The Kočevski Rog massacre was a series of massacres near

Kočevski Rog Kočevski Rog or Kočevje Rog (german: Hornwald) or simply Rog is a karstified plateau in the Kočevje Highlands above the Črmošnjice Valley in southeastern Slovenia. The plateau is part of the traditional Lower Carniola region of Slovenia and ...

in late May 1945 in which thousands of members of the Nazi Germany–allied

Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard ( sl, Slovensko domobranstvo, SD; german: Slowenische Landeswehr) was a Slovene anti- Partisan military organization that was active during the 1943–1945 German occupation of the formerly Italian-occupied Province of Lju ...

were executed, without formal charges or trial, by special units of the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

; other victims were Croat, Serb and Montenegrin collaborationists as well as much smaller numbers of Italian and German troops.

Events

After the armistice, the British repatriated more than 10,000 Slovene collaborators who had attempted to retreat with the Germans;

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

had most of them massacred at the infamous pits of Kočevje. The killings continued after the war, as Tito's victorious forces took revenge on their perceived enemies. The

British forces in Austria British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

turned back tens of thousands of fleeing Yugoslavs. Estimates range from 30,000 to 55,000 killed between spring and autumn 1945. Most of these prisoners of war who were repatriated by the British military authorities from Austria, where they had fled, died in these post-war

summary execution A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...

Number of victims

The victims were thrown into various pits and caves, which were then sealed with explosives. There were many thousands of victims, including most of the more than 10,000

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

s according to

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

. Author

Nikolai Tolstoy Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (russian: Граф Николай Дмитриевич Толстой-Милославский; born 23 June 1935), known as Nikolai Tolstoy, is a British monarchist and historian. He is a former ...

wrote an account of the events in his book ''

The Minister and the Massacres ''The Minister and the Massacres'' (1986) is a history written by Nikolai Tolstoy about the 1945 repatriations of Croatian soldiers and civilians and Cossacks, who had crossed into Austria seeking refuge from the Red Army and Partisans who had ...

''. British author John Corsellis, who served in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

with the British Army, also wrote of these events in his book ''Slovenia 1945: Memories of Death and Survival after World War II''. In his 1958 book ''Kočevje: Tito's Bloodiest Crime'', Borivoje Karapandžić, a publicist and World War II propaganda chief for the Serbian fascist, anti-Semitic and Nazi-collaborationist Zbor organization of

Dimitrije Ljotić Dimitrije Ljotić ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Љотић; 12 August 1891 – 23 April 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav fascist politician and ideologue who established the Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor) in 1935 and collaborated with Ge ...

, estimated the total number of victims at about 18,500: 12,000

, 3,000 Serbian volunteer troops, 2,500 Croatian Home Guard and 1,000 Montenegrin

chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...

. Karapandžić's evaluation is reported in another newer book printed in Slovene and Italian by a group of scholars.

Notable victims

France Dejak France Dejak (20 September 1925, Dolenje Laze near Ribnica, Slovenia - September 2003, Cleveland, United States) was a survivor of the Kočevski Rog killings of members of the Slovene Home Guard, repatriated by the British 5th Corps in Carinthia ...

(1925–2003), thrown into a pit but escaped *

Odon Peterka Odon Peterka (March 13, 1925 – May 1945) was a Slovene poet. Life and work Peterka was born in Jesenice, the son of Alojz Peterka (1883–1962), who had fought with Rudolf Maister. Peterka attended elementary school first in Domžale and then ...

(1925–1945), poet

References

1945 in Slovenia Massacres in 1945 Aftermath of World War II in Slovenia Political and cultural purges Massacres in Slovenia Massacres in Yugoslavia May 1945 events in Europe Massacres of Croats Massacres of Serbs {{WWII-stub World War II prisoner of war massacres by Yugoslav Partisans