crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
the whole situation under control with the NOB, “the allies” were not needed any more, so they were
forced to sign the Dolomiti Declaration, with which they finally capitulated.
With this decree the leaders of the OF hardly obstructed the resistance of traditional parties.
Obviously, they did not strive to resist the occupation as such, but to set up the basis for a Communist
revolution. As early as at the end of August, the organizing secretary, Tone Tomšič, clearly said: “Those
are mistaken who thought that the great Liberation Front of the Slovene nation is possible without the
strong organisation of the Slovene KP.”
The second important decree was “The decree of the Slovene National Liberation Committee on
the inclusion of Slovene partisan units in the national liberation partisan divisions of Yugoslavia”, which
was at the same time the first “normative act” of the SNOO after its constitution. It stated that Slovene
troops form Slovene military units with their own command structure and incorporate these units into
“the National Liberation partisan divisions of Yugoslavia” under a central command. Some kind of
completion was then “The decree of the Liberation Front of the Slovene nation on the establishment of
National Guard”, which was published in the newspaper The Slovene Reporter on 17 October 1941.
This decree subordinated the National Guard (NZ) to the command of Slovene partisans units. The
task of the NZ was the prevention of arrests, the requisition of food and cattle, the migration of Slovenes
and colonization by foreigners, burning down villages etc. It was organized in villages, towns, factories,
and companies. “Joining the National Guard is the duty of every man capable of bearing arms.” Besides
its military authority, the SNOO would also gain penal authority with this decree. According to the
estimation of the Republican Secretariat for Slovene Internal Affairs SR, this decree stated in 1976 “the
first standards of material and procedural criminal law in the National Liberation war”.
The third decree with long-term consequences was “The decree of the Slovene National Liberation
Committee (SNOO) on the defence of the Slovene nation and its movement for Liberation and Union”,
which introduced a severe disciplinary and criminal system. This decree was therefore the basis of
“the revolutionary judiciary”, until the Decree of Supreme Headquarters NOV in POJ on 24 May 1944
on courts-martial was issued and came into force on 30 August 1944. It created the conditions to act
with reproaches of death and killing of the citizens who would not submit to the manipulation of the
Liberation Front, under the word of “betrayal”.
“The protective decree” gave the SNOO judicial authority. It identified the future “liquidation”,
the killing of Slovenes who did not follow the principles, commandments and orders of the OF, or the
KPS. With this instrument all unwelcome enemies could be denounced as “traitors”. And it did not
matter if they actually collaborated, or quite the reverse, acted against the occupation outside the OF.
“Traitors” could be sentenced to death after the decree “for the defence of the Slovene nation”.
“Traitors” were informers, then Slovenes who entered “into relations with the dictators of the occupier
or others enemies of the liberty of the Slovene nation” directly or indirectly. And finally, Slovenes who
for their own benefits or the benefit of others, “mislead” “national troops to fight against the liberation
of the Slovene nation”. On 31 January 1942, in The Slovene Reporter, the executive committee of the
OF precisely defined and explained that it should be interpreted as “the sanctions /death penalty/ of
this law refer to anyone responsible for the establishment of armed forces not formed within Slovene
National Liberation partisan units and National Guard under the political and military leadership of
the Liberation Front”. This meant that the death penalty threatened not only to those who mobilized
“national forces” against the Liberation Front, but also those who used “national forces” for other
purposes outside the OF.
All activities, and therefore also resistance were “self-interested” and directed to national liberation
if they did not act in the framework of the OF, under Communist leadership and the partisan military.
Besides the death penalty, other punishments were determined – confiscation of all property, destruction
of property, “national boycott” (exclusion from society).
“The protective decree” envisaged special secret courts, but it did not mention how they should be
constructed, who should be named to them, and how they were to act. It only defined that the process
be quick, oral and secret, and that there was no appeal. Some important sentences were published in
The Slovene Reporter, until it was seen that this had a very negative effect on people. Therefore Kardelj
gave the order, on the proposal of Zdenka Kidrič, “that the names of killed denunciants should not be
published anymore” except in “urgent cases”. From the published sentences we can find no particulars
such as who passed the sentence, where and when. The names of the judges were known only to the
executive committee of the OF. According to its judgment, this was a “typical form of revolutionary
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