Mass graves in Slovenia were created in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

as the result of extrajudicial killings during and after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. These clandestine mass graves are also known as "concealed mass graves" () or "silenced mass graves" () because their existence was concealed under the communist regime from 1945 to 1990.Ferenc, Mitja, & Ksenija Kovačec-Naglič. 2005. ''Prikrito in očem zakrito: prikrita grobišča 60 let po koncu druge svetovne vojne''. Ljubljana: Muzej novejše zgodovine. Some of the sites, such as the mass graves in Maribor, include some of the largest mass graves in Europe. Nearly 600 such sites have been registered by the Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia, containing the remains of up to 100,000 victims. They have been compared by the Slovenian historian Jože Dežman to the Killing Fields in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Background

Many of the mass graves were created during the war, but the larger sites date from after the war. The wartime graves vary from those of soldiers killed in battle to groups that were targeted by the Partisans due to their ethnicity (e.g., Romani) or other civilians murdered for political reasons. The postwar graves from the Bleiburg repatriations contain the remains of suspected collaborators, soldiers, and civilians that fled towards Austria in May and June 1945, as well as groups targeted because of their ethnicity (e.g., Gottschee Germans,

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, and

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

). and civilians that were the victims of political

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

s or marked as "class enemies" to eliminate potential opponents to the new regime. After the war, the communist authorities denied that the executions had taken place. Attempts to reveal the events were suppressed, evidence was destroyed, and no exhumations took place. People were forbidden from visiting the graves, and many were hidden under waste. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, researchers in Slovenia started writing about the executions and exhumations were undertaken. However, some left-wing parties, in particular the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

, have been accused of stalling such investigations.

List of graves

This table includes mass graves and individual graves registered by the Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia.Lokacije prikritih vojnih grobišč on Geopedia.si. Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve, December 2009.
Some names are synonyms. The label "soldiers" includes prisoners of war.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Aftermath of World War II in Slovenia Massacres in Slovenia Massacres in Yugoslavia Political repression in Communist Yugoslavia Communist terrorism World War II prisoner of war massacres by Yugoslav Partisans

Background

List of graves

See also

References