1. The Gottscheer Emigration; how it really was.

Abgeschickt von J. Tschinkel am 08 Maerz, 2003 um 19:51:16:

This Article confronts a topic which has, since the end of W.W.II, remained taboo among the displaced Gottscheer and is, even today, a hidden chapter in our history: the real facts behind the loss of our homeland.

For many years after 1945, the reply to an outsider’s question “why did you leave your country” most likely was “we fled from Communism” or “we were displaced by postwar Yugoslavia under Tito because we were anti-Communist.”

This answer produced admiration and sympathy for many decades of the cold war, when escape from communism was the motivation for thousands to abandon homes and properties for the freedom and security of the democratic West. And those who were expelled because they were anti-Communist wore the expulsion as a badge of honor.

It was convenient for us Gottscheer to include ourselves in this group even though we knew that our explanation was not correct. We chose this explanation because we were embarrassed to tell the truth. We wished to forget our traumatic past and concentrate on a future in countries that welcomed us as refugees.

The truth is we were expelled at the end of the war from Tito’s Yugoslavia because we were identified by the liberating forces as being part of the occupying power of Nazi Germany.

We were identified as such because we allowed ourselves to come under the Nazi spell during the prewar years. In 1941, after the occupation of Yugoslavia and annexation of part of Slovenia, we accepted citizenship of the Third Reich and swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler.

We also agreed to be resettled as part of Hitler's Ingathering Policy or "Heimführung" (homebringing) of ethnic Germans from foreign lands back into the Reich.

Our "Heimführung" to Reich, however, was to the annexed part of Slovenia from where the rightful owners were Ethnically Cleansed (to make room for the Gottscheer). Only half of the 37,000 expelled Slovene survived the following four years in forced labor camps in the Reich.

At the end of the war we left Yugoslavia. We were not expelled; we were directed to leave by our Gauleiter as citizens of the Reich and part of the occupier. Our leaving the place we occupied since 1941 became known as "Die Flucht". We had rejected our Yugoslav citizenship by accepting that of the Third Reich and had given up our heritage. We were not allowed to go back to our true homeland where the Gottscheer had lived for over 600 years.

It is therefore not surprising that the humiliated Gottscheer refugees evaded a truthful answer to “why did you leave” with the above convenient and sympathy evoking reply. We dimly knew that we had been manipulated by larger forces but were unaware of the details. However, we had taken sides, had chosen our destiny and lost. Now we wanted to forget.

In the decades since the expulsion it became clear, however, that we were used and manipulated by our own leaders who were in the service of Hitler’s in-gathering policy designed to expand the Third Reich. This policy was implemented approximately as follows:

 annex part of the occupied land,
 ethnically cleanse the resident, non-German population,
 re-settle the land with in-gathered ethnic Germans.

Ethnic cleansing, Nazi style.

First however, the ethnic Germans, in this case the Gottscheer population, had to be brought under the Nazi spell.

The politically unsophisticated Gottscheer of the 1930’s were brought under the Nazi spell by a group of young Gottscheer converted to Hitler’s cause specifically for this purpose.

This group was given the task by the Nazi organizations to force out the established conservative Gottscheer leadership and then persuade the population by any means to give up their 600 year heritage and resettle into occupied lands, cleansed of resident Slovene. The leadership accomplished this task to the satisfaction of their masters. In this they succeeded making us homeless.

The detailed role of the leadership was kept hidden from the general displaced Gottscheer population for many decades. During the last decade, key individuals of this group have even been allowed to enter the Gottscheer organizations that loosely keep the heritage alive.

Evidence exists showing that these individuals have now considerable influence and have even succeeded in having others justify their activities on behalf of the Third Reich and produce renewed discord between the Gottscheer and the Slovene people.

In the April 1 1998 issue of the Gottscheer Zeitung, Dr. Victor Michitsch, chairman of the Gottscheer Landsmannschaft in Klagenfurt, offers his explanation of a report of the Slovene historian Zdravko Troha. The report appeared under the title “Gottscheer German” in Dolenjski List, a publication produced in Novo Mesto, Slovenia.

In his article, “Explanation of an Article in Dolenski List”, Dr. Michitsch counters the historical events presented by Troha on the Resettlement (Umsiedlung) of the Gottscheer. Unfortunately, Dr. Michitsch does not quote all relevant assertions of Troha which produce these explanations and in addition, Dr. Michitsch does not support his counter arguments with documented facts. Dr. Michitsch justifies his explanations only with personal observations and the reader can, therefore, not accept the opposing views of the chairman as historical facts.

Since I count myself among this group of readers, I will attempt to place the explanations of Dr. Michitsch into an accurate perspective using documented facts. That these facts actually prove the opposite of the explanations of the chairman is not surprising to those who are familiar with the history of the Gottscheer resettlement and its aftermath.

I first wish to explain what brings me, as one originating from this ethnic group, into opposition to the chairman.

I am one of those Gottscheer who, as a youth, experienced the Resettlement in full measure and who, as a consequence, forever lost his heritage and homeland. Just like other Gottscheer and ethnic Germans in countries that came under the influence of the Third Reich, my family and I became the victims of the Ingathering Policy of Hitler.

The object of this policy was to secure the conquered and annexed countries by settling them with ethnic Germans. That this Ingathering Policy depended in large measure on active and forceful ‘support’ from those to be in-gathered is clear to all who know their history.

This was also the case with the ingathering of the Gottscheer Germans where psychological pressure and coercion were applied to force this ethnic group to opt for resettlement.

This pressure came, however, not directly either from the Italian occupiers of Slovenia nor from the Germans as Dr. Michitsch explains. The pressure came from the leadership of the ethnic group under the 25 year old Gottscheer Wilhelm Lampeter, his militia (Mannschaft), and his propaganda organ the Gottscheer Zeitung, then under his complete control.

Lampeter was appointed to SS Sturmbannführer by Himmler in 1941 as a reward for preparing the population to accept the resettlement. It is this active support of the Ingathering Policy by the Gottscheer leadership which made the resettlement possible and brought us the loss of our homeland and our heritage.

But history cannot be changed. Like other Gottscheer, I became reconciled with the loss of our homeland in 1941 and accepted the humbling of our national pride by members of our own people.

Unfortunately, in the long years since our expulsion from Yugoslavia in 1945 it has been many times “explained” to us in the Gottscheer Zeitung, now again published in Klagenfurt, which “others” were responsible for our loss. These “others” were, until now, the Slovene who “through their assimilation attempts drove us from our homeland.”

We dismissed these explanations since we wanted to forget the trauma of our loss and because the future again offered bright and positive prospects. Today we are made to understand from the April explanations of the chairman that he now places the responsibility of the Umsiedlung firmly on the National Socialism of Hitler.

This is closer to the truth. Of the voluntary activity by the Gottscheer leadership in preparing the population for accepting the resettlement option there is, unfortunately, still nothing to be heard. On the contrary, the pronouncements of the chairman indicate that the effort to deflect any responsibility from these leaders has increased.

The reason for this denial demands no extensive search. Since shortly after the fall of the East-West Wall, the former SS Sturmbannführer again surfaced in the leading circles of the present Gottscheer leadership and on 21 December 1997 was even declared an 'Ehrenmitglied' (Honored Member), the reason for this denial becomes apparent.

(Lampeter lives in Leipzig where the former Nazi and SS officer retired from a high ranking university position in the Communist State of East Germany).

The pronouncements of Dr. Michitsch are contrary to facts and therefore are a veiling of our history. A large responsibility for our loss hangs on the then leadership of the Gottscheer and the following documented facts show how Lampeter, his co-workers and his organization betrayed their people and assisted in their extinction.

To support these assertions, I will prove the facts with quotations from Hermann Frensing’s Book “Die Umsiedlung der Gottscheer Deutschen; das Ende einer südostdeutschen Volks-gruppe.” (The Resettlement of the Gottscheer German; the End of a South-east German Ethnic Group). This book, sponsored by the South-east German Historical Commission, is the most encompassing and reliable source of documented facts regarding the loss of our homeland and was published in 1970.

The urge to undertake this task comes, ironically, from an appeal of Dr. Michitsch who in 1988 (prior to the resurfacing of Lampeter) challenged us under the title:

“Der Heimat dienen”, and warns: … “wir müssen achten daß unsere Geschichte nicht verfälscht wird…”. (“To serve our heritage…he warns:.. “we must watch out that our history is not falsified…”) [GZ, 11/89].

I will show that the resettlement was successful primarily due to the Preparation Effort executed by the leadership of the Gottscheer on behalf of Hitler’s Ingathering Policy. Had it not been for this voluntary effort, we would not have lost our homeland. Proof of this statement is in the fact that those who were strong enough to resist the pressure are still living in their homeland and they and their descendants are today in full possession of their properties.

I hope that this claim is accepted by the reader in the spirit of the Michitsch challenge… “we must guard that our history is not falsified…”.

It is also a plea by an average Gottscheer descendant who wishes to be freed of the often mentioned label of Nazi, a label that can be applied, fairly, only to the Nazi appointed leaders of that period. The average Gottscheer must be freed of that label since he was helpless to resist the onslaught of the Preparation Machine so efficiently developed and used by Wilhelm Lampeter and his organization, the willing servants of Hitler’s Ingathering Policy.

The following paragraphs will examine and place into accurate perspective the assertions of Dr. Michitsch, principally through the quotation of documented facts. These assertions were translated from his article in the April 1998 issue of Gottscheer Zeitung.

The Michitsch assertions:

1. “Italy and Germany have, on August 31, 1941 in Rome, decided to resettle the Germans out of the Province of Ljubljana.”

2. “It must be especially stressed that the re-settlers were not told where they were going.”

3. “The Italians as well as the Germans heavily pressured the population to follow the call for resettlement.”

4. “Fact is therefore, the resettled Gottscheer lost their land without any blame.”

5. “Had the settlement destination been announced, no Gottscheer would have resettled since [through their resettlement] they caused the expulsion of the resident Slovene.”

6. “On the expulsion of the Slovene from the destination region, the Gottscheer carry no blame.”

7. “It is not accurate that the Gottscheer could take with them their entire belongings.”

The examination and treatment of each of the nine Points follows its quotation from the GZ. Each is based on quotations from Frensing so as to support my rebuttal with documented facts. Each quotation contains at its conclusion the page in Frensing’s book from which the quote was taken; i.e., [F. pg. 152]
The quoting of documented facts does not, however, explain the relevant background and chronological development of events, which brought the Gottscheer to the point of accepting the Resettlement Option. This is fully detailed in Frensing’s book. A brief overview of this background is given in the Appendix to this article. This overview describes how Lampeter rose to become the Leader of the ethnic group in 1938 and how he reached a position from which he was able to coerce the Gottscheer people into accepting the Resettlement Option.

1. “Italy and Germany have on August 31, 1941 in Rome decided to resettle the Germans out of the Province of Ljubljana.” [M.GZ.4/98]
Fact is: The decision was made long before by Hitler. That the Italians had little to say regarding the resettlement decision as part of the Ingathering Order of Adolf Hitler is eminently clear from the following.
The Resettlement Contract was formalized in Rome on 31. August 1941. The leader of the German delegation ambassador Clodius noted on 13. 8. 1941 for Ribbentrop:
“The factual negotiations passed without difficulties. In two cases… the Duce intervened personally to decide that the wishes of the Germans should be accommodated. Regarding the resettlement of the 15,000 Germans from the Gottscheer area, an agreement was reached which in all essential points adhered to the German demands.” [F.Pg.47].
Article 1 of the Resettlement Contract shows the following:
“Those in the province of Ljubljana residing or there born ethnic German may, in total freedom, depart to acquire German citizenship. They lose their Italian citizenship the moment when they leave the Italian territory to resettle permanently.” [F.Pg.152]
[The complete Resettlement Contract is published by Frensing in the Appendix of his book.]
It was not necessary to travel to the Reich to acquire German citizenship. The Gottscheer acquired German citizenship in the processing train “Heinrich”, (after Heinrich Himmler) that arrived in Gottschee for the acceptance of the Resettlement Option.
The Resettlement contract came into force 1 October 1941 and with that the Ingathering Order of the Führer directive of 7 October, 1939. Himmler took on this assignment of Hitler under the title:
“Reichskommissar für die Festigung des Deutschen Volkstums.” [RKFVD]
“And in the spring of 1940, the following program appears formatted; From the areas annexed to the Reich, the as non German classified population was to be moved out and as ‘foreigners’ either brought to the ‘Altreich for work or pushed into the ‘Generalgouvernement’. Ethnic Germans whose cultural autonomy could not be assured, were to be resettled into the annexed provinces of the Reich.” [F.Pg.28]
The above quotation gives proof that the Gottscheer Resettlement Contract of 31 August 1941 embodied only the final formality of the Ingathering Policy of Hitler.
“As with other Ethnic Groups, the final decision on the destiny of the Gottscheer was the Diktat of Hitler’s foreign policy.” [F.Pg.27]
The explanation of Michitsch gives the impression that the Italians and the Germans had a discussion in which it was decided to resettle the Gottscheer. This is inaccurate and misleading. That the Italians had little to say on the emigration decision and the resettlement as a result of the Ingathering Order of Adolf Hitler is eminently clear from the notes of ambassador Clodius quoted above.

2. “It must be especially stressed that the re-settlers were not told where they were going.” [M.GZ.4/98]

Fact is: The re-settlement destination was kept a secret at the insistence of Lampeter and his organization until it was too late for the re-settlers to change their minds.

The order for the Resettlement came directly from Hitler. Lampeter reports on the relevant reception of the Gottscheer on 26. April, 1941:
“… During his visit to the liberated Marburg [Maribor] the representatives of the Gottscheer Ethnic Group were introduced to the Führer. The Führer confirmed to the Gottscheer the information already conveyed to them on 20. April by the Reichsführer SS [Himmler] regarding the future destiny of the Ethnic Group.” [F.Pg. 26]
Simultaneously, the Sawe-Sotla region was:
…”allocated the Gottscheer as their future home”… [F.Pg.48].
Also, ..”Hitler also gave the Ethnic Group Leadership the right to self-selection.“ [F.Pg.62]. This "right" allowed the leadership to segregate those it believed unfit or unreliable to be members of the group after resettlement. Segregation was to be based on lack of ethnic purity, mixed marriage, unreliable political views, etc. Those so segregated were to be separated from the others during the actual resettlement and transported directly into the inner Reich and used as forced labor.
The EGL (Ethnic Group Leadership), consisting of Schober, Lampeter and Sturm, was at the same time invited to the SS Headquarters in Berlin to finalize the details of the directive of the Führer.
“On 14 May1941, three members of the Leadership arrived in Berlin. With the responsible adviser, Dr. Stier, they discussed the modalities of the Resettlement, above all, the Preparatory Work, which was to be carried out by the EG Leadership.” [F.S.35,36].
According to “W. Lampeter, journal notation of 9.2.1942”:
“Negotiations were with SS-Brigadeführer Greifelt and individual station chiefs of the Reichskommissariat. Discussed was the Preparatory Work, which was to be carried out by the EG Leadership prior to the Resettlement”. [F.Pg.64]
The EG Leadership pressed for the “..earliest possible Resettlement.”
“Apart from this, the EG Leadership sought to exploit and benefit from the critical attitude of the Gottscheer population regarding the Italian policy toward the ethnic group, which, since the entry of Italian occupation troops, developed into outright mistrust, and wished, through a rapid resettlement, to deceive the Gottscheer population.” [F.Pg.64]

Of special interest on a “General Tactical Line” of the EG Leadership is the report of the Leader of the Resettlement Offices, SS-Sturmbannführer, Dr. Stier:

“Weighing on the mood of the meeting was the demand of the EG Leadership, at the insistence of Mannschaftsführer Lampeter, to keep the new Settlement Region a secret. The Mannschaftsführer explained that the new Settlement Region can not be made public since the majority of the Gottscheer know this region and are aware that the properties and houses are in very poor condition. Responding to my position that disappointment would be worse than honest explanation of the conditions, he stated that there is time for an explanation after the option is closed. Also the Mannschaftsführer was not willing to announce to the Gottscheer even the fact that the quarters are temporary and a re-planning and redevelopment is envisioned, since he feared unrest through such announcement.” [F.Pg. 94]
A thorough description of the ‘General Tactical Line’ of the EGL under Lampeter is offered by Frensing under “Preparations by the EG Leadership for the Resettlement.” A short extract gives the relevant background.
“The Resettlement Decision as well as the Settlement Region were not announced to the public. Through this, the General Tactical Line with which the EG Leadership decided to proceed becomes clear. At first, the population shall exercise the Option, only then - when there is no return - shall the farmers be notified of the Settlement Region. This maneuver was viewed by many Gottscheer as deception and valued accordingly, however, only at a time when this stand was no longer jeopardizing the plans of the EG Leadership.” [F.Pg. 62].

3. “The Italians as well as the Germans heavily pressured the population to follow the call for resettlement.” [M.GZ.4/98]
Fact is: The pressure was applied by Lampeter and his leadership as part of the Preparation Effort. They accepted this assignment willingly and voluntarily at the SS headquarters during the Berlin visit in May 1941. [See the quotations in Point 2 above]. They sought assistance from the Italian occupiers only when they encountered resistance from the population they could not cope with. There were no German authorities anywhere in the Gottschee area to help them.
As shown in the rebuttal of 2, Frensing shows that Lampeter and the EG Leadership withheld from population the Resettlement Decision as well as the Settlement Region. This secrecy was, therefore, the cause of unrest among the Gottscheer.
“The Ethnic Group was denied the concrete result of the Marburg meeting with Hitler; only in general terms was it sought to calm the population. Simultaneously, in the Gottscheer Zeitung, the Gottscheer who showed themselves restless over the uncertainty, were sharply attacked….” [F.Pg. 62]

As an example of such attacks, Frensing quotes an extract from the Gottscheer Zeitung, (Nr.18, Jg. 38, 1.5.1941):

“These troublemakers should take note: The future shall soon teach them that they are Volksschädlinge [parasites] and that this future has no place for such Volksschädlinge other than the Concentration Camp.” [F.Pg.62]

Such and similar attacks were, in the months until the conclusion of the Option Period, amply exercised by Lampeter, his intimate associates, his Sturmführers and Stürmers [Stormtroopers] and the Gottscheer Zeitung to force the Ethnic Group to resettle. Frensing reports on such attacks in the following chapters of his book:

Preparation by the Ethnic Group Leadership for the Resettlement: (Page 62)
1. The primary, ground laying measures.
2. The training of the Mannschaft [militia].
3. The counterattack against the “rumors” and the alteration of the present concept of homeland.

The Opposition within the Ethnic Group: (Page 78)
1. The opposition from the ranks of the clergy.
2. The opposition from the town people.
3. The opposition from the farmers in the “Hinterland”.

Frensing also quotes a report from Dr. Michitsch, dated 15 July, 1965:
“My father, Georg Michitsch, Göttenitz, started, at the end of September - beginning of October, a counter campaign. Together with several other men, among them the [already deceased] Reverend Joseph Gliebe, they were prepared to offer resistance to the Resettlement. Signatures were collected in the villages of Göttenitz, Rieg and Masern and submitted to the German consul in Ljubljana.
The petition requested that the Resettlement not be undertaken during the war.
This released a mighty hatred against the men of the counter current. The fact is, the people were so intimidated that the action had no result… The people were threatened, that they would be forcibly moved to Abyssinia by the Italians, should they resist the Resettlement….” [F.Pg.84]
Dr. Michitsch is one of many who describe the pressure and threats of the Gottscheer Leadership. The Reverend Gliebe was my teacher (and a good friend of my father) who passionately loved his people and his homeland and foresaw in the Resettlement the end of both. He and the other clergymen, therefore, described the young leaders as the “Rotzbuben” or snot boys and this produced the following announcement from the EG Leadership:

“Catholicism is treated in the inner Leadership circle as a ‘universalistic vision of the world’ which must be exterminated.” [F.Pg.86]

I too remember the threats and the force. I know Mimi Morre who still lives with her husband and grown children in my native village of Masern. She described the exercise of persuasive force by the village Sturmführer at the answer of her mother; “my home is here”. He roared “you are denying your German roots” and hit her so hard in the face that she fell to the ground, bleeding from nose and ear.

In his lecture “Der Heimat dienen” [to serve the homeland] in the summer of 1989, Dr. Michitsch explains to his listeners:
“ The way the Gottscheer were brought to the Resettlement was wrong. They, firstly, kept the settlement place secret until the end. They also described the place as a region in which milk and honey flow.
One has also - and this is for me incomprehensible - in our own Ethnic Group, introduced a manner of self-selection. When this is read today, a chill runs down ones back….
And these recommendations came from our own Ethnic Group! “ [GZ, 11/89]
Today Dr. Michitsch explains that the pressure on the population came from the Italians and from the Germans. That the pressure from Lampeter and his Ethnic Group Leadership is no longer mentioned. Is it not likely that the cause for this omission lies in the fact that Lampeter and his intimates are again active in Gottscheer leadership circles?

And, as such, they have even been elevated to ‘Cultural Advisors’ and ‘Honored Members’ [Kulturreferenten and ‘Ehrenmitglieder] in Gottscheer Associations.

4. Fact therefore is, the resettled Gottscheer lost their land without any blame.” [M.GZ.4/98]
Fact is: The average Gottscheer can not be blamed for the loss of his properties and his homeland because he was powerless to resist the Preparation Machine. Lampeter and his leadership must clearly be excluded from this group.
Dr. Michitsch uses Point 4 for his concluding explanation.
‘ Since the Settlement destination was not revealed’ and
‘ since heavy pressure was applied by the Italians and Germans” therefore‘ the Gottscheer carry no blame on the loss of their Lands.’

But it was Lampeter and his leadership who kept the destination of the Umsiedlung a secret from their countrymen.

But it was Lampeter, his leadership and the Gottscheer Zeitung that coerced them into signing up for resettlement. The helpless, average Gottscheer who could not resist this onslaught can not be blamed for the loss of their lands.

Lampeter and his associates can not be included in this group.
The facts show that Lampeter, his intimates, his Gottscheer militia [Mannschaft] and his propaganda organ, the Gottscheer Zeitung all carry a large share of the burden of responsibility for the Resettlement.
According to SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Stier, the Head of the Resettlement Office:
“Dr. Stier underlines also the important role of the Mannschaft leadership under Lampeter during the Preparations for Resettlement without which an emigration could not have taken place.” [F.S.141]

5. “Had the settlement destination been announced, no Gottscheer would have resettled since [as a result of the resettlement] they caused the expulsion of the resident Slovene.” [M.GZ.4/98]
6. “On the expulsion of the Slovene from the destination region, the Gottscheer, therefore, carry no blame.” [M.GZ.4/98]
In Point 5, Dr. Michitsch omits to mention that it was the Gottscheer leadership that prevented the announcement of the resettlement destination.
In Point 6, Dr. Michitsch again does not separate the average Gottscheer from Lampeter and his Leadership.

That Lampeter and his co-workers carry a large share of the burden of responsibility for the expulsion of the Slovene from their homes and lands is more accurately formulated from the following facts:

 Without the “Preparation Effort” by Lampeter and his organization, the Resettlement would not have taken place. The above quotation of Dr. Stier shows this.

 Without the Resettlement of the Gottscheer, the Slovene would not have been expelled from their lands. This is clear from Frensing’s chapter “The Expulsion of the Slovene” which shows that the order for the expulsion of the Slovene was issued only after the option period was closed and the resettlement was assured.

The expulsion order was issued on 18 October, 1941 as “An-ordnung 53/I, Staatsamt Himmler” [Order 53/1, State Office Himmler]. [F.Pg.56].
“In a hurried tempo, the expulsion of the Slovene started in parallel to the Resettlement of the Gottscheer” [F.Pg.59]. The first train carrying re-settlers left on 14. November, 1941.

7. “It is not accurate that the Gottscheer could take with them their entire belongings.” [M.GZ.4/98]

Fact is: Livestock and furniture may well have been left behind voluntarily. The departing re-settlers had, however, the right, according to Article 6 of the Gottscheer Resettlement Contract:
“….to take their possessions, free of fiscal burdens with them. The articles to be taken include implements necessary for working the fields and other farming implements as well as a third of the livestock: as a minimum, however, one animal.” [F.Pg.152]

Michitsch rejects the assertion of Trohar that the departing Gottscheer could take with them all their belongings into their new homeland. The rejection explains further: “ Livestock as well furniture and farming implements were left behind in Gottschee.” [M.GZ.4/98]
See also “Transport Reports” on page 160 in the Appendix of Frensing’s book.
I still visualize the effort of my father to secure his possessions for transport. Every piece of furniture, every farming implement, every tool and every article from his carpenter shop was carefully packaged.
The poultry was gathered into cages and each pig was placed in its own wooden crate. The livestock was led into trucks and carefully loaded in freight cars at the railroad station.
All arrived safely in the Settling Region.
Again, Article 6 of the Resettlement Contract proves that the departing Gottscheer were permitted to take with them all their movable property. This Article and the effort of my father fully contradict the explanation of Dr. Michitsch and prove the opposite of what he is asserting.

8. “The Gottscheer received no credit which they did not have to repay; also, they received no farming implements [at the destination]. The Slovene ‘property and livestock’ all belonged to the DAG (Deutsche Ansiedlungs Gesellschaft) [German Settlement Authority] as well as all other farming implements. The Gottscheer were only day laborers on their allocated farms.” [M.GZ.4/98].
Fact is: Logically this denial is senseless and in total opposition to reality, which I, as one who lived through it, can accurately report on.

The Slovene population in the settlement region was suddenly and forcefully expelled from their homes and lands. This population had no possibility of taking with them any of their possessions, especially not their farming implements and the livestock. All remained in place for the new arrivals.
The Gottscheer were, in their homeland, property owners with limited arable surface, barely sufficient to support a single family. As such, they did not possess the necessary implements to economically and fully exploit the greatly enlarged arable acreage allocated to them in the settlement region.
The DAG [Deutsche Ansiedlungs Gesellschaft] therefore, found it imperative to provide the new settlers with modern machinery [which even the previous owners did not possess] as well as the necessary livestock. The explanation by Dr. Michitsch that all the property and the allocated lands belonged to the DAG, as well as his assertion that the Gottscheer were only day laborers on the allocated lands, is contrary to fact.
Whatever is said about the Germans of the Nazi persuasion, one thing is certain. They were loyal to their blood brothers and had no intention of turning the newly in-gathered citizens of the Third Reich into slaves.
My father, owner of 21 hectares in the Gottschee homeland, of which more than 18 hectares was forest, was allocated 24 hectares in the settlement area. The new property consisted of arable acreage, meadows and vineyards. To work this property he received, from the DAG, modern agricultural machinery and livestock absolutely necessary for economic exploitation of the fertile lands.
He was also allocated forced laborers, as were other farmers, to fully exploit the land. We had, on and off, two to four of these who were housed with the others in a barracks, built by the DAG for this purpose. Most of these workers were Slovene from the vicinity of Maribor, but some of them were from Bessarabia.
The village also received for common use, among other items, a modern, steam engine driven threshing machine and a distillery whose output eased the progressively hopeless position of the in-gathered citizens of the Reich, even if only for short moments.
Even in Point 8 do the documented facts contradict the explanation of Dr. Michitsch. The in-gathered citizens of the Reich were, in every way, assisted by the DAG.

9. “The Gottscheer re-settlers have, until today, not received restitution for their movable as well as immovable property.” [M.GZ.4/98]
Here again the documented facts contradict the assertion of Dr. Michitsch.
The Gottscheer re-settlers were reimbursed for their immovable possessions, via the Reparationsschädengesetz - RepG, [31.7.1973], of the Federal Republic of West Germany. The payment of this restitution to my father arrived from the Ausgleichsamt Bremen, via the Bremer Landesbank, in December 1973.
Our movable possessions, which arrived in the resettlement of 1941, as well as the agricultural furnishings received from the DAG, remained in the “New Homeland”. From there we were expelled by the liberating Yugoslav troops in May 1945, as members of the occupying enemy of the country.

The documented facts regarding the nine points made by Dr. Michitsch in the April 1998 issue of the Gottscheer Zeitung not only refute his explanations but actually show the opposite. The only logical conclusion for this distortion can be found in the re-emergence in Gottscheer Leadership circles of those individuals who assisted Hitler with the Ingathering Policy and made the resettlement possible.

This forces the logical observer to suspect that it is their influence that caused Dr. Michitsch to abandon the message of his appeal of 1989; “To serve our heritage…we must watch out that our history is not falsified…”

As described in the Introduction, the validity of the points of Dr. Michitsch is contrary to the facts as compiled by Frensing. Frensing researched the facts on the Umsiedlung in the sixties and documented his findings in 1970 at the request of the South German Historical Commission, an impartial organization concerned with the accurate documentation of historical data. It is without doubt the most accurate and complete description of the Umsiedlung that exists, against which the pronouncements of biased individuals can not compete.

The Gottscheer leadership under Lampeter not only helped Hitler with the ingathering of the Gottscheer Germans, but made this ingathering possible as is indicated by SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Stier in the rebuttal of Point 4.

They did this by lying to their people and by applying intense pressure to force them to accept the resettlement option.

The magnitude of this deed is, however, small in comparison to the enormous deed of Lampeter and his co-workers in surrendering the Heritage of the Gottschee to the ‘Ingathering Policy’ of Hitler.
This is apparent from the following.

This Ingathering Policy demanded a total elimination of the concepts that characterized the Gottscheer as an Ethnic Group after arrival in the Reich.

The ideology of the Ingathering Policy was formulated by SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Fähnrich, head of the Main Section I in the RKFDV, [Reichskommissar für die Festigung Deutschen Volkstums] to and can be found in Frensing on Page 145, Paragraph 5:

“After the Ingathering of an Ethnic Group into the Reich, the Ethnic Group Leadership ceases to exist since over the Ethnic Group stands the Reich.
The concepts defining the Balkan Germans, the Wolhynian- and Bessarabian German, [Gottscheer], etc…, must, as quickly as possible, be eliminated.”

Frensing ends his summary observations on the Resettlement of the Gottscheer on Page 145 with the following:

“Decisive for the elimination of the existence of Ethnic Groups was the categorical demand that, after ‘organical integration’, i.e., after ‘dissolution of the existing Ethnic Group Organizations’, … the eradication of the ‘concepts of the Balkan Germans, …etc’, be accomplished in the shortest possible period.” [F.Pg.146].

“Therefore, the end of the Gottscheer as an Ethnic Group was already sealed before the arrival of the catastrophe of 1945, which also expelled them from their new homeland.” [F.Pg.151]

A letter from the chief of the Staatshauptamt in Berlin, dated 31 October1941, to SS-Sturmbannführer LaForce, the officer responsible for the new arrivals, clearly indicates the end of the Gottscheer as an Ethnic Group:

“After settlement of the Gottscheer in the Untersteiermark, I beg you take care that the existence of the Ethnic Group, as such, ceases to exist and that the Gottscheer unconditionally integrate themselves into the Steiermark and with that into Germany as a whole.”

The facts, therefore, show that the Gottscheer leadership under Lampeter not only helped Hitler with the ingathering of the Gottscheer Germans, but made this ingathering possible. This ingathering, described by this leadership as "Heimführung", (homebringing) was the cause for the Ethnic Cleansing of 37,000 Slovene (to make room for the Gottscheer) of which only half survived the following four years in Nazi forced labor camps in the Reich. This "Heimführung" brought us, the trusting Gottscheer, to the loss of our homeland and to the status of refugees.

The facts further show that the Gottscheer leadership under Lampeter not only cooperated with Hitler to make the ingathering possible, but via their enthusiastic participation, helped in the extinction of the Gottscheer as an ethnic group.

It is clear that Dr. Victor Michitsch, chairman of the Gottscheer Landsmannschaft in Klagenfurt, business manager of the Gottscheer Arbeitsgemeinschaft of all Gottscheer Associations world wide and publisher of the Gottscheer Zeitung, is attempting to remove an often mentioned collective guilt for the Resettlement from the average Gottscheer.

This effort will fail if he continues to include in this attempt the Gottscheer leadership of that period.

By hiding the role of the Lampeter Leadership, Dr. Michitsch may be deflecting the spotlight but he is doing so at the expense of the Gottscheer people and their heritage as a whole.

Unless Lampeter and his Leadership are separated out, the Gottscheer will not be free of the undeserved label of being Nazis.

The average Gottscheer carries no collective guilt since he was defenseless against the organized and efficient onslaught of Lampeter’s Preparation Machine.

As stated by SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr. Stier;

“ ….. without the preparations by Lampeter and his Mannschaft, the emigration could not have taken place.”

The January 1990 issue of the Gottscheer Zeitung, published in Klagenfurt under the editorial direction of Ludwig Kren, reports on the cultural work session of the Gottscheer Landsmannschaften (Associations) in Germany, which took place in Munich, in mid October 1989. The newspaper reports:

“The appearance of Professor Dr. Wilhelm Lampeter on Sunday morning [15 October, 1989] enriched the meeting. Lampeter expressed with moving words his thanks for the invitation and heartfelt welcome, which also offered him an opportunity to see his former colleagues and friends after 40 years.” [GZ, 1.1989]

On this day, Lampeter was presented with a medal marking the festivity.
To this festivity came the majority of the leadership of the Gottscheer Associations in Germany and Austria. Also present were Dr. Michitsch and Dr. Herbert Krauland, the chairman of the Gottscheer Arbeitsgemeinschaft, located in Klagenfurt.
(A photo of those present was published in the same issue of the GZ).

Comrades and former coworkers present at the meeting were Richard Lackner, former Staff Leader of Lampeter and Ludwig Kren, member of the editorial staff of the Gottscheer Zeitung when it was under Lampeter’s control. Both of these gentlemen were, already in 1989, ‘Honored Members’ and carriers of the ‘Honorary Membership Ring’, each awarded to outstanding members of the Gottscheer Associations.

(The other inner circle members and comrades of Lampeter, Joseph Schober, Alfred Busbach, Herbert Erker, Martin Sturm and Johann Schemitsch were already deceased).

The “invitation” to Lampeter came shortly after the fall of the East-West Wall. The fall of the Wall made it possible for the former SS-Sturmbannführer to enter the Gottscheer leadership circle once more.
Shortly thereafter, Lampeter was taken into the circle of “Cultural Advisors” to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft located in Klagenfurt. [His last re-election to this post occurred in 1997].

This circle now consists of the following:
 Wilhelm Lampeter, former SS-Sturmbannführer,
 Richard Lackner, Chief of Staff under Lampeter,
 Ludwig Kren, on the editorial staff of the GZ under Lampeter and editor of the new Klagenfurt Gottscheer Zeitung, '71-'96,
 Maria Lackner-Kundegraber, [wife of Richard Lackner].

On 21 December 1997, Lampeter was elevated to “Honored Member” [Ehrenmitglied] in the Gottscheer Associations.

Prior to the emergence of Lampeter, Dr. Michitsch pleaded with us that “we must watch out that our history is not falsified…”.

Today, the same Dr. Michitsch is distorting our history in the face of documented facts. Whether or not the perspectives of the chairman regarding our history have changed since the return of Lampeter, the objective reader can decide for himself.

In the ten years since the return of Lampeter, the political activity of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft, of which Dr. Michitsch and Dr. Krauland are the most eminent members, has been raised to a much higher level.
It is also not surprising that the methodology of this activity has a familiar resonance.

This is apparent in the following two examples:
1. The effort of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft to convince the Austrian and German Government officials to block entry of Slovenia into the European Common Market until:

a. the Gottscheer re-settlers are included into the Reparations Law passed by the new Slovene state and are reimbursed for the loss of their property.

b. the Gottscheer who did not resettle are declared a legal minority within Slovenia. [These Gottscheer Slovene, consisting of less than 100 people, are those who in 1941 resisted the Option and their descendants.]

That both attempts have to date not succeeded is not surprising. The forcing of unwarranted demands that were used in another era are not tolerated in today's democratic societies.

The demand in 1a is senseless since we Gottscheer settlers were already reimbursed by the Reparationsschädengesetz - RepG of West Germany. If unsettled claims exist they should be recovered from Germany. It was not the Slovene who forced us in 1941 to leave our Gottscheer lands.

The demand in 1b is equally senseless as Helmut Schäfer, Foreign Minister of Germany, indicates in his reply to the Gottscheer Landsmannschaft on 30. June 1995:
“The Slovenia of today is a democratic, toward Europe oriented State. Therefore, the Gottscheer Associations you mention should be in a position to practice their traditions and customs in Slovenia even without Minority Status.”

[For those not familiar with the definition, legal minority status means; primary education in the minority language paid for by the state, state allocated funding for cultural activities, dual language street signs, etc. ]

In Austria, these demands of the Gottscheer Arbeitsgemein-schaft on behalf of the Gottscheer Slovene were taken into Parliament by the extreme right wing Freedom Party of Jörg Haider (who publicly supported Hitler’s policies), where they were rejected as unacceptable demand tactics.

It is therefore obvious that the pursuit for Minority Status for these Gottscheer Slovene is closely linked with the larger political goals of the Freedom Party and that the Gottscheer leadership is again aligning itself with proponents of dangerous ideology.

And once again, as in the past, without informing the Gottscheer people.
2. The crass and illegal attempt to take over the legitimate Leadership of the Gedenkstätte in Graz, Austria.

The "Gedenkstätte" memorial library organization in Graz was founded in 1966 by those Gottscheer who separated from the Leadership in Klagenfurt because they would not tolerate the new politicization. The leaders of the "Gedenkstätte" came from the ranks of those Gottscheer who tried to withdraw their Option in January of 1942. (See the details in the Appendix).

The schism of 1966 occurred when 2/3rd of the dispersed attached themselves to the Gedenkstätte organization and even today want nothing to do with the Klagenfurt Arbeitsgemeinschaft. [Lampeter suggested a merger (the attempted takeover?) in 1994. [GZ., Jan.'95]

The takeover attempt of 1997, described in the Jan/Feb 1998 issue of the Gedenkstätte newspaper, failed since a legal basis for such a takeover did not exist.

The leader of this attempt, according to the Gedenkstätte paper, was none other than one of the members of the "Cultural Advisers", the colleague and friend of Lampeter and Lackner, “Ludwig Kren”.

The method of this takeover attempt reminds us of the quotation in Frensing of Herrmann Ulmann’s description of the takeover of the Reich by the Nazis;
“…man schlich sich ein…,” [“…they sneaked in….”] [F.Pg.16]

One recognizes in the methods of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft demand tactics, which are unacceptable. A mandate for these methods does not exist.

The renewal of a failed and rejected political orientation and the practice of its methodology is possible only under the cloak of “culture”. This cloak hides not only the influence of the “cultural advisors”, but also the connection of the leaders of the Arbeits-gemeinschaft in Klagenfurt with the extreme right wing party of Jörg Haider, which appears to exploit the corrosive demands of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft for its own political purpose.

Dr. Michitsch claims in a letter:
“The Gottscheer Landsmannschaft in Klagenfurt is a non-political organization”. “Also, we do not practice politics.”
However, in the Sept/Oct 1995 issue of the Gottscheer Zeitung is written:
“…. and August Gril accepted on behalf of the Association Gottscheer Altsiedler a donation from an Austrian political party for which the Gottscheer Landsmannschaft in Klagenfurt acts as a trustee.”

The Gottscheer youth of the early thirties found itself in a desperate situation due to the world wide depression which also reached also into Gottschee and the assimilation policy of the Slovene practiced after W.W.I.

On the other hand, it viewed with enthusiasm the advances in the Third Reich which restored hope and prosperity to the German citizen. [Did not these advances and accomplishments provoke the admiration of the world until the start of W.W.II.!]

It is therefore not surprising that the “secret [Gottscheer] Student Group” [F.Pg.15] fell in love with Hitler’s National Socialism.

Frensing quotes Wilhelm Lampeter:

“In the National Socialism, which reached the remote Gottschee only with the power takeover in 1933, the youth discovered its true life’s purpose, the recognized signpost to their aspirations and willingness to act.” (F. Pg:15).

Says Frensing:
“When, in 1934, the “German Student body inserted itself, ..this youthful [Gottscheer] group came under the ideological spell of the NZ …and so started, consequently, to sail in its waters; for this ‘German Student Body’ was very adept, next to the propagation of a ‘Self Help Concept’ in putting across the idea of ‘a greater Germany’...” [F.Pg:15,16].

Under the ‘Self Help’ motto the National Socialism succeeded, in the following years, in bringing the entire Gottscheer youth into its ideological circle.

According to Herrmann Ullmann:
“The methods of the National Socialist propaganda followed the same recipe used in the assumption of power in the Reich: one sneaked in. At first, one works with an ideological program tailored to the attitude of the Ethnic Group….” [F.S. 16]

The development of the “Student Group” and its training as future leaders of the Ethnic Group unfolds in the coming years under the watchful guidance and forceful protection from Berlin.

The subordination of the youth and the susceptible young farmers, the later Sturmführer and Stürmer of the “Mannschaft”, occurred through training in the Reich and was completed by Lampeter in “Special Training Courses” held in the Gottschee area.

These and other orchestrated activities brought the Gottscheer into conflict with the Slovene and it came to “wild brawls.” [F.Pg. 17]

“Gottschee was flooded with youthful hikers.. mostly militarily clad youths who constantly sing political fighting songs and wander with their swastika flags thorough the villages … which must, naturally, bring forth hatred in Slovene circles...” [F.Pg.17]

“The Slovene resorted to repressive measures followed by the dissolution of the local branches of the Schwäbisch-German Kulturbund [1936/37] …. “since political lectures were being presented …”

“The Organizations of the Kulturbund were persecuted since they were recognized as agitation cells of the National Socialism. The two emissaries …[Dieck and Neunteufel].. have, for many months, developed an activity which no self-respecting state could tolerate for any duration.” [F.Pg.18]

The ‘old leadership’ tried, in final desperate attempts, to bring about a compromise and cool down the inflamed nationalistic passions of the Slovene and Gottscheer.

These efforts came to a stop at the end of 1938 when the “renewers” succeeded in pushing aside the ‘old leadership’ and seized the Leadership of the Ethnic Group for themselves.

“ With forceful assistance from the ‘Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle’ [Intermediary Office for Ethnic German Affairs in Berlin], the ‘renewers’ started their rule. Of importance is also the fact that the administration of Gottscheer Zeitung transferred from the Clergy to the “renewers.” [F.Pg. 20,21]

The editorship was taken over by Herbert Erker, an intimate and inner circle member of Lampeter, who later again became editor of the present Gottscheer Zeitung [1962-71] published in Klagenfurt.

Even his successor, Ludwig Kren, Editor of the new Gottscheer Zeitung [‘71-‘96] published in Klagenfurt was already an active contributor in the Zeitung when it was under Lampeter. [See GZ. Jan. 1996]

In the fall of 1939 the local chapters of the Kulturbund were again allowed to function. [This was through the influence of Stojadinovic, the Prime minister of Yugoslavia, who was a Fascist sympathizer].

This greatly eased the formation of the ‘Mannschaft’, a new formation of all able bodied Gottscheer men as a para-military organization. In this Frensing quotes Richard Lackner, Chief of Staff of Lampeter and head of the Gottscheer Jugend [based on the Hitler Jugend organization in the Reich], who describes its establishment:

“The Mannschaften were organized into ‘Stürme’ [storm troopers], .. the Stürme were subordinated to a ‘Zug’ [squad].

The Sturmführer was nominally the local village leader [of the Kulturbund]. The leadership of the Mannschaft consisted of a ‘Stab’ [headquarters staff], with the Mannschaftsführer [Lampeter] as its head…
The Mannschaftsgericht [military court] concerned itself with disputes within the ‘Mannschaft’. Ultimately, a kind of uniform was introduced (boots, riding pants, gray shirt). Village Hall meetings were obligatory duty, drill instructions were part of ‘formative training’. [F.Pg. 22]

After the collapse of Yugoslavia, on command in the GZ:
“Every man between 21 and 50 years is duty bound to perform service in the ‘Mannschaft’. Only a medical report may permit the ‘headquarters staff’ to relieve him of his service in the Mannschaft….Each single comrade, starting from the Mannschaftsführer to the last Sturm-mann, is shown three examples. The soldier, .. the comrade in the SA- or SS-formation…and the worker as an expression of the social righteousness of a Nation.“ [F.S.68]

The new rulers were now in a position to carry out every command of the Reich toward the Ingathering of the Gottscheer.

Frensing reports on the preparation of the Ethnic Group Leadership to bring the population to the point of accepting of the Resettlement Option in the following paragraphs of his book:

Preparation by the Ethnic Group Leadership for the Resettlement: (Page 62)
1. The primary, ground laying measures.
2. The training of the Mannschaft [militia].
3. The counterattack against the “rumors” and
4. the alteration of the existing concept of "Heimat" [homeland].

The Opposition within the Ethnic Group: (Page 78)
1. The opposition from the ranks of the Clergy.
2. The opposition from the Town people.
3. The opposition from the farmers in the “Hinterland.”

For his efforts in the Preparation, Lampeter was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer in the political Branch of the SS organization by Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer SS in October 1941.

These efforts included the following:

1. the demand and spread of an uncompromising hatred of the Slovene,
2. the pushing aside of the legitimate ‘old leadership’,
3. the formation and development of a total organization, including leadership, militia, press, etc., which was necessary for the execution of the Hitler directive and the end goal,
4. the spreading of hatred against the clergy and all those who opposed the accomplishment of his assignment,
5. the perversion of the concept of “love of homeland’ into love of the Führer,
6. the concealment of the settlement region and its condition,
7. the psychological pressure, use of threats and force on his countrymen to accept the option,
8 the deception of his people, etc.,

The glamour of the elevation lasted, however, only short months. When in the beginning of January 1942 approximately 100 potential resettlers from Gottschee City threatened to withdraw their option, the Reichskommissariat was forced to intervene since it concluded that the Ethnic Group Leadership was not capable of overcoming the uprising.

(The causes of the uprising were reports from the arriving settlers about the poor conditions in the settlement region.)

Lampeter was declared by the SS as the scapegoat for the uprising. According from the report of SS-Oberführer Hinze:

…. “I have the impression… that he [Lampeter] is, for his assignments as well as his promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer, too young and inexperienced… and that he lacks the insight and self-discipline necessary for such office.

… I have therefore … informed him, that I myself will, in his place, take over the leadership of the Gottscheer Militia and must ask him … to refrain, henceforth, from any activity in the settlement region… and that these measures are expanded to also include his Chief of Staff [Richard] Lackner,… and to ask, therefore, that he, [Lampeter] without further consideration … be promptly recalled to the Altreich [inner Reich].” [F.Pg.,135]

SS-Führer Bliss was not so generous:
“Lampeter has, as a result of the various honors bestowed on him for his work in the Ethnic Group, become a megalomaniac and is politically, for German purposes, absolutely unusable……
I am ashamed to be forced to see such a political child in the uniform of the SS and in the rank of a Sturmbannführer.” [F.S.129]

The SS leadership announced, herewith, that Gottscheer, who were capable of deceiving and betraying their own people were “absolutely unusable” in their organization.

Through this expulsion, Lampeter and Lackner became the first victims of Hitler’s Ingathering Policy. Their assignment was at an end and their dismissal the next step demanded in Paragraph 5 of the ‘Menscheneinsatz’.
The Ethnic Group had opted for resettlement and the primary objective of the Ingathering was secured.

The real victims of this Ingathering Policy were, of course, the Gottscheer People.

This proud Ethnic Group was brought to the loss of its home-land and heritage by its own members who, through deception and betrayal, caused its passage into oblivion.

According to Frensing on page 75: “Characteristic of the Effort of the VGL, to give a new interpretation to the concept of ‘Homeland’ and to convert it to serve their intentions is the ‘revised song of the Gottscheer’, which was conceived by the Staff leader responsible for cultural matters:

Vom Rinsenquell zum Kulpastrand
Hebt in den Wind die Fahnen,
Wir kehren heim ins Vaterland,
Die Heimat unserer Ahnen.

Wir bleiben deutsch trotz Haß und Not
Trotz bittrer Knechtschaft Schande.
Es trieb das Osteraufgebot
Die Serben aus dem Lande.

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