German occupation policies Research Papers (original) (raw)

„On June 16, 1941 at 2.30 PM I was arrested by two men in civilian clothes. They searched my apartment and did so with other apartments. When they saw the gold items and approximately 2.700 Dinars on the table, they took them immediately (With the words „Das aber hier lassen!“ and stuffed all into their pockets). From the aforesaid money they let me keep 200 Dinars for my trip. Then they escorted me to the transition camp at the Capuchine Monastery in Celje, where I stayed until the afternoon, then we were transported to the transition camp at the Frontier Barracks in Maribor. Before I was escorted from my apartment I was told that I could take with me two pairs of shoes, two dresses and some underwear. I stayed in Maribor until July 1, 1941 when we were deported to Serbia. Before we left the guards tore the earrings from my ears. (It was a woman jailor. When Hana Mirnik complained about something, she yelled „Sie haben sich hier nichts zu beschweren!“ and took the ear-rings from her ears.) “
This is the report written by Hana Mirnik immediately after the war.
The 18th c. Mirnik family house (Zavodna cesta 2, later Teharska cesta/ Tüchernstrasse 2, and finally Teharska cesta 18) was purchased by Matevž Mirnik in 1857. In 1941 the family consisted of Anton Mirnik (*Celje/ Cilli, June 12, 1867 +January 6, 1941), the son of Matevž, his wife Charlotte born Knina (*Zalaszántó, Zala County, Hungary, March 23, 1873 +Celje, August 17, 1967) and their children Meta (Margareta; *Zidani Most/ Steinbrück, August 18 1896 +Celje, December 31, 1982) and Hana (Ivana; *Celje, December 24, 1897 +January 18, 1990). The eldest daughter Dragica (*Zidani Most/ Steinbrück, July 8, 1895 +Celje, February 15, 1986) lived and worked in Zagreb and the son Mirko (*Celje, January 31, 1917 + Zagreb, Croatia, October 23, 1999) was just finishing his studies of chemistry in Zagreb. The youngest daughter Tončka (*Celje, April 2, 1904 +Ljubljana, July 22, 1989) lived with her husband Dr. Igor Rosina (*Ljutomer, October 7, 1900 +Maribor, September 25, 1969) and their three children, Andrej, Alenka and Aleš, lived in Maribor. When the war began on April 6, 1941, Anton, the retired director of the Celje Post Office, was already dead and buried. The Germans occupied Southern Styria, and Carniola was occupied by the Italians.
Tončka and her children were allowed to resettle in Ljubljana in May 1941 where they were united with their husband respectively father. In the summer of 1941 the family moved to Metlika, where Dr. Rosina opened his lawyer’s office. In February 1942 he was arrested by the fascists, spent several months in prison in Ljubljana and Padova and was sent in July 1943 to the so-called confinazione libera in Esine, northern Italy. He returned to Metlika in July 1943, and later joined the partisans. After capitulation of Italy until the end of the war, Metlika and its surroundings were partisan liberated area in which allied military commissions were present.
The last family member left at home was Hana, who was arrested on June 16, 1941, taken first to Maribor, then via Brestanica/ Reichenburg, another transition camp, deported to Serbia, to Užice.
Meta went to Serbia on her own – wishing to find her sister Hana in Užice. However, she was not able to return to Ljubljana and stayed in Serbia. Later she worked at a post office in Smederevo. Hana moved from Užice to Belgrade, where she found a job with the First Croatian Savings Bank (she was an employee of the same bank in Celje) in Zemun, commuting daily from Belgrade to Zemun.
In the meantime, from June 16 to July 19, 1941 the Mirnik family house in Celje, where some post-office clerks stayed, was partly plundered. However some carpets and much silverware still remained. All the silverware was then brought to the „Dienststelle“, the carpets etc. were, according to an order by SS. Sturmbf. Reg. Dr. Hachule, sent to Maribor to a Dr. Seffcnik. Then, on October 3, 1941, a meticulous inventory of the remaining things in the house was made. In the adjacent servants' house an elderly Slovenian couple, Pepi (Joseph) and Mici (Maria) Mirnik – not related to the family of Anton Mirnik - stayed unharmed.
The Rosina family returned home to Maribor on June 14, 1945, the Mirnik family somewhat later to Celje: they did not find their house empty, but completely furnished with other people's furniture. On several chairs there were still some German Wehrmacht uniforms. Of all the former inventory from the Mirnik home, it was only Hana who could retrieve her furniture (taken by a Wilma Pöltzl, Prinz Eugenstrasse 29, Cilli) and books nearing her signature (brought first to the city library).