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HISTORY
FROM WEBZI NE

TIGR – Slovenian Anti-

fascist Resistance
Movement The Past Captured in
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OCTOBER 21, 2010 by ALEKSANDRA CEFERIN
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0 SLOVEN IAN L ANG UAG E

Bitter consequences of World War I for SlovenesAt the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire the national states based on their ethnic identity and language emerged. There
had been a long struggle for self-determination, equal rights in the public sphere and in
education, which had been suppressed during the 19th century. The oppression only
made the nations of Austria, particularly the Slavic nations, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles,
ourse Outline Sample VCE outcomes, Unit 1-4 Stress, gender and number Declension Language functions Linguistic elements Self-st
Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs only more determined in their wish for freedoms that
1 The summary of outcomes and As in English, stress in Slovenian can Slovenian expresses with its endings The following is an extensive, but not Students should understand the m
theytasks
assesment felt entitled to. fall on any syllable of a word : not only number and gender, but also exhaustive, list of a variety of functions, regularity of the relationship of sounds Self-study slov
urse Outline tables showing
ves, outcomes and general máti(mother); govorìti (to speak); relationships between the different which form a part of communication and letters in Slovenian, from the point
zakaj
tructions to the course. In 1918, Czechoslovakia and(why). In theformed
Hungary vocabularies
theirthe words
own state, in the sentences
Slovenes, Croats (which in
and Serbs between people, and could be useful in of view of both accurate pronunciation
stress is always marked. In diferent English are expressed by means of any teaching approach: and spelling in written Slovenian.
followed suit by forming theofState
forms of Southern
the same Slavs, agreeing
word, the stress finally There
prepositions). to theare
Kingdom
a total ofof
six
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes occursunder
quite on different
the Serbian syllables: forms for
Karač‘orč‘evič‡ these relationships
dynasty. – whicha
In 1929 following
nosìti – nósim, móž – možÃ¡, are called cases.
constitutional change the state became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
č​lôvek – č​lovèka. A few words have
no stress whatsoever.

Occupation
In 1918 Slovenian people celebrated the defeat of the dictatorial system and hailed the
dawn of a new era, free from oppression and looking forward to self-determination.
People in Slovenian territories celebrated joyfully, in the villages Slovenian flags flew.

Slovenians of the Littoral / Primorska region expected to be part of the emerging State of
the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later named Yugoslavia, the Land of Southern Slavs.
However in late autumn 1918 Italian military forces occupied the whole of Littoral Slovenia
/ Primorska, to remain there for the next 25 long years. One quarter of the total
Slovenian nation, around 300,000 people, and one third of Slovenian territory, was
allocated to Italy by common agreement with the Allies.

Beginnings of cultural genocide

The occupation forces tried in the beginning to approach people with deceptive
promises: on great posters they promised full rights to all the citizens, in Italian and
Slovenian languages, they promised above all more Slovenian schools, than they had in
the Austrian state. In actual fact all these rights were being curtailed from the beginning.
Benito Mussolini, the leader of the emerging Italian Fascism announced in Pula/Pulj on
one of his public visits:

“Adriatic Sea, which is our bay, must change, if we are to realize our Mediterranean
dreams, from the hands of the low barbarian Slavic race into our hands.” Within a few
months began the systematic and over the years, increasingly brutal cultural genocide.

Burning of Slovenian House in

Trieste/Trst
Appalling and ill-intentioned was the burning of the Slovenian National House/Narodni
dom in central Trst/Trieste. It was built as a multi-purpose establishment. It contained a
kavarna/cafe, a lively meeting place for Slovenian business and cultural society, and a
separate hotel section. Under its roof it housed numerous Slovenian organizations, among
them Sokol (Falcon) and Edinost (Unity). It was becoming a symbol of Slovenian presence
in the central district, and so increasingly a thorn in the side of the Italian nationalists and
fascists. So they simply burnt it down.

Rapallo border
With the agreement between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the
Kingdom of Italy, which was signed in the town of Rapallo on 12 November 1920, a border
was determined, so-called Rapallo border, which ran in the north along the watershed
between the Adriatic and the Black Sea over the peak of Mount Triglav. In the Postojna
region it was pushed eastwards, appropriating the forests around mountains Javornik and
Snežnik. With the Rapallo agreement the fate of Primorska was sealed. It remained a
province of Italy, named by Italians Venezia Giulia, till the middle of World War II.

Abolishing of Slovenian place names

On 23 March 1923 a decree was issued whereby all the Slovenian and Croatian place
names were removed and replaced by the Italian ones. It could not be otherwise, the
spontaneous resistance grew in strength: here and there a Slovenian flag was flown in the
night, girls wore dresses in Slovenian colors….

Italianization of schools, changing

personal names
With the decree of Gentile, Minister for Education, a pernicious and cruel school reform
was introduced in the school year 1923/1924; Italian was introduced as language of
instruction in the first grade. It was the first step towards gradual removal of Slovenian
from the school curriculum. Slovenian teachers were replaced by Italian teachers. They
had to accept employment in Italy far away from home, or remained without a job. Some
were arrested, some disappeared without trace. Many took refuge across the border in
Yugoslavia. The new authorities built schools in every village, and everywhere they placed
their own people, who were integrated into the Fascist party. Schools became places were
children were alienated systematically from their own people and cultural heritage,
including their mother tongue.

Italian teachers arbitrarily gave their pupils Italian names: Ivan became Giovanni, Jože
became Giuseppe, Sreč​ko Feliks ali Felice, Bojan Alfonso, Božidar Natale…..Fascists thus
began to implement systematically their plan for cultural genocide of Slovenian people of
Primorska. The first step was to rob Slovenians of their mother tongue. However in homes
and churches, or isolated barns the Slovenian word and Slovenian song was nurtured and
maintained in secret. Attics became the secret Reading Rooms of Slovenian books.

Slovenian language in the underground

A singular sign of Slovenian resistance was Abecednik, the primer, with the title Prvi
koraki (first steps), which was published in Trst/Trieste in 1926. It was intended for home
use. With this primer the children of Primorska maintained and developed in their own
homes Slovenian literary language. Patriotic youth saw to it, that the primer found its way
everywhere, where there were school-age children.

Primorska youth, which had their Slovenian associations closed, responded in their own
way: with excursions to the mountains, where they could sing in freedom their Slovenian
songs. Out there in nature they even organized summer courses for Slovenian language.
One of these, where about 50 boys and girls participated, took place on Mount Krn which
the Fascists in their strange logic renamed Monte Nero (black mountain), similarly as
Mount Nanos became Monte Re (king mountain).

Increasingly brutal suppression of

national identity
With the legalized italianiziation of place names, surnames and personal names the
people of Primorska had lost the right to their own identity. Their own language was
prohibited from being spoken in public. In the shops, pubs and offices hung posters: Qui
si parla soltanto Italiano! (only Italian is spoken here) Slovenian literary language with its
focus on national identity was now systematically maintained only in church. However,
harsher pressure was also placed on Slovenian priests. In response they formed a secret
association Assembly of the priests of St. Paul. The struggle for religious rights was in
their case identical with the fight for national rights. They were the only class of
Slovenian intelligentsia, that remained to support their people.

The Secretary of the Fascist Party in Trst /Trieste demanded in 1927: “We have to do away
with the last remaining classes in schools, disperse all Slovenian organizations, both
sporting and cultural, destroy all Slovenian newspapers and books, introduce compulsory
enrolment of all Slovenian children in Balila in Avantgarda, (Fascist youth organizations),
prohibit Slovenian language in church and confiscate the property of all Slovenian
businesses, unions, and banks….”

Establishment of the anti-fascist

movement TIGR
Slovenian response was decisive: in the beginning of autumn 1927 a group of brave young
men from various parts of the occupied Primorska region, re-named Venezia Giulia by
Italians, met on Mount Nanos, with the aim of gathering the forces of resistance against
Fascism; they were Zorko Jelinč​ič​ from Log beneath Mount Mangrt, Albert Rejec from
Tolmin, Jože Dekleva from Bač​ near Materija, Dorč​e Sardoč​ from Slivno near Nabrežina,
Jože Vadnjal from Zagorje on Pivka and Andrej Šavli from Uršnik near Tolmin. They named
their organization TIGR. The name came from the beginning letters of the Slovenian lands
occupied by Italy, and were the movement would be active: Trst-Istra-Gorica-Reka. But
the name was to have at the same time have the symbolic power of the mighty and
ferocious animal. The organization had a broad, more or less covert support of people in
villages and towns, from Ilirska Bistrica to Postojna, to Gorica and Trst.

The organization, as they referred to it amongst themselves, published and distributed

cyclostyled illegal newspapers: Borba (struggle), Svoboda (freedom), Ljudska fronta
(people’s front), Straža ob Soč​i (watch on Soč​a). The young men did more. They organized
themselves into secret groups of three, undertook daring exploits, for example the
burning of kindergartens and schools. This was not exactly a civilized act, at first sight.
Police investigation found in Primorska 18 such cases of arson. It just happened:
“strangers” would come during the night, wreck the kindergarten and destroy everything
in it that served to alienate and poison Slovenian children’s minds.” Tigrovci” were acting
covertly in the sight of enemy, but quite overtly for their people, thereby raising their
spirits and by these means encouraging national resistance.

The concept of the threesome was simple but effective: three young men from the same
place who knew and trusted each other. Each of them had to find someone in a
neighboring village and he in his turn organized a threesome….In this way a network
gradually emerged, which spread over the whole of Primorska. Its unusual design was to
safeguard the members from treachery, and protect them from the police.

Youth retreating over the border

The Pivka Valley TIGR groups had from the beginning, given the strategic location on
Yugoslav border with extensive Javornik and Snežnik forests, undertaken other special
tasks. The local people, who were traditionally experienced smugglers were given the task
of acting as guides for Slovenian or Italian anti-fascists, when it became urgent that they
cross over to Yugoslavia. From there they returned with thousands of newspapers and all
kinds of propaganda material. This kind of activity was even more challenging in the
Tolmin area in the west, where difficult mountains passes had to be negotiated. Helping
the refugees across the mountains, was dangerous particularly in winter months, and
young men, some of them experienced huntsmen and mountaineers, often risked their
lives.

In the meantime the Fascist ideologues persuaded themselves, that there was no national
minority on the eastern border, that there were only dispersed foreign groups with no
history, no civilization, no national culture, no national identity, no educated class. The
“tigrovci” were to change all that. In strict secrecy they planned their great coup: the
blasting of the Fascist newspaper Il popolo di Trieste. The intention was, to punish Il
popolo die Trieste for its malicious attacks against Slovenes and Croats; and to draw
attention of the outside world to the true nature of Fascism.

TIGR time bomb goes off in Trst

A time bomb, intended for the printing shop of the Fascist newspaper, was made from a
grenade, a remnant of World War I, in the workshop of sawmill owner Urbanč​ič​ in Upper
Pivka.

Alojz Valenč​ič​ transported it to Trst from Bač​, where he was employed. According to his
colleagues he reported to the police that he would, as an employee of the factory, carry to
the bank in Trst a sizable sum of money. He got the official approval and a guard of two
carabinieri for protection. Everything went smoothly and according to plan.

The bomb went off on the 10th February 1930 and wrecked the fascist printing shop. The
explosion had been planned to go off when the place was empty, but the editor who by
chance worked late, was killed in the explosion. The Fascists were enraged and took their
revenge.

Arrests, the first trial in Trst

In April and March a series of arrests were made: first in Gorica, then in Trst and on Pivka.
The first trial took place in Trst, at an Extraordinary Court Proceedings for the Protection
of the State. It lasted from 1st to 7th September 1930, and sensational. The presiding judge
was a general of the Fascist militia, present was also the personal emissary of Benito
Mussolini.

Preparations for the trial had begun immediately. From November 1929 to June 1930,
dozens and dozens of suspects were arrested, altogether 87 people were charged. A
number managed to escape across the border.

The decision was made to put on trial 18 accused as the first group being charged. They
were to be put on trial in Trst, “the place where the crime was committed” rather than in
Rome, where the Supreme Court was usually held. The accused were charged with
planning and working towards the secession of Venezia Giulia, organizing an armed
uprising, destruction and killing, running a secret organization of military character,
which would act against the Italian state in time of war. For the period from 1926 to 1930
the court accused them of 99 terrorist acts.

Shots on Bazovica common

On 6th September 1930 at 5.40 in the morning, they were shot on the Bazovica common:
22 year old Ferdo Bidovec, son of Slovenian merchant and Italian mother, in daring acts of
rebellious movement, close associate of 24 year old Franjo Marušič​, bank clerk and
enthusiastic participant in cultural youth associations, reciter of literary texts, several
times arrested and held in the prison of Koper and the infamous Coroneo prison in Trst;
27 year old Zvonimir Miloš, Croat from Sušak above Reka; earlier mentioned 34 year old
Alojz Valenč​ič​ from Trst, employed at the time in Upper Pivka.

The whole of Primorska mourned. The youth however, was even more determined to
struggle against the oppressor. One of the Mount Nanos resolutions of 1927 was the
settlement of scores with fascist extremists and traitors. Such a score was settled in
Vipava. The whole valley was horrified over the inhuman acts of the tubercular teacher
Sattosanti in Vrhpolje, who spat in a child’s mouth if he or she spoke in Slovenian. He died
under the shots of TIGR one month after the shooting in Bazovica.

The struggle would go on till the outbreak of World War II, when Italian Fascists for a
period of time also occupied Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia with all the territories
to the south.

translated by Aleksandra L Ceferin

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ALEKSANDRA CEFERIN
ALEKSANDRA CEFERIN (M.A., B.A., DIP.ED.) HAS INTRODUCED SLOVENIAN
LANGUAGE AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL SYSTEM AND
FOUNDED THE SLOVENIAN TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA IN 1976. SHE
HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AS TEACHER,
LECTURER, CURRICULUM COORDINATOR, COURSE WRITER, LANGUAGE
CONSULTANT AND MANAGER, VCE STATE REVIEWER AND CHIEF EXAMINER.
SINCE 1998 SHE HAS BEEN THE PRESIDENT OF ISSV AND THE MANAGER AND
CHIEF EDITOR OF ITS PROJECTS. ALEKSANDRA VISITS SLOVENIAN ANNUALLY,
ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING CONTACTS WITH SLOVENIA, AND INITIATING
EXCHANGES AND COOPERATION BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS. IN 2004 SHE WAS
THE RECIPIENT OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION AWARD OF RS SLOVENIA.

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