**2. The cultural historical context of indigenous Gottscheers**

Gottschee is a region in contemporary south-eastern Slovenia; until 1941, Gottscheers had populated this region, for around 600 years, forming a relatively consolidated ethnically mixed island, located on around 800 km<sup>2</sup> of land in the regions of Dolenjska and Bela krajina. The region changed significantly in the thirteenth century due to internal colonization. Slovenian inhabitants spread to the slopes around the region, which were more accessible and easier to cultivate, while their advances into the heart of Gottschee were much slower, as the forestcovered and rocky Karst terrain was not as accessible. Judging by old Slovenian place names, there had only been around 30 Slovenian settlements in the main valleys and transport routes of the region (Kočevsko polje, the Črmošnjice valley and the Gotenica-Kočevska Reka valley).

### **2.1 German colonization of Gottschee and the Pre-WWII Period**

In the 1340s, the Ortenburg counts started populating this scarcely inhabited region with German colonists from their estates in Carinthia, mostly for economic reasons. But the core of German colonization took place in 1349–1363, involving migrants from Franconia and Thüringen. According to Ferenc ([4], 19; [5]), Gottscheer colonists were the last German agricultural settlers on Slovenian territory. Later, Germans would only move to towns, markets and larger villages as officials, miners, manufacturers, and merchants. It was during this period of German colonization of Gottschee that the center of the region, Kočevje, had first been identified as *Gotsche* in a document from 1363, later lending the name to the entire region.4

It appears that what followed this external colonization was internal colonization, which entailed shrinking and gaining more farmland, and the emergence of new settlements. One hundred and thirty-seven settlements existed in the area in the 1570s, accounting for around 9000 inhabitants. Turkish incursions, dire economic and social circumstances, as well as the resulting riots of the Gottscheer peasants hindered the development of the region in those times. Due to the Turkish attacks on the region from the first Turkish incursion in 1469 to the end of the sixteenth century, the inhabitants of this newly-populated land were at least partially displaced, particularly in regions near the river Kolpa and Kostel, their living space taken up by the Uskoks.5 In 1492, Austrian Caesar Friedrich III wished to aid the impoverished economy, granting the region peddling rights, i.e. the right to trade their woodenware, cattle, and cloth freely in Croatia and other lands. Gottscheer peasants lost this privileged position they had under the Ortenburg nobles (free inheritance, which could be sold or exchanged, privileges related to urbar duties and serf duties) during the rule of the counts of Celje who took over Gottschee after the end of the Ortenburg dynasty in 1418, and never managed to regain it under later noble landlords (the Thurn, Ungnad, and Blagaj dynasties), who had rented Gottschee from the Habsburgs, which had inherited the land. In 1641, the Turjaks,

<sup>4</sup> There are two explanations for the Slovenian name, Kočevje: the first one relates the name to the word "hoja" ("fir tree") (Hočevje), and the second to the word "koča" ("hut") (Kočevje).

<sup>5</sup> The Uskoks is the name given to groups of people who, between the 15th in 17th centuries, retreated from their homes due to the invasions of the Ottomans. Orthodox Serbs were predominated among Uskoks living in the Vojna krajina area, that is the area in today's Croatia and the southern part of Slovenia, which was formed as a result of defense against Turkish incursions.

who had been promoted to dukes, bought Gottscheer lands from the Khisls. Thus, Gottschee was turned into a duchy. According to Karl-Markus Gauss's observations ([6], 49) on this period: "The Celje counts were bad, the Thurn counts were bad, the Croatian von Blagaj counts were bad, but the Habsburgs were the worst, robbing Gottschee, until the settlers were completely impoverished, then leaving them on their own in their battles with the Turks, and finally pawning the land to various changing landlords."

In 1809–1813, the region was occupied by the French, resulting in an exodus of 56 Gottscheer families to Banat.6 During the reign of Maria Theresa and Joseph II, Gottschee was part of the Novo mesto district and the greater province of Ljubljana. According to ethnographic data collected by the Austrian monarchy in 1857, there were 22,898 German residents in the region in the mid-nineteenth century, the peak being in 1855, right before a breakout of cholera in the area. In 1880, 18,958 out of 21,000 inhabitants of Gottschee were German, 98–109 villages inhabited exclusively by the German population. "In 1921 and 1931, Yugoslav statistics which only took mother tongue into account for censuses, only found 42 and 31 villages with no Slovenian residents, respectively, and the so-called nationality register of 1936 speaks of 47 villages with no Slovenian population" ([4], 23).

In the 1880s, the agrarian crisis forced the inhabitants of Gottschee into seeking profit mainly resorting to seasonal jobs and, particularly after 1880 and at the turn of the century, mass emigration, mainly to the United States of America. This caused a continuous drop in population in the region in 1880–1921 ([7], 15). Peddling was also one of the motives for permanent emigration of numerous Gottscheer families to neighboring regions. Before WWII, it turned out that there were more Gottscheers in the USA than in Gottschee, which is why numerous farms died out and villages were displaced ([4], 27; [8], 104–106). Furthermore, the second half of the nineteenth century saw a nationalist revival among the Gottscheers, mostly due to the activities of German immigrants and the *Deutscher Schulverein* and *Südmark* associations. In March 1891, Vienna started publishing the *Mitteilungen des Vereines der Deutschen aus Gottschee* biweekly, later known as the *Gottscheer Mitteilungen*, which was followed by *Gottscheer Boten*. Upon German request, the Austrian parliamentary elections reform of 1907 introduced a special Gottschee electoral district, allowing Gottscheers to elect their representative in the provincial and state councils.

This is one of the reasons the Gottscheers felt at a great disadvantage after the disintegration of Austria–Hungary in 1918, so much that they first wished to join German Austria, and later requested the establishment of their own "Gottschee republic" as a US protectorate. Moreover, Yugoslav authorities disbanded the German national council for Gottschee, as well as almost all of their associations, abolished the German higher gymnasium, woodwork school, the German student dormitory, and gradually also German schools and German departments in Slovenian schools (due to a similar attitude taken by Austrian Germans in relation to Carinthian Slovenians). Furthermore, Slovenian was introduced into German schools as a mandatory subject, public use of the German language was restricted, and German place names were slovenianized. In 1929, after the dictatorship, the Gottscheer political party (*the Gottscheer farmer party*) had also been disbanded ([4], 27). All of these measures contributed to a fast and massive affinity towards Nazism, developed by the Gottscheers

<sup>6</sup> Banat is ethnically mixed historic region of eastern Europe, bounded by Transylvania and Walachia in the east, by the Tisza River in the west, by the Mures River in the north, and by the Danube River in the south.

### *Disappearing Community and Preserved Identity: Indigenous Gottscheers in Slovenia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110382*

in the 1930s. According to INT3 (2012, September 10)7 and INT6 (2012, October 4)8 , since the disintegration of Austria–Hungary, the pressure of slovenianization had been an important factor that—coupled with strong propaganda, a desire for a better life and a fear of moving to southern Italy—contributed to "voluntary" emigration of such a large number of Gottscheers in 1941 (INT3 (2012, September 10); INT6 (2012 October 4); Makarovič 2008, 23, 25; Gauss 2006, 53). Slovenianization or the aversion of the newly formed Yugoslav state against "everything German", as well as the loss of privileges that Gottscheers had been accustomed to in Austria–Hungary, is a topic that requires further research, in order to clarify why the emigration of Gottscheers in 1941–1942 took place on such a large scale and only appeared as "voluntary" (INT6 2012, October 4). On the other hand, the *Gottscheer Zeitung* had been published by Gottscheers in Kočevje from 1918 till 1941.

Allegedly, there had been a high degree of cooperation between the Gottscheers and the Slovenian population until the rise of Nazism. However, after the new Gottscheer authorities expressed a Nazi affinity and organized the Gottscheers according to the Nazi model in 1936, national dissonance had begun to become more and more apparent. Since autumn 1939, Gottscheer authorities had established 25 district groups of the *Schwabisch-German Cultural Association* (SDKB), which the vast majority of Gottscheers had joined before the occupation that followed two years later. The same number of *sturms*<sup>9</sup> and the same number of armed departments of *Volksdeutsche Mannschaft* were also formed, as well as seven partly armed units of security services, and 25 groups of the youth organization ([4], 29; [5], 29–112).

## **2.2 Gottscheer resettlement and the end of the war**

Gottscheers were not thrilled about the Italian occupation of Gottschee, having expected Gottschee to become part of the German occupied territories. As early as on 23 April 1941, Gottscheer ambassadors had secured an agreement with Himmler in Bruck on the Mur, about the resettlement of Gottscheers into the German Reich, directly to the new farms by the Sava and Sotla rivers, extending to around 100 km in length and 10–15 km in width, without bridging stops in resettlement camps, unlike other German resettlers ([4], 31). By expelling almost all of the Slovenian population (around 37,000), as well as Croatians and others into around 15 German camps, this would create a German bastion; in the process, around three Slovenian farms would be united to form one German (Gottscheer) resettler's farm.

According to their own census, there were 12,498 Gottscheers living in Gottschee (around 2754 families) in March 1941, spread across 170 villages in four former Yugoslav districts or twelve municipalities, most of the population being farmers and artisans. The central part of the Gottscheer Island was mostly populated by German families, whereas the edges, the valleys, were nationally mixed. Particularly the younger population followed the propaganda of Nazi Gottscheer authorities, whereas older and wealthier urban residents, as well as several clergymen had their doubts. Intimidation (slovenianization, Italian authorities that would move the Gottscheers to southern Italy, …) and even concentration camp threats were common [4, 5, 8]. This atmosphere made the vast majority of

<sup>7</sup> Audio recording of the interview, in the form of raw data, is available from the author.

<sup>8</sup> Audio recording of the interview, in the form of raw data, is available from the author.

<sup>9</sup> Sturm is a Nazi term, meaning a military unit the size of a troop.

Gottscheers (12,147 or 97%) opt for resettlement. After an agreement was signed between the governments of the German Reich and the Italian Kingdom on 31 August 1941, the optants were checked for their race, political views, and health. Only 66 were not allowed to move. The resettlers' property and assets were first taken over by a German association, *Deutsche Unsiedlungstreuhandgesellschaft*, which passed it on to an Italian real estate institution, *Emona*. 11,509 persons, i.e. 2833 families moved between 14 November 1941, and 22 January 1942. Upon arrival, they were disappointed, as they had to live in provisional winter housing units and on temporary estates. In October 1943, former Slovenian farms near the Sava and Sotla rivers housed 10,666 Gottscheers, Gottscheer authorities had been abolished by the Nazi regime (some individuals were sent to the Russian front (INT6 2012, October 4)), Gottscheers now subordinate directly to the Nazi authorities in Brežice. Displaced Gottscheers were therefore put into the position of defense pawns for the south-eastern border of the German Reich. The number of people wishing to return to Gottschee grew steadily, but this wish was not granted by the Nazi leaders ([4], 39, [8], 142–150).

Different fates awaited the Gottscheers at the end of the war in May 1945. Some, particularly women and children were taken to Austria by train, others successfully attempted to flee, while others were detained by Yugoslav authorities, placed in gathering camps (Teharje, Strnišče by Ptuj), and deported to Austria. The regions near the Sava and Sotla rivers were once again populated by the surviving Slovenian deportees, while most Gottscheer houses and villages in the Gottschee region were destroyed and burnt down, Yugoslav authorities having no interest in populating this emptied region with "Germans" again. Now definitely homeless Gottscheers were first temporarily placed into the Mürztal, Kapfenberg, and Wagna camps in Styria, and Feffernitz in Carinthia, and then settled in Austria and Germany, while many left to the USA ([4], 39; [5], 113–170).

According to the population and settlement census of 1948, 83 villages were empty, and some consisted of a mere family of two. After the war, the population of Gottschee was almost entirely different, only just over a quarter of people living in their hometowns in 1953. Postwar immigrants (first from nearby and then from all around Slovenia) had begun to renovate old buildings and build new ones, but only a small percentage of them had actually come to the region to stay. After the war, most of Gottscheer land had been nationalized, and real transformations would only become apparent decades later, as the forest would expand further and further into former farmlands. According to some assessments, ([4], 69, 73; [5], 263–672) the forest eventually covered up an entire quarter, i.e. around 200 km2 of the former Gottschee region.

## **3. Cultural heritage, organization, and identity of indigenous Gottscheers**

Gottschee cultural heritage that emerged before WWII entailed particular farmer houses, customs, folk beliefs, a dialect and a linguistic geography, folk poetry, art history objects, films and photographs of ecclesiastic books and archive materials. Despite the general readiness of the special German cultural committee that was to take care of the preservation and transportation of these Gottschee cultural items to new settlements from October 1941 to June 1941, few of these plans had been realized successfully.

*Disappearing Community and Preserved Identity: Indigenous Gottscheers in Slovenia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110382*

### **3.1 Indigenous Gottscheers' cultural heritage**

Tradition and conservativeness appear to be the most characteristic traits of Gottscheer heritage. Ecclesiastic architecture did not differ greatly from the one in Slovenian settlements, and there was almost no secular art on the Gottscheer linguistic island. Church monuments, chapels, and signs of various shapes (such as individuals' or neighborhood vows, the memory of cholera) were most prominent. Residential architecture also had its specificities (*inter alia*, the settlements and house types were rather diverse). The houses' interior design also had its peculiarities, just like Gottscheer songs and, to a certain extent, cuisine (INT7 (2012, September 13)10, INT9 (2012, September 18)11). Several factors have made it difficult to do research on some of Gottscheer cultural heritage (folk dances, food, farming tools): the Gottscheers' displacement (to the USA and to other countries, as well as to the regions near the Sava and Sotla rivers during the war), villages, abandoned and destroyed during the war (particularly arsons of settlements by the Italian army, carried out as part of a big Italian offensive in the summer of 1942, when the Italians purposefully burnt down abandoned villages to make it impossible for the partisans to use them for accommodation purposes; as well as arsons carried out by the German army and the Home Guard), post-war conditions and inadequate post-1945 settlement, economic and employment policies, as well as the purposeful ideological destruction and removal of secular and sacred remains. In practice, these factors caused the collapse of the Gottscheer cultural landscape, particularly in Kočevski Rog (due to the Italian offensive) and Kočevska Reka (because the territory was closed down in 1953–1954, when almost all sacred objects and cemeteries were destroyed and removed; Ferenc [4], 55). "Today, […] at least from the point of view of art history, we can regret that this minority is no longer with us. It is erroneous to only remember the years when the Slovenians and the Germans opposed each other, when there are also centuries to be remembered, when we not only lived by each other's side, but lived with each other" ([4], 95).

The life story of one of the interviewees is a telling example of such Gottscheer– Slovenian cohabitation. She was born to Slovenian parents, who had moved to Gottscheer village Verdreng (Podlesje) from Carinthia and were the only Slovenian family in the village. Despite her Slovenian descent, she learnt the Gottscheer dialect before she learnt Slovenian, as she had spent most of her time playing with Gottscheer children. She had also been accepted into the Gottscheer community, according to the local "cheln" (friendship, camaraderie) custom, and actually spoke Gottscheer to her mother, who replied in Slovenian, for quite a while. She only properly learnt Slovenian in school. This Gottscheer–Slovenian cohabitation lasted until the mid-1930s, when individual Gottscheers had picked up on Nazi ideas and begun inciting people against the Slovenians. This was when the interviewee's family moved to Črni potok, a Slovenian village. As a child, she perceived that move as a great loss, as she had to leave all of her friends behind. She proceeded to study Gottscheer tradition and heritage later and does a lot of translation from the Gottscheer dialect. Knowing the dialect saved her from Auschwitz: the prison commander in Klagenfurt, where she and her mother were stationed before being taken to Auschwitz, noted

<sup>10</sup> Audio recording of the interview, in the form of raw data, is available from the author.

<sup>11</sup> Audio recording of the interview, in the form of raw data, is available from the author.

her knowledge of "German" and relocated her to a youth center in Thüringen (INT1 2012, September 19).12

According to Ferenc ([4], 79), "[i]t would probably be difficult to find a similar region in Europe, one whose cultural landscape had undergone such dire transformations as Gottschee." It is the ethnographic museum in Vienna that possesses the biggest collection of items from Gottscheer lives today, and there is a small representational museum in the Občice Gottscheer Cultural Center, established in 1998 and run by the *Society of Native Gottschee Settlers*. The state is aware of the importance of preserving cultural diversity and has been making efforts to ensure the conditions for the preservation of indigenous Gottschee cultural heritage, greatly endangered due to the aging and scarcity of the population in their area of origin. In 2006, the Ministry of Culture's Cultural Diversity and Human Rights Service proposed continuous funding for the preservation of Gottscheer heritage, in the form of annual predetermined sums. This was meant to ensure specialist-oriented and long-term reconstruction of artistic heritage, publication, exhibition, and promotional activities and registration of intangible heritage, particularly language. In 2012, the Ministry of Culture's Cultural Heritage Directorate also produced an assessment of the state of affairs in the domain of Gottscheer cultural heritage, authored by Gojko Zupan. The assessment concludes that the community is dealing with quite peculiar circumstances: the number of Gottscheers is small (less than 300, or around 1000 including descendants and sympathizers), displacement, depopulation, wartime and postwar emigration, village and cultural monument destruction. However, Zupan [9] believes that, considering the abovementioned circumstances, Gottscheer heritage has been exceptionally wellpresented since the mid-1990s. The locations of important abandoned Gottscheer villages are marked with explanation boards, maps, and distinct images, which are under the authority of the owners and tourist organizations. Municipalities took care of installing signs for acknowledged cultural monuments. Moreover, Šeškov dom, housing the regional museum Kočevje and a permanent exhibition on Gottscheer history, everyday life, cultural heritage, etc., is a monument of national significance. The state also financed setting up or reconstruction of certain sacral objects and signs. According to Zupan [9], it is impossible to determine the exact amount of funding that Gottscheer societies are receiving for their community, heritage, language, and culture promotion activities, as they are aided by various sources: ministries, the Slovenian Forest Service, private investors, enterprises, and from abroad.
