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Occupation Borders as High-Intensity Border-Making : Slovenia, 1941–19451
ID Ajlec, Kornelija (Author), ID Repe, Božo (Author)

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Abstract
In April 1941, Slovene-inhabited territory was divided among four Axis powers: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary, and the Independent State of Croatia, each of which claimed that the occupied territory was historically or ethnically its own. This article contributes to phantom border studies on two levels. First, it argues that the key variable in producing the long- -term e'ects of borders is not their duration, but rather the combination of intense coercion, demographic disruption, the replacement of administrative structures, and the violent interruption of established spatial practices. Second, the article distinguishes between classical phantom borders, which emerge through long-term institutional internalization, and coercive occupation borders, which, due to violence and contested sovereignty, produce primarily traumatic and conflictual forms of persistence. Populations often functionally adapted to such borders yet never granted them normative legitimacy. The article further distinguishes between spatial afterlives, which gradually weaken at the local level, and discursive afterlives, that is, legitimizing languages of historical restitution and civilizational hierarchy that remain politically available long after the borders themselves have disappeared. The article thereby refines the existing conceptual framework of phantom borders and proposes a model applicable to other cases of short-lived yet highly coercive border-making in Southeast Europe and beyond.

Language:English
Keywords:phantom borders, coercive territorialization, occupation borders, spatial afterlives, discursive afterlives, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, Second World War, Southeast Europe
Work type:Article
Typology:1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:FF - Faculty of Arts
Publication status:Published
Publication version:Version of Record
Publication date:01.01.2026
Year:2026
Number of pages:Str. 47-77
Numbering:9, [št.] 1
PID:20.500.12556/RUL-185018 This link opens in a new window
UDC:796.41.035"1901/1914"
ISSN on article:2630-3426
DOI:10.64651/retrospektive.2026.9.1.2 This link opens in a new window
COBISS.SI-ID:285476611 This link opens in a new window
Publication date in RUL:20.07.2026
Views:130
Downloads:73
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Record is a part of a journal

Title:Retrospektive : znanstvena revija za zgodovinopisje in sorodna področja
Publisher:Združenje za promocijo kulturne dediščine, raziskav in novih tehnologij- Retrospektive
ISSN:2630-3426
COBISS.SI-ID:297275392 This link opens in a new window

Licences

License:CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Link:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Description:This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

Language:Slovenian
Abstract:
Aprila 1941 je bilo slovensko etnično ozemlje razdeljeno med štiri sile osi: nacistično Nemčijo, fašistično Italijo, Madžarsko in Neodvisno državo Hrvaško, pri čemer je vsaka izmed njih trdila, da je zasedeno ozemlje zgodovinsko ali etnično njeno. Članek k študijam fantomskih meja prispeva na dveh ravneh. Prvič, zagovarja tezo, da pri nastanku dolgoročnih učinkov meja ni odločilno njihovo trajanje, temveč kombinacija intenzivne prisile, demografskih pretresov, zamenjave upravnih struktur in nasilne prekinitve ustaljenih prostorskih praks. Drugič, članek razlikuje med klasičnimi fantomskimi mejami, ki nastajajo skozi dolgotrajno institucionalno ponotranjenje, in prisilnimi okupacijskimi mejami, ki zaradi nasilja in sporne suverenosti ustvarjajo predvsem travmatične in konfliktne oblike ohranjanja. Prebivalstvo se je takšnim mejam pogosto funkcionalno prilagodilo, vendar jim ni nikoli priznalo normativne legitimnosti. Članek nadalje razlikuje med prostorskimi ponotranjenji, ki postopoma in lokalno slabijo, ter diskurzivnimi ponotranjenji, torej legitimacijskimi jeziki zgodovinske restitucije in civilizacijske hierarhije, ki ostajajo politično uporabni še dolgo po izginotju samih meja. Prispevek tako nadgrajuje obstoječi konceptualni okvir fantomskih meja in predlaga model, uporaben tudi za druge primere kratkotrajnega, vendar izrazito nasilnega ustvarjanja meja v jugovzhodni Evropi in širše.

Keywords:fantomske meje, prisilna teritorializacija, okupacijske meje, prostorska ponotranjenja, diskurzivna ponotranjenja, Slovenija, Jugoslavija, druga svetovna vojna, jugovzhodna Evropa

Projects

Funder:ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
Project number:P6-0235-2022
Name:Slovenska zgodovina

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