»Vaške straže« na Gorenjskem v letu 1942

Abstract

In the article, the author presents a phenomenon of local selfdefense, “village guards” of sorts which arose in the Kamnik district (Kreis Stein) in the summer and autumn of 1942 as a spontaneous response of the population to the violence of the partisan side, which was also connected with retaliatory actions of the German occupier. This type of self-defense was the most developed in the central areas of the Tuhinj Valley (Šmartno, Zgornji Tuhinj) and ceased to exist at the end of 1942, when most men were mobilized into the German army (Wehrmacht). These forms of self-defense, however, had almost nothing to do with the later establishment of the Home Guard (Oberkrainer Selbstschutz) in 1944.

Keywords

• village guards
• self-defense
• gorenjska region
• occupation
• partisans
• tuhinj valley