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Who Fired First at the Occupier: TIGR, Communists, or Jesenice Volunteers?
🇸🇮 Slovenia /Culture & Society

Who Fired First at the Occupier: TIGR, Communists, or Jesenice Volunteers?

From Delo · () Slovenian

Translated from Slovenian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Analysis Sources not specified Context piece
  • Historian Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič discusses the anti-fascist organization TIGR and its role in Slovenian resistance.
  • The article clarifies TIGR's actions, including sabotage and assassinations against Italian fascists between 1927 and 1941.
  • It questions the historical narrative about the first shots fired against occupiers, presenting evidence of earlier armed conflicts involving local volunteers.

Historian Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič is shedding light on the largely unknown Slovenian anti-fascist organization TIGR (Trst, Istra, Reka, Gorica). Active from 1927 to 1941, TIGR was an underground group comprising patriotic Slovenes and Croats in the Italian-controlled region of Julijska Krajina. They fought against Italian state fascism through various means, including sabotage, destruction of fascist symbols and institutions, and targeted attacks.

The poster proudly demonstrated that SDS does not need help from designers, as it holds something more important – the truth itself.

— Article author (quoted)Describing a political poster's claim about historical truth.

TIGR's activities were not limited to physical actions; they also used their illegal publications, such as 'Svoboda,' to denounce the Vatican and threaten collaborators. The organization carried out numerous executions of informants and traitors, whom they described with harsh terms like "Judas" and "traitors to the nation." These actions were often reported in their underground press, highlighting the intense internal conflict and the brutal methods employed.

The clash did indeed happen, the content is more or less as described on the poster, and it was indeed the first instance of armed resistance in occupied Slovenia.

— Article author (quoted)Acknowledging the factual basis of the poster's claim about the Mala Gora battle.

The article critically examines a recent historical interpretation presented on a poster in Ljubljana. This poster claimed that the "true resistance" in Slovenia began in May 1941 with a battle involving TIGR members against Italians at Mala Gora near Ribnica. While acknowledging the skirmish occurred, the author of the poster, and subsequently Gabrijelčič, points out that this event was more of an epilogue to TIGR's story rather than the true beginning of the resistance.

But it did not represent the 'true beginning' of resistance in Slovenia, at best an epilogue to TIGR's story.

— Article author (quoted)Correcting the poster's narrative about the significance of the Mala Gora battle.

Gabrijelčič presents evidence suggesting earlier armed confrontations. He highlights a multi-hour clash on April 9, 1941, in Gozd - Martuljek between volunteers from Jesenice, a unit of the royal army, and an Italian battalion. This engagement resulted in four Italian deaths and seven wounded, potentially marking the first intentional armed popular uprising against the occupiers in Slovenia. Furthermore, he notes a sabotage action in Maribor on April 29, 1941, carried out by youth members, as another early act of resistance.

which might indeed be our first (even intentional!) popular armed struggle against the occupier.

— Article author (quoted)Suggesting the Gozd-Martuljek clash as a potential first armed popular resistance.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Delo in Slovenian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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