Misplaced Pages

#851148

53-569: The Gottschee enclave encompassed a roughly oval-shaped area between 45° 46′ N and 45° 30′ N, and between 14° 36′ E and 15° 9′ E. Geographers divided the enclave into seven regions based on valleys (from west to east): The Gottschee region was conferred upon the Counts of Ortenburg by the Patriarchate of Aquileia on 20 September 1277. The territory was settled by German farmers from Carinthia and East Tyrol between 1330 and 1400. The first settlement in

106-748: A comital family in the mediaeval Duchy of Carinthia . Though they had roots in Bavarian nobility, an affiliation with the Imperial Counts of Ortenburg , a branch line of the Rhenish Franconian House of Sponheim , is not established. Little is known about the reasons the Ortenburgs settled in the Carinthian Lurngau . No charters are available on the creation of the Ortenburg Castle on

159-710: A 1091 deed, and was situated south of the Drava river within the Archdiocese of Aquileia — across from Hohenburg Castle held by the rivaling Counts of Lurn, liensmen of the Salzburg archbishops . When the Lurn dynasty became extinct in 1135, the Counts of Ortenburg received large estates stretching from Möllbrücke down the Drava Valley to Rennstein near Villach . They also held possessions in

212-611: A Yugoslav administrative reform created large municipalities ( občina ) organized within the districts ( srez ). The Kočevje District was the largest district in the Drava Banovina, extending from Veliki Ločnik in the north to the Croatian border in the south. Gottschee territory was encompassed by 11 large municipalities, not all of which were in the Kočevje District. During this time, political and assimilatory pressure against

265-528: A mix of Gottschee Germans and Slovenes. The French surrendered and were summarily marched to the banks of the Kolpa and executed. News of these victories spread deep into Gottschee and on the early hours of October 9, a swarm of hundreds of rebels from Gottscheer villages near the town fell upon the French troops stationed there under Commissioner Gasparini. Seeing the attack, Gasparini sent a messenger to Reifnitz just as

318-593: The Battle of Wagram , the French ultimately had already won the war. Following this battle, the French troops marched south to occupy Carniola , and with it Gottschee County , that had been centuries earlier settled by Austrians from Tyrol and Carinthia. Determined not to be occupied by the French, the German-speaking Gottscheers hastily assembled a local militia who marched north from the City of Gottschee to face

371-511: The Bohemian crown , the Ortenburgs supported his rival Rudolf I of Habsburg . Soon after, their immediate rights were acknowledged by the Habsburg king Albert I of Germany , and later confirmed by Emperor Sigismund in a 1420 deed. Two years before however, the last Count Frederick III of Ortenburg had died without heirs and his estates were inherited by Count Hermann II of Celje ( Cilli ). When

424-575: The Counts of Celje themselves became extinct with the killing of Hermann's grandson Ulrich II in 1456, the Counts of Ortenburg-Neuortenburg claimed their ostensible rights, but failed to prove their kinship to the Carinthian Ortenburgs. Their attempts to gain the Ortenburg estates lasted until the 18th century, but were all rejected. Instead, the Habsburg emperor Frederick III took possession of

477-660: The Kolpa River , the French officer surrendered. The rebels then delivered their captives to Austrian positions on the other side of the river, in present-day Croatia. Later that day, once word of the action in Kostel spread, the Slovene villagers of the village of Pölland , also just south of the Gottschee region, drove out a French garrison of 28 men. They fled to nearby Altenmarkt , where the following morning they were surrounded by 300 rebels,

530-609: The United States of Greater Austria . Popovici's proposal included Gottschee as a separate autonomous district within the proposed state of Carniola. Gottschee was incorporated into royal Yugoslavia (known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until 1929) as part of the prewar territory of Carniola. The Gottschee Germans accepted the new arrangement with some reluctance: in February 1918 Gottschee's ethnically German priests characterized

583-554: The Dominion of Gottschee (German: Herrschaft Gottschee , Slovene : Kočevsko gospostvo ) to Count Jörg von Thurn. The territory was purchased by Hans Ungnad in 1524, and then mortgaged to the Croatian Counts of Blagay in 1547. In 1574, Gottschee extended from Mount Snežnik in the extreme west to Blatnik pri Črmošnjicah in the east, and from Seč and Gornja Topla Reber in the north to just below Bosljiva Loka and Osilnica in

SECTION 10

#1732844785852

636-627: The Gegend Valley around Afritz . In 1191 they founded a hospital ( Spittl ) at the bridge across the Lieser river—site of the later town of Spittal an der Drau . In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Herman and Ulrich of Ortenburg served as Bishops of Gurk . Count Otto II joined the Crusade of 1197 of Emperor Henry VI . About 1330, Count Meinhard of Ortenburg acquired the estates of the extinct Counts of Sternberg between Lake Ossiach and Wörthersee . In

689-584: The German minority caused many of Gottschee Germans to emigrate: the German-language high school was closed in 1918, German was eliminated as an elective subject in schools in 1925, the majority of German business, cultural, and athletics societies were dissolved, and there was forced Slovenization of the names of villages and people. By 1941 the Gottschee German population had fallen to only about 12,500. Most of

742-683: The Germans fled back to Austria or emigrated to the United States (mainly New York City or Cleveland, Ohio.) After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Yugoslavia initially remained neutral, but after a coup in 1941 adopted a staunch anti- Axis position. This led to a German and Italian invasion and occupation of the Kingdom. The Gottscheers were in the Italian occupation zone after Yugoslavia's surrender, which Hitler could not abide. Nazi racial policy dictated that these Germans had to be brought back into

795-650: The Gottschee "resettlers". Shortly before that time, a largely transparent propaganda effort was aimed toward both the Gottscheers and the Slovenes, promising the latter equivalent farmland in Germany for the land relinquished. The Gottscheers were given Reich passports and transportation to the Lower Sava Valley just after the forced departure of the Slovenes. Most Gottschee left their homes because of coercion and threats since

848-404: The Gottschee German region. When the French could not find any tax money, they threatened to burn down the town in retribution. The town mayor managed to escape the French, and he rallied the neighboring villagers (mostly Gottschee Germans) and on the morning of October 7 attacked the French squadron in Kostel. After a brief fight, only 1 farmer and 2 French soldiers were wounded. With their backs to

901-466: The Gottschee Germans closed in. All the French troops fell back to Auersperg Castle, and a siege ensued for several hours. Finally, the Gottschee Germans broke down the doors and captured and killed the entire garrison. Gasparini was dragged from the fortress, found hiding in a back room. He was dragged through the streets while being kicked and hit and had rocks thrown on him. He finally was killed in

954-633: The Gottschee area was partially resettled by Slovenians from various places, creating a mixed dialect area . Only a few hundred Gottscheers remained. This table includes villages in the 19th-century Gottschee District based on maps in Mitja Ferenc's works (2007, 2011–2013). Note: This table is sortable. Click next to any heading to sort by that heading. 45°38′23″N 14°51′41″E  /  45.63972°N 14.86139°E  / 45.63972; 14.86139 County of Ortenburg The Counts of Ortenburg ( German : Grafen von Ortenburg ) were

1007-877: The Gottschee ethnic Germans, who did not want to leave their homes, decided instead to join Slovene Partisans and fight against Italians in Province of Ljubljana , together with their Slovene neighbours. The attempt to resettle the Gottscheers was a costly failure for the Nazi regime, since extra manpower was required to protect the farmers from the partisans. The deported Slovenes were taken to several camps in Saxony , where they were forced to work on German farms or in factories run by German industries from 1941 to 1945. The forced labourers were not always kept in formal Nazi concentration camps , but often just vacant buildings where they slept until

1060-469: The Gottscheers, the French took 200 Gottscheer citizens, placed them in back of the Stadtpfarr (parish church) and every tenth person was shot to death. In many sections of Gottschee, you can still (1947) find the mounds which are known as Franzosengräber (French graves)". Until the Gottscheers had all left their homeland following World War Two, these French graves were marks of pride for the Gottscheers. It

1113-499: The Nazis. They had been integrated into society with their Slovene neighbours, often intermarrying among Slovenes and becoming bilingual while maintaining their Germanic language and customs since their arrival in the region in the late 14th century. However, propaganda and Nazi ideology prevailed, and the VoMi began planning the Gottschee "resettlement" (forced expulsion) from Kočevje , which

SECTION 20

#1732844785852

1166-530: The Ortenburg estates, which his great-grandson Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria granted to his treasurer Gabriel von Salamanca in 1524. Today, the ruins of the Ortenburg Castle can still be seen on Goldeck mountain above the village of Baldramsdorf, west of Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia, Austria. 1809 Gottscheer Rebellion The 1809 Gottscheer rebellion ( German : Gottscheer Bauernaufstand )

1219-588: The Reich. The Nazis established a branch of the Resettlement Administration ( Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle , or "VoMi") at Maribor for this purpose. While some of the Gottscheer community leaders had embraced National Socialism and agitated for "assistance" and " repatriation " to the Reich before the German invasion in 1941, most Gottscheers had no interest in reuniting with Greater Germany or joining

1272-574: The Second World War. Because Gottschee was a county, Engelbert thereby became a count himself. Because he died without an heir in 1673, the county passed to his brother Johann Weikhard of Auersperg , who had become a prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1653. He combined Gottschee with some neighboring estates into a single domain. In 1774, Emperor Joseph II issued a patent allowing the residents of Gottschee County to sell citrus fruit and oil, and

1325-465: The VoMi had a deadline of December 31, 1941 for the mass movement of both groups. Gottscheers were removed from a total of 167 settlements in 1941 and 1942. The eviction was organized as a series of 25 resettlement groups (German: Stürme ), numbered Go 1 through Go 25 and named after major settlements: Although from the time of their arrival to the end of the war, Gottschee farmers were harassed and killed by Josip Broz Tito 's Partisans , 56 of

1378-451: The advancing French. At the Battle of Kerndorf, located just north of the City, 900 Gottscheer peasants stood against the French army. In a quick fight, the Gottscheers were thoroughly routed. After this brief episode, the French occupied the remainder of the region with little incident, however French troops were needed to disperse 600 Gottscheer farmers on September 10, 1809, when they protested

1431-744: The collapse of the Illyrian provinces, Gottschee was returned to Habsburg rule within the Kingdom of Illyria . As part of the Habsburg Kingdom of Illyria, Gottschee was administratively part of the Novo Mesto District (German: Neustädtler Kreis ). The Kingdom of Illyria was succeeded by the reconstituted Duchy of Carniola in 1849. Within the Duchy of Carniola, a separate administrative Gottschee District (German: Bezirk Gottschee or Gerichtsbezirk Gottschee )

1484-417: The district resulted in a total of 4,161 houses and a population of 21,301 in the culturally German Gottschee area. Czörnig estimated the total Gottschee German population in 1878, accounting for population growth and men working away from home, to be about 25,000. In 1906 the ethnic Romanian Austro-Hungarian lawyer and politician Aurel Popovici unsuccessfully proposed the reorganization of Austria-Hungary as

1537-598: The emperor issued a patent confirming peddling privileges on 27 April 1785. In 1791, Emperor Leopold II elevated the territory to the Duchy of Gottschee (German: Herzogtum Gottschee , Slovene : Kočevska Vojvodina ) and Karl Josef Anton von Auersperg to the Duke of Gottschee. During the short-lived period of the Illyrian Provinces , Gottschee was part of the Napoleonic French Empire . Under this arrangement it

1590-520: The extinction of the House of Ortenburg in 1418, the Gottschee area came under the control of the Counts of Celje in 1420. When the House of Celje died out in 1456, the territory came under the control of the House of Habsburg , dukes of Carniola. Emperor Frederick III elevated the town of Gottschee to a city in 1471. The late 15th century began a time of unrest in Gottschee. Numerous Ottoman attacks took place in

1643-424: The five Gottschee German leaders of the rebellion captured by the French were executed by firing squad in the churchyard of the town: Johann Jonke (from the town of Gottschee), Matthias Dulzer and Georg Eisenzopf (from Malgern), Johann Erker (from Windischdorf ), and Bartholomäus Kusold (from Eben ). Under the rule of the French, Gottschee and the rest of Carniola was incorporated into the Illyrian Provinces which

Gottschee - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-592: The fourteenth century, the dynasty also owned the lands of Gottschee in Lower Carniola , where they founded the town of Gottschee ( Kočevje ) with German colonists from their Upper Carinthian lands. Struggling for autonomy against the Carinthian dukes from the House of Sponheim and their Meinhardiner successors, the Ortenburgs avoided open conflict. In 1306, when the Meinhardiner duke Henry of Carinthia reached for

1749-456: The garrison, they planned to raze Gottschee. Father Georg Jonke, a Gottschee German priest, interceded here and pleaded to the French to spare the town. Due to his actions to spare the lives of many of the French prisoners, the French listened to him and decided to plunder the town rather than burn it to the ground. From October 16 to 18, 1809, Gottschee was pillaged by the French troops. In one final act of punishment for this uprising, on October 18

1802-453: The initial success assaulted the French garrison in Neustadt. They planned to attack in the early morning, but after many delays the French and Italian soldiers defending were prepared. After some small gains in the early stage of the battle, the Gottschee Germans and other peasants were ultimately driven off by shrapnel from Neustadt's two artillery pieces. In the end, 35 to 40 rebels were killed,

1855-468: The nearby caves where they either were massacred or surrendered. In the village of Malgern , Captain Chambelli led a tax convoy from Neustadt , which was north of the Gottschee region. The rebels pounced on his caravan, killing at least him and his lieutenant and presumably others. The victory was short-lived, however. On October 15 the Gottschee Germans and some Slovene peasant farmers who joined them after

1908-414: The neighboring districts. On 31 December 1869 the entire Kočevje District had 3,473 houses and a population of 18,432. Subtracting the ethnically Slovene communities of Osilnica ( Osiunitz ) and Kostel left a total of 2,966 houses and a population of 15,520 in ethnically German or German-majority territory in the district itself. Adding in ethnically German houses and population from communities adjacent to

1961-474: The new war tax imposed on them. On October 14, 1809, the Treaty of Schönbrunn transferred the region of Carniola , which Gottschee was in, to France along with many other territories. It was the riot of September 10 in the town of Gottschee that escalated the turmoil in the Gottschee region and the adjacent Slovene counties. On October 6, a squad of 18 French soldiers entered the Slovene village of Kostel , south of

2014-405: The next day's labour took them outside these quarters. Toward the end of the war, these camps were liberated by American and Red Army troops, and repatriated refugees later returned to Yugoslavia . The fate of the resettled Gottschee was not much better, and in some cases much worse. At the end of the war the Nazi regime in the region evaporated as soldiers and administrators fled. After the war,

2067-449: The northern slope of Mt. Goldeck above the village of Baldramsdorf , nor about the manner in which the Ortenburgs obtained their property. In 1072, one Adalbert of Ortenburg, probably a younger son of Count Hartwig II of Grögling -Hirschberg (d. 1068/69), served as a Vogt stattholder in the Carinthian possessions of the Bishops of Freising . His castle Hortenburc was first mentioned in

2120-410: The other 400 scattering. For the French, losses were three killed, five wounded, and 11 taken prisoner. This was the turning point in the uprising. The French quickly marched reinforcements into the area under General Zucchi and when they entered the town of Gottschee on October 16 they crushed and scattered the Gottschee German rebels and restored French control. Once the French reinforcements liberated

2173-546: The proposed new state as "treacherous" and sent a letter to Bishop Anton Bonaventura Jeglič in Ljubljana denouncing the plan. In October 1918 a proposal was prepared for the Paris Peace Conference for Gottschee to become an independent republic (German: Republik Gottschee ) under American protection, based on the large Gottschee German population in the United States, and a Gottschee German demonstration demanding autonomy

Gottschee - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-416: The provinces were abolished, Gottschee was part of the larger Drava Banovina ( Dravska banovina ) from 1929 to 1941. Within the very large Kočevje District ( Slovene : Srez Kočevje ), 22 local communities or small municipalities ( občina ) largely encompassed Gottschee territory until 1933, continuing its 19th-century organization. Many Gottschee settlements were outside the Kočevje District. In 1933,

2279-456: The region (in 1469, 1471, 1476, 1480, 1491, 1507, 1528, 1546, 1559, 1561, 1564, 1578, and 1584). It was partly in response to the devastation of the Ottoman raids that Emperor Frederick III granted the people of Gottschee the right to sell goods outside the territory in 1492. There were also six peasant uprisings in the territory, starting in 1515 and ending in 1662. In 1507, Maximilian I mortgaged

2332-496: The south. In 1619, the territory was purchased by the Khisl family. The territory was elevated to Gottschee County (German: Grafschaft Gottschee , Slovene : Kočevska grofija ) in 1623. In 1641 Wolf Engelbert von Auersperg purchased Gottschee County from Count Georg Zwickl-Khisl for 84,000 florins. Engelbert abandoned the deteriorating castle at Friedrichstein and built a new castle in the town of Gottschee itself, which survived until

2385-402: The territory attested in written sources was Mooswald ( Slovene : Mahovnik ), which appeared in a letter from Patriarch Bertram on 1 September 1339. A 1363 letter mentioned the settlements of Gottschee ( Kočevje ), Pölland ( Kočevske Poljane ), Kostel , Ossilnitz ( Osilnica ), and Göttenitz ( Gotenica ). The town of Gottschee acquired market town status in 1377. With

2438-459: The town fell, and a small detachment was dispatched to go to his aid. However, the relief force never made it as they were waylaid by Gottschee Germans who were hiding along the road before they reached the town and the majority of the unit was killed. All throughout the Gottschee region in the next few days, the Gottschee German rebels triumphed. They ambushed a French squad between the villages of Schalkendorf and Seele , forcing them to flee into

2491-551: The village of Lienfeld, south of the town, and his body unceremoniously disposed of. According to legend, his final words were "Vive L'Empereur". Out of the French defenders in Gottschee, 42 were captured and they were also handed over to the Austrians in Croatia like the prisoners from Kostel. The amount of the total French troops in the town was from 50 to up to 100. Rebel casualties are unknown. Gasparini's messenger reached Reifnitz after

2544-809: Was a revolt by the Gottschee Germans against the First French Empire during the French occupation of Gottschee following the War of the Fifth Coalition . In April 1809, the Austrian Empire declared war against Napoleon I to start the War of the Fifth Coalition. After suffering some major setbacks, notably the Battle of Aspern-Essling , the French swiftly triumphed over the Austrian commander Archduke Charles . At

2597-478: Was a territory under Napoleon's direct control. Even though their rebellion was destroyed and the French had increased their military presence in the area, the Gottscheers were still defiant. As it was written in the article " Gottschee und sein Volk ": "Fewer and fewer soldiers of the French patrols returned home because the peasants lay in waiting for them and a good many of them were killed, In order to end this violence of

2650-584: Was held in New York in January 1919. There were also unsuccessful proposals to establish a Gottschee Republic with Italian backing. In 1920, the Slovene press characterized the proposal for a Gottschee Republic as communist agitation. Under the 1921 constitution, the traditional regions were abolished and Gottschee was made part of the Ljubljana Province ( Slovene : Ljubljanska oblast ) from 1922 to 1929. After

2703-429: Was in the Italian occupation zone , to the "Ranner Dreieck" or Brežice Triangle in Lower Styria , the region now known as the Lower Sava Valley , located between the confluences of the Krka , Sotla , and Sava rivers. In November 1941, some 46,000 Slovenians in the Brežice Triangle region were forcibly deported to Eastern Germany for potential Germanization or forced labour in order to make an accommodation for

SECTION 50

#1732844785852

2756-426: Was initially part of the Province of Ljubljana ( French : province de Laybach ) from 1809 to 1811, and then the Province of Carniola ( French : province de Carniole ) from 1811 to 1814. Gottschee constituted a separate administrative canton under this arrangement. The Gottscheers revolted against French rule during the 1809 Gottscheer Rebellion , killing the commissar of the Novo Mesto district, Von Gasparini. With

2809-486: Was set up. The district had an area of approximately 860 km (330 sq mi) and contained a total of 177 settlements (including ethnically Slovene ones and some abandoned before 1941). The Gottschee District was bordered (clockwise) by the districts of Ribnica ( Reifnitz ), Žužemberk ( Seisenberg ), Novo Mesto ( Rudolfswerth ), Metlika ( Mötling ), and Črnomelj ( Tschernembl ). Fully German or ethnically mixed Slovene-German territory extended into all of

#851148