Slovenia 1945: Memories of Death and Survival After World War II

(c) By John Corsellis and Marcus Ferrar

Published in 2005 by I.B. Tauris, London

Slovene version published in 2006 by Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana

In May 1945, the British Army in Austria put 12,000 Slovene soldiers on board trains. The Slovenes thought they were on their way to freedom in Italy. Their true destination was Slovenia, and death.

"Slovenia 1945" follows the fate of Slovene anti-Communists who fled to Austria at the end of World War II. The British Army sent them back home, where their war-time enemies, Tito's Partisans, put them to death. Six thousand civilians narrowly escaped the same fate, after intervention by British Red Cross and Quaker aid workers.

Based on moving interviews with survivors, the story follows the massacre of the soldiers, the survivors' tough years in refugee camps and triumph in making new lives in Argentina, the USA, Canada and Britain. The book recounts how deeply issues of wartime collaboration and the Communist domination of the Partisan movement divide Slovenes today.

John Corsellis witnessed the events in Austria in 1945 and helped the refugees as an aid worker until 1947.
Marcus Ferrar is a former Reuters correspondent who reported from behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

• Selected as "Book of the Year" 2005 (link to TLS page with the Bayley quote) in the Times Literary Supplement by John Bayley, literary critic, retired Oxford University Professor and widower of Iris Murdoch.
• The authors wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair (link to word document of letter) asking for Britain to make a gesture of regret to Slovenia for sending back the surrendered soldiers.
• Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (link to pdf scan of original letter) wrote to the authors welcoming the fresh look at history, but making no commitment.
• 60 MPs signed an all-party petition (link to EDM 1916) urging the British Government to make a suitable gesture.
• The Slovene version became a best-seller in Slovenia (link to MK web page showing sales figures) immediately after its launch in May 2006.
• Slovenia 1945: Afterword

Articles Of Interest

• Motion To The House Of Commons
• Letter From Jack Straw -UK Foreign Secetary
• Letter To Prime Minister Tony Blair