The Weight of the past. Heritage of the Multicultural Area: Case Study of Gottschee

Kočevska (Gottschee) stands out among the Slovenian regions for its specific, and often tragic, history. Two cultures – the Slovenian and German – co-existed there until the resettlement of the Gottscheer Germans in 1941/42 to German Reich on the basis of an agreement between Hitler and Mussolini. After World War II, new immigrants from other Slovenian regions as well as Yugoslav republics moved into the emptied Gottscheer villages. Even today, Kočevska remains a crossroads of cultures. Besides a handful of Gottscheers who did not emigrate during the war, there is a traditional Roma community and some of the immigrant communities (the Croats, Serbians, Bosniaks). After the war, traces of German presence were forcibly removed from the Kočevska region for nationalistic and ideological reasons that caused the destruction of most churches, chapels, and religious landmarks. Part of Kočevska belonged to the so-called closed-off military area. Movement was restricted there, sacral facilities removed, remaining residents evicted, and strict silence commanded. In addition, until the mid-1950s three penal camps operated in the closed-off area, and the forests of Kočevska have become a scene of mass killings or the authorities' altercation with political opponents. It was not until 1990 that the first conciliatory mass was held at the site of mass graves. The difficult heritage of the Kočevska region has been put aside and forgotten. However tragic historical events and their consequences still influence how both groups - former and present inhabitants - understand the (common) cultural heritage. The case study of Kočevska, a former multilingual area, examines changes in presentations and uses of cultural heritage. It focuses on three turning points: the end of World War I and the emergence of the Yugoslav state that brought about a change in majority-minority relations in the Kočevska region; the post-conflict period after the end of World War II, when the ethnic structure of the population changed due to the transfer of the “German” population and the migration of economic migrants from other regions and Yugoslav republics; and lastly the period of accession to the European Union after Slovenia gained independence. The focus of the research will be on the understanding and maintenance of the multi-ethnic cultural heritage of Kočevska region, its representations and reinterpretations in the past and present Kočevska region as well as in Gottscheer emigrant communities around the world. It will also shed light on the consequences that the disrupted continuity of settlement and the change of the population structure (i.e. a lack of common identity of the postwar immigrants) has for the present-day inhabitants and development of the Kočevska region. Within the context of the project, we will examine the lives of post-war immigrants in an area with difficult heritage (the heritage of an ""absent"" neighbor, the sites of the post-war massacres, penal camps, a closed-off military area). The study will go beyond this and touch on the connection between the difficult heritage of the Kočevska region, the relationship between Germans and Slovenes in Slovenia, and the national (political) discourse, without overlooking the consideration of national reconciliation that has been dividing the Slovenian (political) space for decades. The research will help to understand the role of heritage in constructing identities during different periods and under different political circumstances. It will provide an understanding of the past and enrich the view on changes and valuations of heritage. By examining the attitude of inhabitants of the traumatized area towards their own heritage and towards the heritage of the “Other” it will provide an insight into the strategies of (new and old) inhabitants of the area when confronting the troubled past, which is especially relevant in the modern world facing wars and migrant crises.