The Forgotten Minority. On the History of the German Minority in Maribor

Abstract

In the 20^th century, Maribor frequently experienced a radical transformation of its public image. The latter is particularly true for the first half of the century, when the struggle between Germans and Slovenes for the supremacy over the city and the associated conflict between the Slovene and German identity was still very much present.

After the Germans signed the Paris Peace Treaties, they were placed in the position of a minority and lost most of the privileges they had had as the dominant ruling nation in Slovenia. Nevertheless, their cultural capital and the fact that they were the single most numerous minority in Slovenia, made it possible for them to “survive”. Their hopes of regaining their power came true with the onset of World War II. In 1941, Maribor and in the broadest sense Yugoslavia was just a silent observer of fights between the world superpowers. They were fighting for their superiority and in order to achieve their goals, and took advantage of helpless nations. Yugoslavia came under major pressure, since it was a strategically important territory in the Balkans. However, at least at first, Yugoslavia managed to stay undecided. The reality, however, quickly changed, as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact on 25th September 1941 in Vienna. With signing of the Pact, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia yielded under the pressure of the Nazi Block. It had hoped that it would not be occupied, since it had become part of the Tripartite Pact. The signing of the Pact prompted various reactions in Yugoslavia. The events that followed the signing were quite the opposite of what the authorities had expected. The population was dismayed when Yugoslavia bowed to the Nazis and riots started. In the night between 26th and 27th March 1941, the government was overthrown and the eighteen-year-old heir to the throne, Peter Karađorđević, wielded political power. On 27th March 1941, only two days after the signing of the Pact and the outbreak of riots, the Nazis appointed Siegfried Uiberreither, who was a Gauleiter of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) and National Deputy for Styria, the future head of the civil administration for Lower Styria. He took over the government, which had their headquarters in Maribor, on Easter Monday, i.e. on 14th April 1941. Only a week earlier, on Palm Sunday (December 6th), without declaration of war, began the attack on Yugoslavia, which utterly changed the face of Maribor and sealed the fate of Germans living here. Their fate is best illustrated by a quotation from Boris Kidrič from December 1945: “The German minority in Slovenia will have no rights, for there will be no German minority.”