In my thesis, I will examine Slovenian emigration, which was a consequence of World War II and the
related civil war on Slovenian soil, in the novel Poslednji deseti bratje by writer Zorko Simčič. I will
shed light on the events of the war, particularly the establishment and activities of the Home Guard
camp, in order to facilitate a better understanding of the mass emigration that occurred in Slovenia
after the war. I will focus on the experiences, fates, and lives in exile of the twenty-one literary
characters featured in Simčič's novel, while also exploring their connection to their homeland. I will
examine Slovenian emigration in connection with the myth of the »desetništvo«, which we follow in
the novel as the main myth in the inserted story about Destnica Marjetica, which develops and builds
a new, modern »desetništvo« lived by the characters in the novel. I will also shed light on two different
worlds connected by the fate of the tithe through two beliefs – pagan and Christian – which influence
the literary characters in their actions and thinking and are intertwined. I will determine the time and
place of the novel's events, present its external and internal structure, and explore the connection
between the autobiographical and literary elements of the novel and the question of the meaning of
literary creation in exile. I consider the treatment of Slovenian emigration in the novel Poslednji deseti
bratje to be important, as it is a novel that speaks of the fate of those who had to leave their homeland,
to which most emigrants never returned; the theme of the opposing sides in the civil war and the
associated extrajudicial mass killings remain an unresolved issue in Slovenia's recent history.
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