Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral
Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland (German) | |||||||||||
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1943–1945 | |||||||||||
Capital | Triest | ||||||||||
Government | Commissariat | ||||||||||
High Commissioner | |||||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Friedrich Rainer | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
1943 | |||||||||||
1945 | |||||||||||
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Today part of |
The Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (
Background
OZAK was established, with its headquarters in Trieste, on 10 September 1943, by
The OZAK was not incorporated in the German Reich outright, but attached to the
Genocidal activities
OZAK was the scene of genocidal activities. Its commander, Higher
Globocnik, returning to his native city in triumph in mid-September 1943, established his office at Via Nizza 21 in Trieste and began to carry out Einsatz R, the systematic persecution of Jews, partisans and anti-Nazi politicians in Friuli, Istria and other areas of the Croatian Adriatic coastline. His staff of 92, mostly members of the German and Ukrainian SS with killing experience gained in Operation Reinhard, was quickly expanded to combat the unrelenting partisan activity throughout the region. Globocnik's domain included Risiera di San Sabba, a large, disused and decrepit rice mill at Ratto della Pileria 43 in the Triestine suburb of San Sabba.[10] Under his supervision it was converted into the only Nazi extermination camp in Italian territory. The camp was used to detain hostages, partisans and political prisoners, and as a collection and transit camp for Jews being deported to Nazi concentration camps.[11] In October 1943, arrests started and the camp opened,[12] staffed primarily by German and Ukrainian members of the SS under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Christian Wirth, former commander of Belzec extermination camp. Wirth was killed by Yugoslav Partisans in Opatija, on 26 May 1944.[13] He was replaced by Wirth's former deputy in Lublin and successor in Belzec, SS-Hauptsturmführer Gottlieb Hering. Hering was replaced by SS-Obersturmbannführer Dietrich Allers in August 1944.[14] On 28 April 1945, the San Sabba camp ceased operating, and Waffen-SS troops set free the remaining inmates and demolished the gas chamber and incinerator building the next day, to destroy evidence of war crimes.[15]
Over 25,000 Italian, Slovene, Croatian and Jewish civilians passed through the San Sabba camp, about 5,000 were killed there by various methods including gassing. Today the rice mill is an Italian National Memorial Site.[16] The camp's commanders and collaborators were tried in Trieste in 1976,[17] but their sentences were never carried out.
German plans for the region
The ethnic and political re-definition of the Adriatic Littoral was considered during the war on a theoretical level. In a telegram sent on 9 September 1943 to foreign minister
The ethno-social composition of Venezia-Giulia, Trieste, and Friuli was an important component to Germany's plans of occupation. The fascist government had lost support of the fragmented social groups throughout the region- and the collapse of the regime ushered in a period of disorientation amongst Italians.[4] Nazi propaganda worked to create the illusion that the areas under the zone had Austro-Hungarian roots. Germany had plans to adopt the region as part of the Reichstag; however, they used the region's imperial-past to make connections with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They named the zone "Adriatisches Küstenland" which bore reference to the Austro-Hungarian past as that had been the name used by the empire in reference to areas North of the Adriatic. This propaganda relates to the greater German plan as they intended to replace Rome with Vienna as the capital of the region.[4] Germans believed that by referencing the prosperous past, they could evoke feelings of nostalgia that would ultimately forge cultural links between Vienna and Trieste to Germany.
Nazis employed more tactics of propaganda as seen in Italy through the creation of the Italian Social Republic (RSI), which effectively was a puppet-government that was under the control of Germany. With the RSI in control, Germany was able to enact extremely repressive laws which targeted specific ethnic and national groups, thereby spreading Nazi ideology throughout the zone. On 10 November 1943, Karl Lapper - head of SS Alpenland- issued an order which restricted all Italian radio and news sources within the zone, as they were substituted with German broadcasts of radio and news.[4] By creating an extensive propaganda network that affected all parts of daily life, Germans were able to coerce support for the Nazi cause.
The future of the Province of Udine (Central and Western
Several factions within the Nazi government also intended to extend the area of the two operational zones even further to the detriment of Italian territory. Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary that the only "logical" border would be one that included the territories of the former Habsburg Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, expressing his hopes that Hitler's renewed friendship with Benito Mussolini would not deter him from this step:[18]
We must not only get back South Tyrol, but I envisage the boundary line drawn south of Venice. Whatever was once an Austrian possession we must get back into our own hands. The Italians by their infidelity and treachery have lost any claim to a national state of the modern type.
He eventually managed to convince Hitler that this course of action should be undertaken, who agreed that Venice should be bound to the Reich in "some sort of loose confederation."[18]
Military operations in the zone
Since an Allied landing in the area was anticipated by the Germans,[19] and because of presence of large numbers of Italian, Slovene and Croatian partisans, OZAK also hosted a substantial German military contingent, commanded by General der Gebirgstruppe Ludwig Kübler. On 28 September 1944, these units were redesignated LXXXXVII Army Corps.[20] Nearly every available armored vehicle, modern or obsolete, was pressed into service with Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Ordnungspolizei, or fascist Italian and Slovenian units.[citation needed]
On 30 April 1945, several thousand volunteers of the Italian anti-fascist
See also
- Slovenian National Defense Corps
- Adriatic Campaign of World War II
- Areas annexed by Nazi Germany
References
- ^ (in Italian) http://www.panzer-ozak.it/immagini/mappaozak100grande.gif
- ^ A copy of an existing document is available online. It reads
"In addition to my (...) order of the commander of the Greater German Reich in Italy and the organisation of the occupied Italian area from 10 September 1943 I determine:
The supreme commanders in the Operational Zone Adriatic Coast consisting of the provinces of Friaul, Görz, Triest, Istrien, Fiume, Quarnero, Laibach, and in the Prealpine Operations Zone consisting of the provinces of Bozen, Trient and Belluno receive the fundamental instructions for their activity from me.
Führer's headquarters, 10 September 1943.
The Führer Gen. Adolf Hitler". - ^ ISBN 978-0-8047-3615-2. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ^ S2CID 159821248.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-57181-435-7. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-842127353.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-7924-1.
- ^ Odilo Globocnik
- ^ Gallery – The Risiera di San Sabba – Photos
- ^ Risiera di San Sabba
- ISBN 978-0-691-08697-2. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-521-84101-6. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-203-36123-8. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-1625-7. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-84127-284-9. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ^ "ANED | The camps | The "Risiera" National Memorial Site". Archived from the original on 2006-06-05. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
- ^ "ANED | The camps | Risiera. The Trial". Archived from the original on 2006-06-05. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
- ^ a b [Rich, Norman: Hitler's War Aims: The Establishment of the New Order, page 320. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 1981.]
- ISBN 978-963-9241-80-0. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-19-820873-0. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
- ^ "UK Official History • Trieste and Austrian Crises". Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
- ^ II: Confrontation with the Yugoslavs | NZETC
- ^ McLintock, A. H., ed. (1966). "The Army – From the Senio to Trieste". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
External links
- Panzers in the OZAK 1943-1945 by Stefano di Giusto, standard reference to German and collaborationist armor in the Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland. Accessed 15 June 2006.
- the story of Risiera di San Sabba