This master thesis primarily focuses on the analysis of the testimonies of Slovenian witnesses to World War 2 on Slovenian ground, and tries to gain understanding of their accounts by way of illuminating the specifics of wartime. The core material is gathered from two television programmes, Pričevalci (Witnesses) and Spomini (Memories), as shown on Radio-Television of Slovenia, airing in 2014 and 2016, respectively, and available in the archives of the RTV of Slovenia website. The introduction brings an overview of the newspaper reportings published in Slovenski dom (Slovenian Home) and Slovenski poročevalec (Slovenian reporter) between 1941 and 1945. Through this, the propaganda of the so called bourgeois or antirevolutionary camp and the liberation movement is presented. In both newspapers, the propaganda reflects a time of tense relations and dividing lines within the Slovenian nation at the time of World War 2. The end of the war in May of 1945 failed to bring peace to the Slovenian ground. After war, the new regime dealt with occupying forces, collaborators and opponents of the new communist system by performing killings and carrying out quick legal proceedings before courts of national honour. The collective memory of the newly-formed country centred on reviving the memory of the successes of the liberation movement during war. The fourth chapter presents the views of contemporary historians on the historiography before and after 1991, especially on the revision of recent Slovenian history the political use of history. The second part of the thesis opens with the fifth chapter, which summarises the theory of oral history, outlines the differences between written and oral records and emphasises the significance and role of the interview in oral history. The sixth chapter defines the term ''witness'' and focuses on the role of testimonies at the Eichmann trial, which granted witnessess political recognition and appointed them messengers of history. The second part of the chapter introduces Slovenian witnesses to World War 2, present today on various media channels, such as radio, television and social networks. The seventh chapther brings a close analysis of the programmes Pričevalci and Spomini as well as the comparison between the two. Along with the analysis, the structure and the content of the testimonies are explored, as well as the role of witnesses and the informative value of both programmes. As both programmes contain a large number of episodes, the episodes chosen are from either the first or last year that the programme aired. The analysed episodes of the Pričevalci programme are from 2014 and 2020, while for the Spomini programme, the years are 2016 and 2020. The eighth chapter delves into the memories of the witnesses and ponders on the difference between individual and collective memory. The conclusion of the thesis summarises the findings of the analysis of the Slovenski dom and Slovenski poročevalec newspapers and the Pričevalci and Spomini television programmes.
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