Ehrlich and the Mutilated Slovenian Consciousness

Tamara Griesser Pečar

Ehrlich and the Mutilated Slovenian Consciousness

Key words: United Slovenia, Academic Club Straža (Guard), Ciril Žebot, Miles Mission, Slovenian Problem, memorandum regarding the measures of Italian occupying forces

Abstract:
Lambert Ehrlich has left a strong mark on Slovenian history, but he still has not received the public recognition he deserves. He is accused of being a traitor and a “clerofascist”, but in fact this is the product of communist indoctrination. Ehrlich was a very nationally conscious person and fostered this spirit in students at the university. He was opposed to Nazism, Fascism, and Communism. Since he advocated the annexation of the Slovenian part of Carinthia to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenians, he could not stay there. He collected reports of German violence in occupied Slovenian territories and sent them abroad, as well as wrote a study entitled The Slovenian Problem, which he prepared in the autumn of 1941. In April 1941, he handed over a memorandum to the Italians with a sharp criticism of the measures taken against Slovenians, and also proposed the establishment of an autonomous Slovenian security service. Because of his great influence, he posed a threat to the communist plans to carry out a revolution and to seize power, so he was murdered.

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