User:Meister und Margarita/Ana Zablatnik

Ana Zablatnik (1923 - 2010) was an Austrian resistance fighter against the Nazi Regime and belonged to the Carinthian Slovenes. She was imprisoned by the Nazis for one year and later-on became an important witness of Nazi atrocities.

Life
Zablatnik was born in the village Bilčovs in the southern part of Carinthia. Already early-on, her family was confronted with threats and humiliations. When the Nazis deported more then thousand Slovenes from their home villages in April of 1942, her family luckily stayed unharmed. Nevertheless, this action led to her decision to contact and join the partisans of the Slovenian liberation front called Osvobodilna fronta. On 6 May 1944, she was arrested and brought to the Klagenfurt prison, run by the Gestapo. For several months, she awaited her trial at the notorious Volksgerichtshof, but the trial never took place. She was released at the end of Nazi rule between 4th and 6th of May 1945.

Resistance
In April 1942 the Nazis began to deport Slovenian families from Carinthia. Ana Zablatnik was 25 years old when she joined the resistance. ORF writes: "Within 48 hours, nearly 1,100 people were driven out of their homes, out of their houses without a reason, and they were taken to Klagenfurt in buses — half of whom were children and teenagers." Although some were released because due to heavy interventions, 917 Slovenes were deported to Germany. To speak Slovene was strictly forbidden to them. They had to do forced labor in agriculture, in industrial enterprises and in households. The deportees were declared "hostile to the state" by the Nazi regime, their property was confiscated, their houses and their farms handed over to Nazi pendants. Step by step, the remaining Slovenes joined the resistance movement.

In 1943, the Allies declared in Moscow that Austria had to actively contribute to the liberation of the so-called Third Reich in order to be restored within the borders of 1938. During the negotiations on the Austrian State Treaty, Foreign Minister Karl Gruber referred to the Slovenian contribution to the liberation of Austria. Political scientist Walter Manoschek: "The Carinthian Slovenes played the main part in fighting the Nazis, but this is no longer really recognized." This ethnic group had to fight for several decades to obtain schools and town signs in both German and Slovene language.

Witness
In 2009, Ana Zablatnik described the events of April 1942 in the Ö1 series "In Conversation" with Michael Kerbler. She spoke about the role of the Slovenian women of Carinthia at that time and about the recognition denied to the resistance movement. This interview hat also been published as a book.

Her persistent attitude against all forms of discrimination has been preserved until her death in March 2010 in her home village of Bilčovs.

Quote
Austrian's state broadcaster ORF about Ana Zablatnik: "Ana Zablatnik [...] was regarded as an example to many people within her ethnic group because – despite the denial of the recognition of the resistance – she always kept her sense of humor and never gave up on the rights of the Carinthian Slovenes. [She] is one of the women to whom Austria ought to express gratefulness for regaining it's national sovereignty."

Publication

 * Man soll das sein, was man ist: Ana Zablatnik im Gespräch mit Michael Kerbler (Gehört gelesen), Klagenfurt: Wieser 2010

Literature

 * Peter Handke and Klaus Amann: Wut und Geheimnis, Wieser Verlag
 * Martin Hitz and Karl Stuhlpfarrer, Grenzfall Kärnten, Wieser Verlag
 * Helene Kuchar-Jelka: Jelka. Aus dem Leben einer Kärntner Partisanin, Drava Verlag
 * Bernd Liepold-Mosser: Partisan", Drama, erschienen in der Reihe "Gehört Gelesen und Gesehen, Wieser Verlag
 * Florjan Lipuš: Botjans Flug, Wieser Verlag
 * Karel Prušnik-Gasper: Gemsen auf der Lawine, Wieser Verlag

Documents

 * EUROPEAN RESISTANCE ARCHIVE, Interview, 1min 35sec
 * YouTube, 06 Under arrest; end of the war, 7min 35sec
 * ORF (Ö1 Im Gespräch): Interview with Michael Kerbler, 24 March 2010

Category:Ana Zablatnik