After the capitulation of Italy in September 1943, German forces occupied the Ljubljana province and the Littoral region, establishing the Slovene Home Guard as auxiliary police forces operating under the command of the SS units and the German police. The Slovene Home Guard was thus the result of an agreement between a faction of the bourgeois camp, led by General Leon Rupnik, and the occupiers – the Germans. The purpose of its establishment was to combat the partisan movement in Slovenia. Amid a conflict that partially resembled a civil war, both sides developed a strong propaganda machine to influence public opinion and mobilize support. The Home Guard propaganda, which was under strict control of the occupiers, was distinctly pro-German. This thesis is based on the analysis of the Slovene Home Guard propaganda in Slovenia during World War II.
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