Prof. John Tschinkel
The Bells Ring No More - an autobiographical history, 2010
 |
 |
| No. | Chapter |
| 18. | Veliko Mraševo |
Christmas of 1941 was one to remember.
In spite of having arrived in Veliko Mraševo – (Germanized into Gross Mraschau) only seventeen days ago and the chores of restoring order and continuity burdening every waking hour, both parents were not going to let the lingering turmoil spoil this event for their children.
By now Mother and Mitzi had scrubbed the house clean. Our furniture in place, the pots, pans and cutlery organized in the kitchen, the warm house was, in spite of the bitter cold outside, beginning to feel like a home. In the stable, the animals were comfortable, but Father was worried about the pig in the less well insulated sty. He had already discussed this with a man from the DAG (Deutsche Ansiedlungs Gesellschaft) who had visited the village a few days after all settlers had arrived. The Settling Authority agreed to buy the pig with food stamps and cash since our new house had no smoke room in which to cure the meat after the slaughter. And even if it had one, there was no hardwood available, the nearby woods growing slender birches only. Until then, the sty was to be filled with straw which, together with the pig’s thick layers of fat, would prevent the animal from freezing. There was no similar danger to the chickens we brought from Masern and the others who had drifted back after their abandonment; they had their feathers to keep them warm.
There was no shortage of food staples, the ones that we received in Rann were being replenished at the grocery store in Zirkle. Among the items were delicacies, all much too pricy for the 300 Reichsmark, which is all we had at the moment. Of course the sausage and the ham Mother purchased were not as good as those we had made ourselves in the past.
We had greater difficulty in finding a suitable Christmas tree; the flat marshy land around us and the soil of the nearby woods on the hill toward Zirkle were not friendly to pines. There was no shortage of them on the higher hills across the river but that was in another country, out of bounds to us.
Mitzi and I searched in the woods off the Zirkle road and eventually found a proper size fir which we dragged home on the few inches of new snow. (In Masern, by now, there would have been feet of it.) All seemed to be coming together, with this Christmas promising to be not much different from those of the past.
Except for one thing. Jacklitsch let it be known that the young women of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (the mandatory national service for young women) would give a gifting party where they would distribute toys to all the children under fourteen. The party was to be on Christmas Day at ten in the morning in the large house on the main road, a short distance beyond the turn off to our new village. (For now the temporary house of Franz Jacklitsch). Instead of the usual apples, candies, notebooks, new pencils, fresh erasers and oversized clothing there might be something different and unexpected this year.
As in the past, the tree was decorated in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve. The fragile glass ornaments had all survived the journey including the silvered star to grace the top. As before in Masern, the tree stood in the corner of the large bedroom, diagonally opposite the oven cube and next to it on the table the unfolded cardboard crèche.
Mother hinted that there would be few gifts under the tree in the morning. This was hardly a surprise, as we had noticed that the store in Zirkle sold groceries only. That evening, after watching the candles brought from Masern burn away their remaining half we all went to bed early. The three of us with low expectation about what we would find under the tree, but full of excitement about the party. As for the parents there was no need to wait for the bells calling to midnight service. They were not to be heard this year nor anytime soon again.
The Jacklitsch house was filled by the time we got there. Not only with kids but also with the adults who brought them there. We were welcomed by good looking young ladies from the Reichsarbeitsdienst, twenty something girls in shapely uniforms and smiling faces. All making an effort to dispel not only the bashful demeanor of the kids, but also the distant reserve of the adults. They were visiting not only us but also other villages, surely mindful that by cheering up the kids, they would improve also the sagging spirit of the adults.
There were chairs for the adults, Jacklitsch having brought them from his tavern in Masern. And when all were seated, the woman in charge gave a short speech. She welcomed us into the Reich and praised our loyalty to the Führer. Then there was something about celebrating winter solstice as the real spirit of Christmas, with duty to the Führer being above all else.
Most of this was directed more at the adults than the impatient kids; we were here for the presents not a speech. But she kept it to a minimum except to say that the gifts were from the Führer whom we should thank individually for what we were about to receive.
The presents were laid out in a corner of the room. On the two walls above, looking down on us was the picture of Hitler. And when called, each of us was to step forward and when asked “what would you like”, we were to select one item from the pile. And then say: “Thank you my Führer”.
She read our names from a list. But long before being called, I had surveyed the pile of fire engines, cars, guns, dolls, etc. What I wanted was not there.
As usual, my name was at the end of the list. And when she asked what I would like, I said “a story book”. And when she looked at me in shocked surprise, I did not hesitate to repeat my request.
“You mean a fairytale book”. Not knowing how to make it clearer, I nodded my head. So she turned to one of her colleagues who left the room and came back with a book in her hand. I also looked at Hitler’s picture on the wall and said: “Thank you my Führer”.
I really wanted a book of stories, not fairytales. At ten I knew the difference. Nevertheless, it was the first book I owned; I kept re-reading it throughout that winter and spring, even in the dim light of the kerosene lamp. Slowly for sure since my understanding of German was limited and nothing else to read could be found in the village.
- - - -
Shortly after the New Year, Jacklitsch announced a meeting where all adult villagers would be addressed by men from the DAG. They were going to inform the settlers about the final assignment of houses and the allocation of land to each farmer. Among other things.
After the meeting, the parents and a few neighbors, among them our friend Johann Krisch, settled in our kitchen and anxiously talked about what they had heard. I gathered that all was not well but what mattered to me was the happy news that school was to begin in Zirkle in the middle of January. I had not been in a class since Dežman left Masern in the spring of 1941 and the prospect of learning again after so much idleness was exciting, if also daunting. Now all learning would be in German, a language I barely understood, the former Slovene useless and the Gottscheer dialect of little help.
The adults were far less pleased. They were told that the final assignment of houses and property would not take place until all the land was surveyed and divided into parcels. These parcels would, only after the survey was completed, be assembled into units which, together with an appropriate house and associated buildings, would form a self sustaining farm. The units were to be of different sizes so as to match as accurately as possible the property owned back in the enclave. Only then would these units be turned over to their final owners. All this being a large task, taking perhaps a full year, the villagers were asked to be patient. And until this was done, they would continue living in their present houses.
But there was one more item. Until all units were defined and assigned to owners, the land had to be cultivated, planted, tended and harvested. All this was to be done, with guidance and assistance from the DAG, by all able men and women of Gross Mraschau. The villagers were also required to take care of the additional livestock temporarily assigned to them, livestock belonging to former residents. Our household was to get several cows and another horse which, together with Yiorgo and Father as their driver, were to be used for various tasks assigned to him by the DAG.
For their efforts, the villagers were to be paid in Reichsmark; wages with which to buy all necessary provisions. And after finally taking possession of their own farm, the DAG would continue with financial assistance until the next harvest brought self sufficiency and independence.
It had been stressed again to be patient and understanding. After all, the Reich was in a glorious war in which brave soldiers were giving their all for their country. The residents of Gross Mraschau must do no less.
In the next few weeks there was much discussion and grumbling about this when the villagers met with Jacklitsch. “Did we come here to be workers for the DAG?” was a commonly heard question. Jacklitsch, having lost most of his former credibility (and authority) did his best to calm them. Father helped him by explaining the logic of the DAG to those who again came to pass the time in his makeshift workshop on the long and idle winter days as they had done in the past. Except the workshop was now in the large room of the adjacent house which, for the time being, had also been allocated to Father. Here they sat on the benches surrounding the corner cube, their backs against the warm tile. Jacklitsch, and soon also the DAG, became grateful for his help. Recognizing his effectiveness, the DAG provided him with a battery operated radio and every evening the large room of our house was packed with those who came to hear the news at seven in the evening. At other times, the radio was shut off, mainly to save the batteries which were hard to get.
- - - -
The farmer K.R. writes:
“The houses and farms which initially were assigned to us were only temporary. The administration and care of the farms and livestock remained entirely in the hands of the DAG. Even in the spring of 1942 the DAG continued to administer and cultivate the land. In this, the DAG engaged all able resettlers but paid them only undervalued wages as field hands. During this time the surveying and grouping of acreage into farms was in full swing”.
- - - -
In his report “Two Years Later”, dated May 4, 1943, SA-Obersturmbannführer Erwin Seftschnig, head of the DAG department at the RKFVD in Maribor, describes the status of the final land assessment at the Settlement area. 134
Seftschnig writes about the enormously demanding effort to survey the entire Save/Sotla region encompassing approximately 75,000 ha (290 sq miles) within a period of two years. This was completed at the end of 1942 when the territory, until then managed by the Interim Land Administration of the RKFDV, was turned over to the Steirischer Heimatbund (SH) for final assignment and distribution to the ingathered.
The task of the DAG was to divide the territory into parcels which, together with appropriate residences and farming buildings, would form self sustaining farms. The allocation would include arable land, vineyards and forests. Parcels of different land sizes and compositions were defined and three different “Farm Types” were mapped out for assignment to qualified ingathered farmers. The property was to be, roughly, in line with the property owned prior to resettling. Five additional “Non-farm Types” were created mainly for tradesmen, shop owners, laborers and landless residents.
The DAG created 1,275 “Farm Types” and 1,184 “Non-farm Types” for a total of 2,459 residences on 64,431 ha of land. The final report gives the number and details of the allotment to each Type. Placed into a “Reserve” were 10,005 ha of land. Total land = 74,436 ha. 135
The report also shows that 9,296 ha remained in ownership of 1,215 Slovene families with an average ownership of 7.6 ha. The report does not define these families, but it can be assumed that they were “Windische” who were allowed to remain and keep their land.
The Types created by the DAG were as follows:
Farm Types:
| Type 1 | Farmer: land 30-70 ha, vineyards 5-10 ha, forests 10-40 ha. | Qty 42 |
| Type 2 | Farmer: land 10-30 ha, vineyards 1 - 2 ha, forests 8-12 ha. | Qty 404 |
| Type 3 | Farmer: land 7-10 ha, vineyards 1 - 2 ha, forests 4 - 8 ha. | Qty 829 |
| Tot 1,275 |
Non-Farm Types:
| Type 4 | Small tradesmen, plumbers, etc: house plus 2-4 ha | Qty 340 |
| Type 5 | Small shops owners: house only | Qty 7 |
| Type 6 | Farm workers: house plus 1-2 ha | Qty 520 |
| Type 7 | Resident: house only | Qty 67 |
| Type 8 | Resident: house plus small garden | Qty 317 |
| Tot 1,184 |
(Additional details are listed in Quellen, doc 301, 307)
The division of the land into Farm and non-Farm Types was broadly in line with information Lampeter supplied to the Gauleiter, in his letter dated 2 November, 1941. However, Lampeter’s letter was mainly about adequate land allocation to those he defined as “fit” to run a Farm Unit. To provide for healthy growth and expansion in the future he recommended that the average “Farm Type” be at least 20 ha. In his letter he voices his concern that:
“….there would be a land shortage in the settlement area. Four weeks ago, I gathered from a conversation with the leader of the civilian Land Planning Office, party [NSDAP] member Baier, that there is not enough land for the arriving Gottscheer” and he urges the Gauleiter to make more land available.
The actual numbers of Farm and No-Farm units created by the DAG vs. those requested by Lampeter is as follows:
| Farms | Non-Farms | Tot | CityUnits | Others | Overall Totals | |
| DAG | 1,275 | 1,184 | 2,459 | 0 | 0 | 2,459 |
| Lampeter | 1,201 | 941 | 2,142 | 261 | 523 | 2,926 |
It is evident the DAG created the total number of family property parcels more or less in line with the numbers provided by Lampeter. In his letter to the Gauleiter, Lampeter stated that only 1,201 out of a total of 2,665 Gottscheer villagers are fit to run a farm. Among the 1,201 families Lampeter saw “fit” were many of his loyal if landless supporters who needed to be rewarded for their effort in persuading the population to resettle. According to the DAG, all 1,201 families were to receive a Type 1, 2 or 3 farm.
In the same letter, Lampeter identified 941 families as “577 small farmers” and “364 workmen”. All of these were placed by the DAG in the non-farm category. The small farmers were to receive at best a “Non-Farm Type 4”. The workmen were to get anything from a “Type 5” to a “Type 8”.
Of the 1,275 Farm Units created by the DAG, 1,031 were ultimately allocated to the Gottscheer. Of these, nine hundred and ten were accepted and occupied by May 4, 1943. Fifty nine rejected what was offered them and were consequently placed in the Non-Farm category.
The 365 units (the difference between the 1,275 created by the DAG and the 910 accepted by the Gottscheer), were eventually given to resettlers from South Tyrol, Bessarabia, Dobrutschka and Styria Germans.
The 261 City families were to be (according to the VGL) settled in either Brežice (Rann) or Krško (Gurkfeld), the two towns in the area. However, the SS-Ingathering Authority had different plans for this troublesome elite. Their ultimate placement will be explained later in this chapter.
In his letter of November 2, 1941, Lampeter also identified 523 families to be separated from the ethnic group and sent elsewhere by the Ingathering Authority. Of these, 135 were to be excluded for being opponents of the VGL, and 388 of these were to be excluded for being older, no longer capable families.
In the end however, most of the 2,926 families accounted for by Lampeter were resettled to the Save/Sotla area. But for many of the 523, the Save/Sotla area was a transition place only. Their destiny had already been defined by an “O” or “A” mark in the resettlement document on the processing train at Gottschee City railroad station. Only those marked “St”, were permanently settled in the Save/Sotla area.
- - - -
In a lengthy report dated October 1942, SS-Untersturmführer Dolezalek, head of the SS-Planning section, describes the conditions in the area.. 136 Among other items, he states that:
“Fundamentally the Gottscheer are satisfied. Naturally, complaints are heard everywhere…. They complain about many conditions and inconveniences but they will, over decades, accept their new homeland…. .
“Above all, one is forever surprised to hear from the settlers that [Gottscheer]Germans are the minority in many, if not in most villages. After careful assessment by myself, I have concluded that the ratio is 1:1.
“.. for a desired solution, the settlement area is unsuitable not only in its composition, but also is far too small in its proportions. I must, therefore conclude that a vivisection of the [Gottscheer] ethnic group is unavoidable. This will be very painful for them and is, for other reasons also regrettable, since it would not have been necessary”.
- - - -
The farmer K.R. writes:
“The distribution of the farms started in August 1942. The allocated houses and farms were mostly in a neglected state. The homes and farms were generally in a condition inferior to those we left behind. The area itself is poorer than that in Gottschee.
“Many did not accept the assigned property since it was not equivalent to the value of what they owned formerly. In some cases the assigned farm was barely one third of the property left behind.
“The DAG advised all those who had a legitimate claim to accept the assigned property. It had no legal means for enforcement, but it pressured the resettlers to accept the allocation. Many were led to believe that, should they reject this offer, they would lose the right to be given a place, and subsequently be reimbursed for the land left in the enclave at the lowest possible price. The majority gave in and accepted; they had little choice. This was the case also with me. I refused to accept the assigned property at first, but then accepted another place worth one third of the property I used to own.
“There were some who refused to accept what was assigned to them. These people were taken to a camp for resisting [unwilling] workers in Germany. There they proved they did not resist work, they had been sent there only because they refused to accept a property of inferior value. Found not guilty as accused, they were released and after a few months they returned to the settlement area where the DAG found them housing accommodations”.
- - - -
The Gottscheer Zeitung of March 1993 quotes a Gottscheer:
“The officials from the DAG wanted to know why the families Lampeter [another Lampeter] and Michitsch have not yet accepted a property. I was in an adjacent room when the ‘visit’ [the DAG] arrived and heard my father argue. The debate became heated and Busse, the leader of the Gurkfeld/Krško DAG office threatened with expulsion of the families to a camp in the Reich [Altreich]. Kallinger, another official casually hinted to Father of an assignment to a 999 battalion (a penal battalion). The result: three days in jail for my father.”
- - - -
And the Reverend Alois Krisch writes:
“There occurred many injustices. Some who at home had large well kept farms, received similar properties. Others who also had similar properties at home received places which barely equaled one quarter of what they owned before. Many of them naturally did not accept what was offered. Yet others were offered properties exceeding ten times or more the value of what they owned in the enclave. But some rejected the offer because it included a thirty year mortgage.
“The disappointment was heightened because the people saw there were few good houses and farms. They knew therefore, that only a small part of our people could (in the sense of the former propaganda [on the part of the VGL]) be adequately compensated. This came from those who were still in their temporary housing as well as from those who had already accepted a place. And some of the disappointed moved several times [from farm to farm] but they remained dissatisfied.
“When they refused to accept it was said that people who did not accept what was offered several times would be sent to Poland. [Less than a year ago, the VGL told the Gottscheer they would be sent to Abyssinia if they did not agree to the resettlement]. During the political and racial examination on the train some were defined as A- and O-Cases. They were those who, due to being related to the Slovene or seen as being politically unreliable, were not welcome in the annexed border territory. [The Reverend refers to the ‘List of Politically Unreliable’ prepared by Lampeter and submitted to the SS-Ingathering Authority at the end of October 1941].
“Sometimes when people declined to accept the assignment, brutal force was used and when they resisted, they were threatened with weapons. A man F. P. from Altlag had a weapon pointed at his chest until he finally gave in.
“I know of a young Gottscheer farmer who, after being threatened this way, said: ‘Herr St., offer me something that is half or even a third of what I had at home and I will accept it’.
“The lucky ones were those who had nothing, or very little at home. Here they had good wages and benefits, partly because of their many children. Some of them said they never had it so good”.
The reason for the injustices mentioned by the Reverend was in large part due to the recommendations of the VGL. Resisters who had large properties at home received inferior ones, if any at all. On the other hand, supporters of the VGL who had little at home were handsomely rewarded.
- - - -
In the above, both the Reverend and the farmer K.R. report only on the settling of farmers. But the Reverend also writes about the merchants and bourgeoisie of the City who not only gave up their properties in Gottschee City but also lost the community they served and from which they earned their living. On this he writes:
“Many business people were sent to distant places, different cities. They were settled far away, in Maribor, Ptuj and elsewhere and separated from our people more than 100 km away. They no longer counted as being part of the totality of our people.
“It was said there is no more room for them here. Why not? In this ‘shortage’, some of the nicest houses in the city [Brežice (Rann)] had become offices and single officials lived in luxurious villas”.
(The editor of “Documentation der Vertreibung…..” comments: “With thirteen examples, the Reverend attempts to highlight the difficulties of the Gottscheer business people in the settlement area”. The thirteen cases are however not identified in the book).
But with regard to some of them I personally can add the following:
Father’s cousin Franz Tschinkel, Sturmführer of Sturm No 1, the Gottschee City Sturm, from whom Father purchased my bicycle was given a row house on Main Street in Brežice which had on its ground floor a small dry goods store. At home in Gottschee City he owned a huge dealership for bicycles and sewing machines on a large parcel of land on which stood also the very large family villa.
Alois Krauland who married Ridi, the sister of Franz, was an official at the Savings and Loan Bank in the City. He was also editor of the Gottscheer Zeitung for three months before it closed in November 1941. He and his family were resettled to Brežice (Rann) where they were assigned a house they refused to accept. Since the Bank had ceased to exist, there was no similar position for him in either Brežice or Krško and he and his family was moved to Maribor where he found a job. After he was drafted in 1943, the family returned to Brežice but left for the safety of Upper Styria in early 1945.
Alois was very likely among the sixty one City people who signed the Petition sent to Dr. Wollert in December 1941 containing their “Six Demands” 137 including the request that their resettlement be postponed until March. And he most certainly was among the 100 who assembled on January 3, 1942 for the meeting with Bliss and Schallermayer where the two SS-Officers persuaded the City Gottscheer to resettle.
Splitting up the troublesome Gottschee City elite was in line with Paragraph 5 of Himmler’s Ingathering Policy which demanded the dissolving of an ingathered Ethnic Group, the Gottscheer included. Making available only thirty five dwellings instead of the 300 requested by Dr. Wollert for the City residents, would certainly break up and disperse the Gottscheer elite and facilitate the planned dissolution of the Gottscheer as an ethnic group. 138
The reconstitution and maintenance of the Savings and Loan Bank in the settlement area (as requested in Point 6 of their December 1941 Petition) was important to the City elite as a symbol of Ethnic Group continuity, perhaps even more than their concern for the 400,000 RM reserves. It seems clear however, that they were unaware of Article 5 of the Resettlement Contract which (in part) states:
“The entire net wealth of those persons subject to this Agreement will be transferred to Germany”. 139
This included all reserves and deposits in the Savings and Loan bank, until the resettlement the property of the Gottscheer depositors.
Obviously Lampeter and his VGL were aware of Article 5 as well as the rest of the Contract. And to maximize the deposits in the S & L, the GZ issue of September 18, 1941 requested that all resettlers surrender their cash into a special account at the S & L bank. (See chapter “Completing the Task”)
It is clear that Himmler’s Ingathering Staff not only deceived the resisting farmers but also the resisting elite. The SS was determined to succeed in their assignment and to do so it used whatever deception was necessary. “Get them to resettle first, all else will follow” seems to have been the motto. And at every step in this deception, they had the full cooperation and help from Lampeter and his VGL.
- - - -
The Reverend Krisch adds what he calls a “dark perspective”:
“In addition to O-Cases [“O” was for Ost, i.e.Poland,] there were A-Cases. These were already identified as such on the processing train [EWZ Ingathering train]; their resettling passport stamped “A”. They were to be separated from the other Gottscheer and taken to the “Altreich” [the old Germany], therefore the label “A”. They were those who were not considered full-valued (apparently according to the racial laws).
“They and their family were taken there and again separated from the others and placed in various factories as laborers, in spite of having had properties and were farmers at home.
“The old and disabled [A-Cases] were taken to assisted living homes. Some we knew were taken to Passau [a city in Austria]. We know that some of them died there soon. Of the others? Was it social welfare or - - ? ”
It is possible that the Reverend may have been aware of Paragraph 24 of the Resettlement Contract dated August 31 1941, which states:
“The infirm and those of unsound mind, which are allowed to resettle will, according to prior agreement between the High Commissioner and the German Empowered for the Resettlement [DUB] regarding timing, be taken to the nearest border station and there turned over to the German authorities”. 140
- - - -
Ludwig Kren, the editor of the GZ 1971-1996 reports on this in his April 1996 issue. (The GZ was revived in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1955. Editors were Fritz Högler 1955-1962 and Herbert Erker 1962-1971. Erker had also been editor under Lampeter 1938-1941). Kren had tried, some years after the end of WWII, to find out what happened to the A-Cases with not much success. He writes:
“My efforts to contact such A-Cases and learn about their experiences produced little echo; more to the point, answers were ‘our family, our parents, we all have suffered terribly and now wish to be left alone’.
“But one reply was received from the widow Maria Dernič, formerly of Windischdorf, now living in Austria:
’One day the order came ‘collect your things’. We were loaded into a train. Destination; Thuringia. Final stop; transition camp Bad Blankenburg. Already there were about 150 families, mostly Gottscheer from all parts of the enclave. It was said they were not ‘pure Germans’ ‘. Maria remembers Gottscheer Franz Michitsch, who was married to a Slovene woman from Ortenegg and an old married couple from Rain near Mitterdorf. From Windischdorf also Jerlsch Mitse [Maria] with two children. The assigned work place was the mechanized weaving mill Stöckigt in Langenberg, Thuringia.
“On October 27, [1943] she [Maria] received permission to visit a family in the Brežice area. She did not return to Thűringia. In Brežice, she was made to dig tank trenches in the surrounding fields…. After the war she worked on farms and finally found a room in a community residence.”
These misled and betrayed Gottscheer, labeled by their countrymen as “A” or “O” Cases, not only lost their homeland; they were also separated from their community. And on November 14, 1941, when the first train left, none knew where they were going and what their future was to be. Certainly not Maria Dernič or the family of Josef Tramposch, the school friend I met after the resettlement and to whom I said goodbye after they were ordered to “collect your things”. But more on that in the “Rabbit”.
Some, such as the able Maria were destined to work for subsistence next to the Slovene to whose expulsion they unwittingly contributed. The destiny of the infirm and handicapped of Gottschee can only be guessed at. Among them were two men from Masern; our neighbor Mathias Michitsch (Mattl) and the incontinent recluse Josef Peinitsch. They were not heard of again.
The fact that Maria Dernič and other A-Cases responded to Ludwig Kren with “…. we wish to be left alone”, was hardly surprising and most likely prompted by their memories which linked Kren to the inner circle of the VGL. They surely remembered him as a close intimate of Wilhelm Lampeter, Richard Lackner and other key individuals who convinced them to believe in Adolf Hitler, coerced them to resettle, only to be cast out later.
Kren officiated with Lampeter and Lackner in many of the big rallies on which Kren reported in the Gottscheer Zeitung (GZ) issues of 1941. At this GZ, Kren was an assistant to Herbert Erker, the editor of the GZ under Lampeter and a member of the inner circle. Erker again became editor of the GZ from 1962 to 1971 and upon his death was succeeded by Kren. (The GZ was re-instituted in Klagenfurt in 1955.) During the decades until his retirement in 1998, Kren continued to deflect, as editor of the GZ, any criticism of his friends with considerable success.
And in 1990, after Lampeter emerged from behind the Iron Curtain, the revived Gottscheer Zeitung under Kren warmly welcomed the former SS-Sturmführer into the various Gottscheer Organizations of the Diaspora.
- - - -
Not listed as an “A”’ case was our family; the family of a man who, in every respect fit the “not full-valued” definition of the VGL as spelled out by Lampeter in his “List of Politically Unreliable”. An invalid not fit to operate a farm in the Third Reich and one married to a Slovene woman with an illegitimate child from a Slovene father.
Why we were not among them remained a mystery until recently.
Our resettlement documents, finalized on November 16, 1941 by the officials on the processing train were stamped “ASt”. The documents showed that this was a mixed marriage with a Slovene, a woman who had an illegitimate child fathered by a Slovene. (I obtained these documents from the Berlin Documentation Center in 1970).
But the documents also mention that Father was a member of the Kulturbund since 1935, that the spouse and daughter are “fully assimilated and that all speak very good German”. This fact and perhaps also his friendship with Sturmführer Franz Jacklitsch were reasons for being marked “ASt” and not simply “A”, the marker for casting out the likes of Maria Dernič, Josef Tramposch and all the others. At least not yet!
The papers also mention that my father Johann Tschinkel is an invalid with a missing leg. In spite of this, he was allocated a Type 2 Farm with two houses, 24 ha of land including a large vineyard. Three more hectares than he owned in Masern.
The answer to this mystery is in a Directive from Reichsführer-SS Himmler dated August 10, 1942. The Directive defines, in General Order No. 16/III, the agricultural land distribution to the settlers. According to this order, veterans who sustained injuries as a result of WWI were to receive preferential treatment. 141 Father was recognized as a war invalid which, together with the fact that his Slovene wife and adopted daughter were “fully assimilated”, was the key to our acceptance and, very likely, also our survival.
- - - -
We moved into our assigned house and property in the spring of 1943. The house was on the main road just off the triangle in the center of the village. But in the meanwhile, from Dec 1941 to March 1943, many important events took place.
- - - -
One of these events was the start of school in January 1942. Father and I had been to Cerklje (Zirkle) the week before to register, to get instructions and find out about the hours. I was introduced to the teacher, a very nice Slovene lady named Marija Schroif, who kept asking me questions in German which I understood only in part. Father explained that in the village of Masern we spoke only Gottscheer and at home a mixture of Gottscheer and Slovene and that my education until now had been in Slovene only. He also explained that since my mother was a Slovene and I being the product of a mixed marriage, I was not allowed to take part in any German schooling that was given by Dežman to only the “ethnically pure Gottscheer” of Masern. After hearing all this, she asked me a few questions in Slovene, “just to get to know you a little”.
Then she explained that all instruction was going to be in German which I must learn quickly. And that we must speak only German in class or outside and even at home and that all of us must quickly become proficient in this language now that we are citizens of the Reich.
In the above, Frau Schroif was in line with the directive of the Commandant of the Security Police and Security Service of Lower Styria, dated 19 Nov. 1941. This directive states:
“The policy regarding speech is to completely eliminate the Slovene language. In public life, effective immediately, only German is permitted. It is anticipated that in four years German will predominate and that Slovene as a language will have largely disappeared. In school, only German must be spoken, however, a certain level of duality can be used to facilitate learning”. 142
- - - -
The following Monday, Father took me and a few of the others to school on one of the coldest days of January 1942. There was new snow but neither that nor the cold were enough to bother Yiorgo pulling the sled that came with us from Masern. Father promised to get us after school let out but only if it snowed some more. If not, we should be able to walk the few kilometers home.
The day before I carefully repackaged the small rucksack with notebooks, pencils and erasers, leaving space for the sandwich and an apple Mother was going to give me in the morning as lunch for my first day. The same as on my first day of school in Masern in the fall of 1936.
The teacher’s desk was on a raised platform, off center so as not to block the chalkboard. On the wall above was a large picture of Adolf Hitler looking down on the mix of his new citizens. A place where not long ago hung the picture of the King of Yugoslavia. When she entered the room in the morning we all rose to attention. Standing in front of the class she would have us stare at the picture on the wall and with raised right arms, made us repeat after her with “Heil Hitler”. Only then would she mount the platform and start teaching.
There were about thirty of us, all grades from one through eight in a room a bit larger than the one in Masern. Benches to the left and right of the center isle, the little ones nearest to the teacher, the higher grades further back; girls on the left and boys on the right. In all, at least in the beginning, a mix of reserved Gottscheer and Slovene pupils eying each other with a combination of curiosity and suspicion which barely hid the underlying dislike.
To the Slovene we were intruders, taking the place of their deported classmates and friends. To us, they represented the racially lesser Slovene who had (as we had been told) tried to assimilate us in our former homeland. So we had moved to get away from them, but here they were again. Why they and their families had not been deported was for us all a surprise, especially to us few from Veliko Mraševo (Gross Mraschau) from which all Slovene families, except one, had been removed.
For them, the surprise was that we not only understood their language but that some of us could even talk to them in Slovene.
With all eight grades in one room, the teacher was busy but managed to teach the different levels in some sort of order. Her first task was to teach us German. Progress was quick for many of us who had our Germanic dialect as a reference to the new language. But learning the German language was much more difficult for the Slovene kids who had never been exposed to German.
However, this common knowledge of Slovene became a helpful bridge for the teacher in her effort to teach us German as rapidly as possible. To help her with her lessons at first, she used Slovene words as a “dictionary” to the Slovene as well as the “Gottscheer German” students. And when after a few weeks, the initial reserve abated and mistrust between the kids gave way to cooperation, the Gottscheer who learned German more rapidly were now helping their Slovene schoolmates.
But as soon as we conquered the rudimentary parts of German, she forbade the use of either Gottscheer or Slovene in her class room. Only German would do. She also told us that the ban was to be observed beyond her hearing and even at home, a prohibition we all ignored.
- - - -
With eager studies, help from Father and the friendly encouragement of the teacher, I did well that winter and spring in spite of having missed an entire year of schooling. When asking for a show of hands, after a few weeks she asked for mine only as a last resort, something Iresented at first. And when at midterm I brought home a certificate with only top grades, Mother did not hesitate to show it around.
A few weeks before the end of the term I became anxious when Frau Schroif asked me to take a sealed letter to Father. But when, instead of a reproach after reading it, he asked me if I wanted to go to the “Hauptschule” (high school) in Brežice (Rann), I was overjoyed. It turned out I was the only one she recommended to leave the “Volksschule” (primary school) for higher education. But I was not pleased at my final term report in which, instead of the expected top grades in all five subjects, she had simply written across all lines only one word; “Hauptschulreif” (fit for high school). And when my proud mother showed the report to Katharina, both Mother and I were disappointed with her dismissive response “what, no grades?” Afterwards Mother consoled me with “What does Katharina know?”
The Slovene man in the little house at the intersection seemed pleased when I mentioned the teacher’s recommendation and that I had decided to accept. Pleased perhaps because of all the new German children in his village and in the Cerklje School, only the one with mixed blood in his veins was fit to go.
He then talked about a boy in the village who for four years, rain or shine or snow walked the 12.5 km to Brežice and back. “You at least have a bicycle”.
- - - -
I started the Hauptschule in the fall of 1942 and lasted there until at the end of October when it got cold. I quit, in part only, because of the weather. The main reason was that in this first grade of high school, I was again a persecuted minority. I may have been the only Gottscheer German in class; if there were others, I do not remember.
My antagonists were the twin girls. Perhaps a year or so older but they were in the same classroom since more than one grade was taught simultaneously by the lady teacher, also a Slovene. The twins lived on Main Street in town, not far away from the school house, where the family had some sort of business. Their parents may have been “Windische”; Slovene for sure. They were pretty princesses, intimidating with their “urban” polish, used to getting their way. As it turned out also with the teacher, since both girls were her favorites.
As I was used to, I raised mine when a show of hands was requested. The fact that I was right more often than they put them into state of fury which they held in check only until the next break when the teacher left the room. This is when they pounced on me with ceaseless taunts in which they were very good. Some of it had to do with my clothing which smelled of the farm if not the barn, the sweat from the cycling, my accent, my diminutive size; my person in general. When they realized the misery their taunts caused me, the taunting only increased. And it got even worse when they discovered that I was the son of a Slovene mother who of her own free will opted to become a German. As opposed to their own who had no choice but be subservient to the invader.
Defenseless against the subtle ways of my tormentors and unable to obtain any relief from the unsympathetic teacher, I longed for the stress free days in Cerklje and the friendly tutelage of the Slovene teacher there. My parents knew that I was unhappy and kept asking questions, but I did not let on that a pair of girls was making my life miserable. Instead, I hid behind the evermore unfriendly weather which had turned cold, with snow expected anytime soon to put a stop to cycling and force me to walk the 12.5 km there and back.
But even before the snow, I decided to quit. And it happened after a few especially bitter cold days which made both parents more sympathetic to my repeated hints to give it up.
On a day when the twins were particularly vicious, I swung at them with my jacket just when the teacher came back from her break. She asked for no explanation, neither from me nor anyone in the class; I was judged guilty on the spot. Not allowed to defend myself, which would have been useless anyway, I was ordered to stand in the corner facing the wall. And when, finally, she ordered me back to my seat, it was the smirk of the girls that made up my mind.
Since the parents had been expecting it anyway, my decision was readily accepted by Father, especially in view of the present and coming weather, as the reason for my quitting. Less so by Mother who thought I was giving up higher education too quickly. Mindful perhaps of the drive for learning her mother had instilled in at least two of her four sons, one becoming a doctor, the other a lawyer.
But since I was the oldest and in only a few short years would take on the running of a large farm, in Father’s mind it was perhaps the right decision after all.
More surprised was the teacher in Cerklje when I again appeared in her class room. She did not believe my explanation and tried to discover the real reason for my return, but I stuck to the weather. If she made an attempt to get to the truth some other way I do not know.
I did not have to explain my decision to the man in the little straw covered house at the intersection to the village. He would have been disappointed. But he was no longer there. He had either escaped across the river or been taken away by the SS to some camp.
Surely the most disappointed would have been Grandma Ilc but I could not tell her; she was now worlds away. Perhaps she would have reminded me to stick to the promise made in early December 1941 that I would never stop learning. But that was a promise which, in spite of this temporary setback, I fortunately was able to keep.
I saw the twins again at the end of May 1945 when we were temporarily in the concentration camp near the railroad station in Brežice (Rann). They were marching proudly through the town at the head of a parade, both dressed in the uniform of the Communist Youth League and wearing the red starred cap, each holding high the Communist flag. To prevent them from seeing me I hid behind some adults until they passed.
- - - -
The remainder of that term was, at least for me, uneventful. On exceptionally bad mornings Father would harness Yiorgo and take me and some of the others to school or if there was high new snow I simply stayed at home. But usually the small group of us had to make it home on our own, even if it was still snowing.
I was readily accepted back into the class, including by the teacher, my explanation accepted all around. I was challenged by her teaching because it was more according to ability than age. In line with this she gave me the more difficult homework she normally assigned to older pupils, in this way pushing me ahead of my peers. She also had a pile of books in the classroom which those of us who liked to read could take home as part of extra reading assignments. To the pile I added my book of fairytales which quickly became very popular.
Later that spring of 1943 we had a new teacher.
- - - -
Marija Schroif was replaced by Herr Pfeifer, an invalid SS officer who had lost his right arm on the Russian front. He wore his uniform with all earned ribbons in class, the sleeve of his missing arm folded half way up and tied to the jacket. Marija may have been strict but this man was a fanatic.
Not only did we start the day with the Heil Hitler salute, but he made us sing “Deutschland über Alles …” every morning. He did little teaching other than talk about the glory of Germany and the Third Reich in particular. Apart from Hitler, Bismarck and Frederick the Great were his heroes. He kept our attention by talking about his days at the front and how his unit was on the outskirts of Moscow which, for “tactical reasons”, was not taken in the winter of 42/43.
When I asked why Napoleon had taken it, he flushed with anger at first but then explained that occupying the city was a mistake which cost the French the war. I did not ask further questions, knowing well enough that Hitler’s armies had lost in Stalingrad and were being pushed further and further back. It would have cost me dearly had I done so. He had already marked me as one who knew too much and lacked conviction in the cause.
He let it be known one morning when we were again singing the National Anthem. With my right hand extended in the salute, I averted my eye from Hitler’s picture on the wall and stared out the window. He came off the platform and reached me just after I had turned my head back and looked at him as he, in full fury, struck me with his remaining hand on the right cheek with a force that knocked me down.
The SS officer was our teacher for only a few months. He lived north in a city in Austria and may have been sent to our area only because there was a severe teacher shortage.
- - - -
His replacement was Alois Tscherne, a fifty year or so Gottscheer who, with his wife, moved into the empty teacher’s wing of the school. They had a son and daughter who lived and attended High School elsewhere and came home only for holidays and term breaks. His teaching was far more rigorous than that of the friendly Slovene lady or the fanatic Pfeifer. Unlike his Slovene predecessor he did not resort to the “Slovene dictionary” and used Gottscheer only when necessary. He, of course knew Slovene, but if he used it to help his Slovene pupils I don’t remember. Besides, it was now strictly forbidden to use either language.
He divided us into grades strictly according to age, which did not suit my level at first. But soon I reestablished myself and he even gave me special assignments after he had a conference with Father.
Tscherne was a stern man, apt to lose his temper. He used his severity, at times complemented with the stick, to keep the unruly in check and the rest of us placid, as opposed to the way of the Slovene lady who accomplished the same objective with a velvet glove and a smile. On one occasion he not only lost his temper, he became enraged and I the victim of his fury.
For lunch he went to his quarters, leaving us in the classroom to eat our sandwiches. He did so near midterm of 1944 but accidentally left his class log, in which he was preparing our midterm grades, open on his desk. Someone noticed it and soon we were all crowding around to get a preview of what our grades were to be. He was heard returning and before he entered the room we were all sitting in our places.
He was very secretive of what our grades were to be. So when he noticed the breadcrumbs from our sandwiches on the open page of the log, his face turned purple and he exploded with “who was up here”. He became even more furious when no one raised a hand. And when I finally if slowly raised mine, he stormed off the platform with the stick which he brought full force on to the open palm of my hand.
I was the only one who had raised a hand. After he got back to the platform, he contemplated us while slowly recovering from his rage. Looking at me, still clutching my right hand, he commanded me to stand up. Then he apologized and turning to the class he said:
“Every one of you look at a brave student. The rest of you are cowards”.
I did not feel brave, my hand hurt too much. I am certain the others did not think they were cowards, only that I was stupid. But when later I showed the red welt to Father, he agreed with the teacher and Mother said that I was not stupid.
- - - -
Since the incursions from the partisans across the river were happening more frequently and Allied strafing planes out of Italy were showing up unexpectedly, Tscherne made all of us dig zigzag trenches in the back of the school. But the real reason for this was to provide shelter for the various army units who came to rest in Cerklje and especially on the school grounds. Some of these units included medics with ambulatory trucks and medical equipment. Since they usually stayed only for a few days and there being no doctors in the area anymore, the villagers would line up for free evaluation and treatment.
So did I in the summer of 1944. I injured myself or had perhaps been bitten or stung by an insect on the inside part of the lower right arm just above the wrist. The point of injury grew into a button sized red spot. The poison must have entered a lymph canal and the infection traveled slowly, inch after inch, further up the arm as a reddish blue ribbon. After several days the tip of the ribbon was nearing the elbow.
Since our only medical doctor in the area, with a practice in Krško (Gurkfeld) had been killed by a direct hit bomb from a B17 returning to Italy from a bombing run in the north, Father took me to the medic who was on the school grounds at that moment. By now the ribbon had reached the elbow.
The medic took a look and then reproachfully looked at Father. “Why did you wait so long?” he said.
He worked on the red spot and then gave me an injection. And with a friendly “come back tomorrow” he dismissed me with a smile. He also instructed Father to keep soaking the arm daily in salty water until the streak disappeared.
When I went to see him the following day he looked at the arm and seemed pleased. “Keep soaking the arm” he said. I did and watched the ribbon recede back to its origin and disappear altogether. A few days later I cycled to the school grounds to thank him but by then he had left with his unit. I did not know it then but learned later on that he had saved my arm and very possibly also my life.
- - - -
Tscherne was our teacher until the spring of 1945. The Archives of Slovenia show that he was so despondent over the defeat of the Reich that he cut his and his wife’s arteries, but the attempt was not successful. Both were taken to the hospital and in time they recovered.
I met Tscherne many years later in Brooklyn where he worked as a laborer in a factory. His wife had been born in the US which made her automatically a citizen and allowed her and her family to immigrate right after the end of the war. I met him through his son Robert at the Polytechnic Institute where both of us were engineering students.
As soon as we met, Tscherne said “you are the one who stood up”. I saw him often afterwards and I think he was proud of me. Not only because I stood up. Robert and I were among the few teenage sons of countless Gottscheer immigrants, who with their parents came to the US soon after the war and who subsequently graduated from a university.
* * * *
| 134 | Nacistična, doc 307. |
| 135 | Quellen, doc 301, 307. |
| 136 | Quellen, doc 272 |
| 137 | Die Umsiedlung, pg 126. |
| 138 | Quellen, doc 239. |
| 139 | Die Umsiedlung, pg 153. |
| 140 | Die Umsiedlung, pg 159. |
| 141 | Quellen, doc 301. |
| 142 | Quellen, doc 178. |
www.gottschee.de
Chapter
Content