The Maribor prison massacres were a series of massacres perpetrated by the Germans against the ethnic

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

population in the city of

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, which had been annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, in present-day

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. The Germans systematically murdered a total of 689 political prisoners from Maribor and surrounding areas as a retaliatory measure in response to Partisan activity. Those that were shot had been arrested for supplying the Partisan forces with food, weapons, and other aid.

Background

Maribor as most of

Slovene Lands The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provinc ...

had been part of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

since 1918. In 1941 Nazi Germany attacked and defeated Yugoslavia, quickly establishing an occupation system. Maribor together with Slovenian Styria was annexed to Nazi Germany and a brutal process of Germanisation began.

Massacres

The massacres of ethnic Slovenians in Maribor range from 1941 and all the way to April 1945. The first massacre was perpetrated on 24 August 1941 and the last one only a month before the end of the war. The worst single massacre occurred on 2 October 1942, when the Germans murdered 143 Slovenian civilians.

Aftermath

After the war and the liberation of Maribor and Slovenia,

Erwin Rösener Erwin Friedrich Karl Rösener (2 February 1902 – 4 September 1946) was a German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he was responsible for mass executions of civilians in Slovenia. Rösener was put on trial ...

was put on trial and found guilty of the Maribor prison massacres among others. He was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

on 4 September 1946.

References

{{reflist Massacres in Slovenia Maribor Axis war crimes in Yugoslavia Massacres committed by Nazi Germany World War II massacres Slovenia in World War II

Background

Massacres

Aftermath

See also

References