Chamuria’s tragedy during the World War II

Author(s): Pëllumb Xhufi / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2015

The very day Italy attacked Greece, the Greek authorities had exiled nearly the entire male Cham population into Aegean islands (Crete, Chios, Mitilini, Kokyna etc.). When the Greek army came back, November 1940, vicious crimes were committed against Muslim Chams. Around 56 Chams have been killed in Filiates province, other 300 in Paramythia and Igoumenitsa. In the middle of November, in Viglitsa, the Greek soldiers killed eight Albanian Muslim men. Following their example, Christian people inveighed against the Muslims. In Igoumenitsa they killed Dule Idrizi together with his two boys. The murderers forced the father to dig the grave of his own sons. The Greek authorities turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by local Greeks against Chams.

Gli ebrei in Albania sotto l’occupazione italiana

Author(s): Carlo Spartaco Capogreco / Language(s): Italian Issue: 01/2015

The Jews living in Albania during the Second World War - local citizens or refugees from other countries - have generally been given little attention by those who have committed themselves to rebuilding the vicissitudes of European Jewry during the years of the Holocaust. Among the main causes of this apparent lack of interest must be considered, first of all, the censorship imposed in the post-war period to the Albanian archives by the communist dictatorship, which made them inaccessible until the mid-nineties. In fact, when scholars have had the opportunity to attend those archives, the recession "inattentiveness" has been transformed, promptly, into a keen interest. An interest that continues to grow, fueled by the fact that the topic of Jews in Albania - in the context of anti-Semitic persecution of the first half of the twentieth century - is now commonly seen (sometimes with excessive emphasis) as an "extraordinary mini-case".

FUNKCJONOWANIE OBOZU W ZWIERZYŃCU ZE SZCZEGÓLNYM UWZGLĘDNIENIEM OKRESU OD STYCZNIA DO SIERPNIA 1943 ROKU

Author(s): Hubert Mielnik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 23/2013

The paper presents functioning of the camp in Zwierzyniec during the Second World War. It focuses on the period from January to August 1943 when the displacement of Zamojszczyzna population took place. The article depicts main assumptions and results of Generalplan Ost and Wherwolf I action, and the role that the transit camp in Zwierzyniec played in those actions. The author shows the camp organisation during the displacements, living conditions of the prisoners and the camp garrison as well as efforts of Polski Komitet Opiekuńczy, especially those made by Jan Zamoyski, to rescue the youngest children. Statistics included in the paper attempt to show the realistic number of people gathered in the camp and the number of possible deaths during the specified period of time.

Relacja Ks. Szczepana Trochty Sdb O Salezjanach W Kl Dachau Przesłana Po Wyzwoleniu Obozu Do Ks. Piotra Ricardone Sdb Przełożonego Generalnego Towarzystwa Salezjańskiego

Author(s): Jarosław Wąsowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

The paper presents a letter of Fr. Szczepan Trochta, rector of the Salesian house in Prague to the Rector Major, Fr Pietro Ricardone, sent to Turin after the liberation of the concentration camp in Dachau. Fr. Trochta reports in the letter about his three years’ long imprisonment in German extermination camps, and informs also about the fate of other Salesians who were held in KL Dachau. Fr. Szczepan Trochta was appointed bishop of Litoměřice in 1947. He was interned by the communist government in 1951 and in 1953 sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment. In 1960, he was released under amnesty. On 24 April 1969, Trochta was appointed cardinal in pectore by Pope Paul VI. This nomination was by the Holy See on 5 March 1973.

Polscy Duchowni – Heftlindzy A Rozgrywki Piłki Nożnej w Konzentrationslager Dachau – Cz. II

Author(s): Jacek Brakowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2017

After the German failure in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, Germans ordered organization of sport competitions in concentration camps. The idea was also implemented in KL Dachau where regular soccer matches were organized. Polish clergy prisoners took part in those sport events. The clergymen used it as an opportunity to remind themselves as well as the other prisoners that they were not only numbers destined to slave work and eventual extermination but human beings endowed with spiritual power and dignity. A few among the clergymen, thanks to their sporting and moral stance, became exemplars for the other prisoner comrades. They were able to inspire them with faith and hope for survival in the un-human conditions of the German death camps.

Sorsdöntő évek – kettős átélésben

Author(s): András A. Gergely / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 05/2017

Aspekte të Luftës së Tiranës dhe Largimi i Wehrmacht-It nga Shqipëria në Nëntor 1944

Author(s): Marenglen Kasmi / Language(s): Albanian Issue: 01-02/2015

The concept of the German occupation of Albania was crystallized right before the invasion and it took place on September 1943. According to this concept Albania theoretically would be a neutral and independent country run by a national government, under the rule of the German Wehrmacht. In this framework the German Wehrmacht would organize the defence of territory against a possible deployment of the British and American Allies at the Albanian coast. So, the German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop hoped to gain the support of the most of Albanians, to isolate the popular liberation movement, and to keep occupied Albania with the least military strength possible. Most of the Albanians did not agree with such policy. They were organized in the National Liberation Movement and fought against the German occupiers. In this context one of the greatest operations of the partisan army during Second World War was the ‘Battle of Tirana’. This battle lasted 19 days and ended on November 17th, 1944. It was characterized by considerable losses from both sides. In the light of new documents for the German archive sources we find out detailed data and new evidences which allow us to have a full picture of this battle and draw right conclusions. In the second part of this paper it is discussed withdraw of Wehrmacht from Shkodra which was conditioned by the reconstruction of the strategic bridge of Bioce (Montenegro). This bridge was built by German troops on November 28th, 1944. Thus the concentrated German troops were blocked longer in the city of Shkodra and its suburbs. In the evening of November 28th’ after receiving the information on the reconstruction of the Bioce Bridge, Germans started to release the positions in the suburbs of Shkodra and on November 29th, 1944 the German troops left officially the last big city of Albania. Meanwhile the withdraw of the German troops from Albania marked the beginning of a new epoque for Albania.

Vështrim mbi legjitimitetin e Kongresit të Përmetit

Author(s): Çelo Hoxha / Language(s): Albanian Issue: 03-04/2016

The official historical narrative of Albanian communist regime has been (and is still being held by many historian and history texts) that its source of legitimacy was the so called First Antifascist National Liberation Congress, mostly known as Congress of Permet (24-28 May 1944), which established two important institutions: Antifascist National Liberation Council, as the legislative body, and Antifascist Committee, the executive one. Most of delegates of Congress, this narrative goes, were chosen through democratic election in the liberated zones and they were appointed in non-liberated ones. This article challenges this historical view, written under tight control of communist regime and in accordance with its political propaganda ends, and argues that Congress of Permet cannot be considered, judged exclusively by organizers standards of democratic election expressed in their documents, a democratically elected institution, because it did not meet even the most basic of conditions. This article finds that most of the pretended liberated zones were not as such at that time, but, and this is according to the very texts that hold this view, they were liberated a few months after the Congress. This article, however, analyses also the national representation of delegates present at the event, the mode of their selection, the cohesion of historical narrative, and concludes that Congress of Permet was a non-democratic gathering of communists, partisans and other people affiliated to them, which laid foundations of their future grab of power.

Sezona u paklu: Izbjeglištvo, teror, Europa

Author(s): Žarko Paić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 22/2017

Victor Orbán nedavno je na konvenciji konzervativno-populističke stranke Fidesz, koja vlada Mađarskom radikalnim mjerama »suverenizma« odbijajući pokorno slijediti zahtjeve Bruxellesa, izrekao dvije programatske postavke.

German Policy in Albania During the Second World War

Author(s): Bernd J. Fischer / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2014

The Italian collapse in August 1943 required the Germans to occupy not only the Italian peninsula but also that territory in the Balkans that the Italians had either taken by force of arms or had been given by Hitler. This action strained an already overburdened German military that could not spare the number of troops required for an effective occupation. The Germans were therefore forced by the realities of their military situation in 1943 to adopt what can be described as a benign occupation policy. Lacking sufficient resources, the Germans were forced to develop and carry out a policy heavily dependent upon indigenous economic, political and military resources. The implementation of this policy in Albania, in its four stages, serves as an example of the extraordinary degree of flexibility the Germans were forced to accept, as well as the limitations of such a program.

крымская конференция “большой тройки”: рoль в освобождении от фашизма

Author(s): Gennady N. Smirnov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 02/2014

Современный глобальный мир сложно и противоречиво складывался на протяжении тысячелетий. Менялась социальнополитическая организация человеческого общества, обновлялись и усложнялись механизмы взаимодействия между народами. А поскольку наследие прошлого так или иначе проявляется и сегодня, понять происходящее в глобальном пространстве можно только через обращение к историческому развитию мира.

OSJEĆANJE KRIVICE I KAJANJA PLANERA I IZVRŠILACA GENOCIDA

Author(s): Ismet Dizdarević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 02/2004

During WWII the German fascists committed genocide against the non-Germanic peoples, especially the Jews. Many innocent people were expelled from their homes, physically and psychologically tortured, and a great number of them were hanged or burned alive. During the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina a far more atrocious genocide was committed against the Bosniaks. The Serb nationalists mercilessly persecuted the Bosniaks, tortured them in concentration camps and prisons, and killed them in large numbers. The only crime of the Bosniaks was that they were “guilty” for being who they always were - Bosniaks, and because, in terms of their religious conviction, they considered themselves Muslims.

Struktura i działalność niemieckiego aparatu wysiedleńczego na Zamojszczyźnie

Author(s): Bartłomiej Ługowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2017

In October 1939, the Zamość Region became a German-occupied territory. First displacement of the population from this area was initiated by the Germans in November 1941. But the organized action began a year later. Then the Germans marked the Zamość Region as “the first settlement area in the General government”. Apart from the Poles, the Ukrainian population was also displaced. The Germans ended the resettlement of the Zamość Region in the summer of 1943. This article describes the structure and activities of the German resettlement system. First, this system was created in the Reichsgau Wartheland. Then the activity of this system was extended to the area of the Zamość Region. Also the German settlement in the Zamość Region was presented. Particular emphasis was put on the German administration of settled villages.

Partycypacja na siłę i jej nieoczekiwane konsekwencje. Państwowy socjalizm a nowoczesna klasa robotnicza

Author(s): Borys Cymbrowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2016

The article discusses problems of social change in Poland, which were brought about by State Socialist system installed following World War II. Assuming the thesis about a social revolution which was the result of Nazi and Soviet occupation during and immediately after the war (Leder 2014), it is argued that the methods by which the authorities used mobilized people to action were in fact a specific form of social participation, yet seldom spontaneous, but often inspired or sometimes coerced. This participation by force was an element of social mobilization and as such it contributed to legitimization of lower social classes – workers and peasants. As a result, those classes acquired ability for action; the workers felt authorized to discuss their issues with the decision-makers. By this way the former „beneficiaries” of the system were able to challenge the party apparatus and to contribute to its collapse.

THE CASE OF GENERAL ANTE MOŠKOV 1945-1947 OR GENERAL ANTE MOŠKOV AND THE SO CALLED USTASHI GOLD 1945-1947

Author(s): Ante Delić / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

Similarly to many other former Independent State of Croatia [NDH] officials, after retreating to Austria, General Ante Moškov was not a mere passive observer of future developments but rather directed his activity, under the newly created circumstances, against the recently established Yugoslav Communist regime. Also, Moškov was the first among the former high NDH officials, who, after the war, publicly took an oppositional stand towards his quite recent leader, Poglavnik Ante Pavelić. In doing so, he was not motivated by any principled political reasons, but rather by the discord around the evaluation of Pavelić’s role, primarily from the viewpoint of the crash he had experienced. Closely connected to Moškov is also the issue of the so called Ustashi gold, taken out of Croatia during the retreat, which really marked the most his post-1945 activities. This period of his second emigration is the subject of the present paper. Based on the available bibliography, as well as the available both domestic and foreign archival sources – some of which have so far been unknown and as such have never been used – the present paper tries to additionally enlighten some unknown and controversial episodes from Moškov’s postwar activities.

Восприятие Второй миро- вой войны российской интеллигенцией и западными интеллектуалами (К постановке проблемы)

Author(s): Elena A. Arshavskaya,Nikolay Georgievich Yurkin / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2017

The article is devoted to the problem that is always urgent for the domestic historiography — to features of perception of World War II by domestic intelligentsia members and foreign intellectuals. The authors show that whereas for most Europeans that war was just another sad episode in the development of their respective states, the Russian intelligentsia members perceived it as something fatal raising questions of Russia’s existence.

Trzecia Rzeszy wobec Romów i Sinti – w kręgu rasizmu i ludobójstwa

Author(s): Piotr J. Krzyżanowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2017

The Third Reich’s policy towards the Sinti and Roma people was based on racist theories claiming the superiority of the German nation over other nations. The rule of the National Socialists in Germany systematically eliminated the Sinti and Roma people from all areas of public life. They were regarded as a socially unassimilated group prone to criminal activity. Consequently, the Roma and Sinti people were refused the right to live and were subject to compulsory sterilisation and systematic extermination during World War II. It was in German-occupied Poland that the extermination was carried out to the greatest extent. Losses among the Roma and Sinti people have not been precisely estimated yet. Approximately at least 250,000 lost their lives in ghettos, concentration camps and outside the camps.

Problem ludności niemieckiej w Gdańsku w pierwszym okresie po zakończeniu II wojny światowej

Author(s): Sylwia Bykowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2017

This article focuses on the problem of Germans in Gdańsk shortly after the end of World War II. Among the issues analysed are: forced relocations of the German population by the Red Army; the so-called wild expulsion of Germans by the Polish authorities in 1945; the attitude of the Gdańsk administration towards the Germans; relations with Polish settlers from Central Poland and eastern territories incorporated into the Soviet Union. Mistrust, aversion and disputes were parallel to, sometimes, brutal competition for material goods, such as houses and workshops left by previous inhabitants. The Germans were underdogs in this conflict. They understood that they would no longer be responsible for their home city. They lost their position. Not having civil rights, they lost the right to their houses and farms. Gdańsk was an example of a former German city, whose new Polish community was created in the presence of its German inhabitants, who were subsequently deported to the territories on the other side of the Oder River. By this time, the coexistence of the Polish and German populations had evolved from hostility to cooperation between people devastated by war experience and forced migration. An official verification procedure was launched to determine who was a real German or Pole. One had to prove Polish descent and national usefulness in front of the Verification Commission. By the end of 1948, the number of native citizens of Gdańsk accepted as Polish citizens reached nearly 14,000. However, it was not possible to classify instantly all citizens of Gdańsk by their nationality. The memory of the pre-war Free City of Gdańsk was often more important for the collective identity of those who were born and lived in Gdańsk or Danzig before 1939. Both German and Polish citizens of Gdańsk were so strongly linked to their local homeland that they called themselves and were called by others ‘gdańszczanie’ or ‘Danziger’ for many years after the war.

Национальное поражение глазами интеллектуала-консерватора: Эрнст Юнгер о человеческих трагедиях в оккупированной Германии

Author(s): Dimitry Aleksandrovich Smirnov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 4/2017

The article investigates the judgment of national defeat of Germany as a result of World War II by Ernst Junger — the intellectual representing a conservative part of the German elite. As the sources for search chosen are his diary entries relating to the time of the end of World War II and to the first post-war years. These memoirs allow seeing both the changes happening in Junger's consciousness, and changes in socio-historical reality which were exactly fixed by the thinker.

Hrvatska i antifašizam

Author(s): Branko Caratan / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 02/1995

The author points out that in postcommunist countries there is a genuine danger of post-fascism, which is identical neither with the classical fascism nor with neofascism, but shares certain fundamental common traits. Like in classical fascism, expansionism is particularly dangerous in postfascism. The author shows that the project of Greater Serbia is in the very roots of the war on the entire territory of former Yugoslavia. Based on the tradition of Croatian antifascism, the author claims that the response to postfascism can only be democratic politics. Globally it means that democratic countries cannot be morally neutral or passive towards manifestations of postfascism. The historical experience with fascism shows that diplomatic means are insufficient for thwarting postfascist projects.