FROM PARTISANS to POLITICIANS to PUNKS WORLD WAR II in SLOVENIA, 1941-2013 by DANIEL JOSEF GASHLER BA, Brigham Young University
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FROM PARTISANS TO POLITICIANS TO PUNKS WORLD WAR II IN SLOVENIA, 1941-2013 BY DANIEL JOSEF GASHLER BA, Brigham Young University, 2005 MA, Binghamton University, 2009 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate School of Binghamton University State University of New York 2014 UMI Number: 3683155 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3683155 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 © Copyright by Daniel Josef Gashler 2014 All Rights Reserved Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate School of Binghamton University State University of New York 2014 November 13, 2014 Wulf Kansteiner, Chair Department of History, Binghamton University Heather DeHaan, Faculty Advisor Department of History, Binghamton University Kent Schull, Member Department of History, Binghamton University Neil Pages, Outside Examiner Department of German and Comparative Literature, Binghamton University iii Abstract During the Second World War as many as 200,000 people lost their lives within the borders of present-day Slovenia. Most died as unarmed victims of executioners — and unlike in other areas of Europe, almost none were Jews. Of the many ideologies belligerents used to justify this killing ( lebensraum, racial purity, Fascism, National Socialism, defense of national honor, anti-Judaeo-Bolshevism, State Socialism, Communism, militant Clericalism…), none matter in present-day Europe: most are taboo and some even illegal. However, rather than forget a period when people were willing to kill for the sake of faulty ideology, Europeans have been telling stories of World War II ever since. Such stories have been used as justifications for social, political, even economic policies for the past seventy years. The following examines how a collective tragedy has been reimagined into a largely triumphant national narrative in Slovenia. This Communist-era story has been so successfully constructed that many elements of the collective memory of the war remain dominant in present-day Slovenia. Part I of this dissertation describes the battle to direct mass discourses during the war itself, and shows that for Communist Partisans, directing discourse towards the goal of revolution was as important as gaining political control from the occupiers. Part II deals with the dialectic between Communist leaders’ desires to create new socialist men and women, and these leaders’ willingness to appease their citizens for the sake of maintaining political control. From this symbiosis, elites and masses constructed a collective story of the war that was broadly appealing. The story appealed most to veterans of the war, who used their role as iv protagonists in it to demand progressively greater financial rewards from the state; these rewards played a major role in finally bankrupting the entire federation. Part III shows that as state institutions began to collapse, the story of the war became a prime target for those who had been opposed to Socialist Slovenia since its inception. In the years since independence, the story of the National Liberation War has become affiliated with a center-left view of Slovene political issues. As Slovenes deal with regional dissatisfaction with structures of European governance, the story of the war has taken on new meaning as a symbol of the struggle of a small nation against the impersonal forces of global capital. v Ackowledgements My wife Krisy first inspired my interest in mass discourses while she was completing her Masters degree in American folklore. Her academic interests cut against the grain of the then-dominant deconstructive ethic in most Liberal Arts programs. Krisy taught me to find interest in the normative, to appreciate that concepts such as national mentalities, collective values, and folkloric motifs offer analytical angles that complement focuses on boundaries, deviance, and subaltern ideologies. With her later work as a journalist she has developed a sharp ability to quickly analyze large amounts of data, discerning fascinating ideas that I would never notice without her. Her careful readings and criticisms of my thoughts, and long hours of discussion made this dissertation possible. Numerous people have given me intellectual assistance and kind words of encouragement while completing this project. I am deeply grateful to Wulf Kansteiner for teaching me the skills of a historian. He has taught me to be self-reflective as I write, to understand that I as an author must recognize my own imbededness in the discourses I seek to understand. Wulf helped to shape this project from the very beginning, offering me both keen advice and much-needed patience as this project has slowly come together over several years. His own research interests have inspired much of this work. Heather DeHaan has been an indispensable part of this project from the beginning as well. She has constantly encouraged me to reconsider my analytical angles, to broaden my historiographical approach, and to seriously consider the entailments of every term I use. She has also offered excellent advice on sources to consider. Her kind readings of drafts and earlier papers on this topic have helped to shape a research approach that was narrow enough to actually complete within a lifetime, but still interesting enough to (hopefully) have broader relevance. While formulating my initial research proposal Jean Quatert and Richard Mackenney gave me much needed structural critiques. Before this project even began Francka Dolinar happily insulted every attempt I ever made to understand the Slovene Domobranstvo. As I began formulating research questions, Tom Wilson and Douglas Glick encouraged me to think beyond the history box and consider anthropological angles in my approach. Marko Klobčič was good enough to disagree with virtually all of my early (and final) research premises. Gregor Kranjc helped me to understand the discourses of the Slovene émigré community and showed kind interest in my early thoughts. Carole Rogel, Doroteja Plut-Pregelj, Peter Vodopivec, Veronica Aplenc, and Robert Minnich helped me to broaden my historiographical approach in the early stages of writing. Ivan and Rozana Majc took a keen interest in my arguments, giving me a great deal of assistance in finding information on the Second World War. While researching in Slovenia I received much-needed assistance from library and archival staff across the country. Peter in the Archives of the Republic helped me access every source I needed, even waiving the fees I was supposed to pay for photographing vi them. Danica in the Institute for Contemporary History took great interest in my project and gave me excellent advice on additional sources I needed to consider. She regularly let me work long after the official closing hours of the Institute. The library staff of the Slovanska library spent days finding the sources I requested, never giving up on me. In Kranj the staff at the Central Library also kindly let me stay after hours. The staff at the Center for Public Opinion Research gave me excellent statistical analyses of survey data that I did not even know existed before visiting them. Though the building of the National University Library in Ljubljana was among the scariest I have ever visited, the staff proved amazingly kind and helpful, helping me access books that had been censored during the Socialist regime, many of which were the only known copies in the world. In the United States I have had many great research opportunities as well. At the library of Congress I have never waited more than an hour to access sources, though their staff have cautioned me that some sources can take up to a day to retrieve. At my home institution our library staff have made this project possible. The interlibrary loan office has done absolute miracles finding sources not even listed on WorldCat. The regular library staff have never made me pay the fines I actually incurred. I could not have completed this project without generous teaching Assistantships and Dissertation Year Funding from the Binghamton University History Department. My mom and dad, Pam and Ted Gashler, have taken an interst in this project just as they have in all my other intersts in life. They have pretended not to be bored as I drone on, and even provided me with extra sources, such as movies to broaden my perspectives. My mom in particular has encouraged me to frame my sometimes- painfully narrow interests in ways that are accessible to others, with an understanding that academic knowedge should be a gift shared with as many people as possible. She has also frequently forwarded newsmedia stories on Slovenia to me. Lastly and most importantly I would like to thank my three-year-old, Tom, for his unfailing efforts to prevent me from completing this project. Over the past three years whenever he sees me with a computer he insists that