reprisals. They even killed a few members of the occupying forces in the so-called Battle of Dražgoše. Then they fled back to the forest, leaving the villagers to be slaughtered, deported, and their village destroyed. Even after the war, Dražgoše received no aid from the regime responsible for its burning. It was all a deception aimed at creating as much impact as possible.
There was no glorious battle, let alone victory. There was only misery, death, and destruction – for the villagers. More than 40 were killed, over 80 deported, and the village burned to the ground. Partisan casualties were minimal, as they fled. And today? At this site of crime – by both the partisans and the occupiers – we have an event held over the cemented corpses of innocent people exhumed from sacred ground. We have a ceremony celebrating something that never happened, an event meant to perpetuate the religion of a glorious resistance that never was. It is a myth, fabricated in the 1970s. The monument was only erected in 1976. Why, if this was supposedly the most glorious battle not only in Slovenia but all of Europe, as speakers claim? Because it is all lies.
The speakers in recent years – Matjaž Nemec, Borut Sajovic, Urška Klakočar Zupančič – represent the third league of Slovenian politics, placed there only because no one else was willing to repeat debunked lies. This event, too, will one day be history, and we will ask ourselves why we celebrated this falsehood for so many years in an independent country. What were we thinking, prioritising myths and legends over a solemn ceremony for the slain villagers?
Dražgoše is the dying breath of a fading religion. The shrinking attendance and decreasing presence of state leaders signal that it is time – time for truth, for reverence, for sobriety. Time for liberation after independence.
