Marjan žiberna adria airways, junij,julij 2014

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Pot miru v Posočju Besedilo: Marjan Žiberna fotografije: Tomaž Ovčak, Željko Cimprič, Tamino Petelinšek, Srdjan Živulović, Mihael Uršič, Tadej Koren

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pot TABORS miru IN SLOVENIA

TABORS INpot SLOVENIA miru

Če se potepate po Posočju, kjer narava s svojimi lepotami ni niti malo skoparila, si je le težko predstavljati, da hodite po enem najhujših morišč v zgodovini človeštva. Še posebej, ker se v te kraje verjetno odpravite v lepem vremenu. Morda je ta občutek jasnejši, če je vreme turobno; tedaj je človeku nekako bliže zavest, da stopa po zemlji, ki jo je nekoč pojila človeška kri, po krajih, kjer so po zraku leteli koščki teles, ki so jih mesarili šrapneli granat in drobci kamenja, ob eksplozijah leteči daleč naokrog. Ljudi, ki so pred stoletjem doživeli klavnico soške fronte, danes ni več med živimi, a spomin nanjo ostaja. Ohranjata ga predvsem Kobariški muzej in fundacija Pot miru v Posočju, ki povezuje dediščino fronte s tukajšnjimi naravnimi znamenitostmi. Ohranja pa se tudi v spominu ljudi.

Padli za domovino in cesarja »Ja, tu je bilo grozljivo,« je zmajala z glavo starejša domačinka, ki sva jo s prijateljem Raflom dohitela, ko se je na lep pomladni dan tako kot midva vzpenjala proti cerkvi na Mengorah, hribu nedaleč stran od Tolmina. Izmenjali smo nekaj besed. Povedala je, da se večkrat odpravi sèm in tudi v nekatere druge kraje, kjer so še vedno vidni pomniki vojne. Med starejšimi je zavest o strahotah fronte še živa. O tem, kako je bilo, pričajo tudi mnoge knjige. »Bo tudi moja mati dobila bel telegram, kakršnega mi je v Štanjelu pokazal objokan starec – 'Padel za domovino in presvetlega cesarja …',« je V Viharju soške, enem od knjižnih pričevanj o grozotah tega časa, zapisal Andrej Zlobec, doma iz Ponikve na Krasu. Spomladi leta 1916 je moral kot 17-letnik na fronto. Avstro-Ogrska, ki ji je začelo zmanjkovati topovske hrane, je začela na bojišče pošiljati tudi mlajše od 18 let in t. i. 'črnovojnike', vojake, ki so zaradi starosti ali telesne pomanjkljivosti delovali v pomožnih enotah v zaledju. »V soški klavnici je primanjkovalo 60

streliva, hrane in vode. Le ljudi, ljudi ni nikdar zmanjkalo,« je zapisal. »Desettisoči, stotisoči so prihajali in umirali. … Bolnišnice in previjališča so bili polni ranjencev.« Dolg odmev Na soški fronti je življenje izgubilo več stotisoč vojakov, veliko civilnega prebivalstva je pomrlo za kolero, mnogi so se morali umakniti v begunska taborišča, kjer so prav tako umirali ali pa so se razselili po slovenskem narodnostnem ozemlju. Avstro-ogrske oblasti so z Goriške in iz Posočja izselile kakšnih 80 tisoč domačinov, 10 do 12 tisoč Slovencev so z obmejnega območja pregnali Italijani. Begunci so s seboj jemali vse, kar so lahko odnesli. Tudi hišna vrata, s katerimi so se skušali zavarovati med obstreljevanji. »Oče, ki je fronto doživel kot otrok, mi je pripovedoval o njej, čeprav se je ni spominjal,« je povedala prej omenjena gospa. »Starejši, nono in nona, pa se pred nami otroki o tem sploh niso hoteli pogovarjati. Bilo je prehudo, da bi se sploh hoteli spominjati.«

Grozljive skupne številke mrtvih, ranjenih in pogrešanih niti niso znane; ocene se gibljejo med enim milijonom in milijon štiristo tisoč ljudi. A s koncem bitk žrtev ni bilo konec. Zaradi neeksplodiranih granat so posamezniki umirali še vse do konca minulega stoletja. Še danes je tod mogoče najti neeksplodirane granate. Da o njihovih delcih niti ne govorimo, te najdete na slehernem koraku.

Nekaj dejstev V Posočju se je manj kot leto dni po začetku 1. svetovne vojne vzpostavila 90 kilometrov dolga frontna linija med italijansko in avstro-ogrsko vojsko. Segala je od Tržaškega zaliva na jugu pa vse do 2208 metrov visokega Rombona na severu. 23. maja 1915 je tu potekala prva velika bitka; zadnja, dvanajsta, se je zaključila 27. oktobra 1917.

Soška fronta, ki velja za največji spopad na gorskem območju v zgodovini človeštva, je bila posledica odločitve Italije, da zadosti svojim ozemeljskim apetitom. Leta 1882 je resda sklenila obrambni sporazum z Avstro-Ogrsko in Nemčijo, a se je leta 1914, ko je Avstro-Ogrska napadla Srbijo, izrekla za nevtralno. Ker je bilo vse prej kot jasno, kako se bo vojna razpletla, se je odločila za previdnost. Italijanska diplomacija je na tihem barantala tako s centralnimi silami (Avstro-Ogrsko in Nemčijo) kot tudi z Veliko Britanijo, ki je skupaj s Francijo in Rusijo tvorila t. i. trojno antanto. Slednja je bila s tujo lastnino širokosrčna. Italiji je za vstop v vojno na njeni strani v primeru zmage obljubila precejšnje avstro-ogrsko ozemlje, vključno s Trstom, Gorico in Reko s širokim zaledjem. Obljuba je bila preveč mamljiva, da bi se ji odrekla.

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The Walk of Peace in the Soča Valley text: Marjan Žiberna photographS: Tomaž Ovčak, Željko Cimprič, Tamino Petelinšek, Srdjan Živulović, Mihael Uršič, Tadej Koren

As you wander through the Soča Valley, which nature has filled with unstinting gifts of beauty, it is hard to imagine that you are traversing one of the most terrible killing fields in the history of humanity. Especially because you have probably come here in fine weather. It may be that this feeling is clearer in gloomy weather; perhaps then it is easier to be aware that you are treading on ground that once ran with human blood, and walking through places where mangled bodies flew through the air, cut to pieces by shrapnel and fragments of rock sent flying by explosions. The people who experienced the slaughter of the Soča Front, also known as the Isonzo Front from the Italian name for the Soča river, are no longer alive, but the memory of these terrible events remains. It is conserved above all by the First World War Museum in the town of Kobarid and by the Walk of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation, which connects the heritage of the front with the natural sights of the Soča Valley. It is also conserved in the minds of people who came after.

Tako je Italija napadla Avstro-Ogrsko, v Posočju in na Goriškem se je vzpostavila fronta. V vlogi napadalcev so bili večinoma številčno močnejši in bolje oboroženi Italijani, ki so vkopano avstro-ogrsko vojsko, v kateri je bilo tudi veliko Slovencev, napadali v glavnem ob pomoči topništva. A učinek vseh teh napadov je bil skromen. Frontna linija se je ob velikanskih žrtvah na obeh straneh le nekoliko premikala zdaj na eno, zdaj na drugo stran. Morija se je končala z ofenzivo, ki so jo Italijani, da bi lažje upravičili svoj poraz, poimenovali »čudež pri Kobaridu«.

Avstro-ogrska vojska je oktobra 1917, po skoraj poltretjem letu bojevanja, skupaj z nemškimi vojaki, ki so ji prišli na pomoč, v hitri ofenzivi pregnala Italijane s Soče. A zmagovalne sile antante so po koncu vojne Italijo nagradile s slovenskimi ozemlji njene nekdanje zaveznice Avstro Ogrske, ki jih v boju ni mogla osvojiti.

Spomin in opomin Uradni spomin na soško fronto je bil dolgo odrinjen na obrobje; ljudje, ki so po drugi svetovni vojni prevzeli vajeti novonastale jugoslovanske države, zanjo niso kazali posebnega zanimanja. Stvari so se začele izboljševati v 80. letih minulega stoletja, ko so bili vzpostavljeni pogoji za ustanovitev Kobariškega muzeja, leta 2000 pa se mu je pridružila še fundacija Pot miru v Posočju. Ta se ukvarja, tako kot so pred njo po najboljših močeh počela že nekatera zgodovinska in turistična društva, z zaščito zgodovinske dediščine – utrdb, strelskih jarkov, kavern, vojaških pokopališč ... Ti so vključeni v pot, na kateri so tudi Mengore, kamor sva se tistega dne odpravila s prijateljem. Tako je nastalo več muzejev na prostem, kjer se je danes mogoče seznaniti s preteklostjo. Z zgodovin62

skim spominom in opominom, da se nam ne bi bilo treba že kmalu spet učiti brzdanja samouničevalnih nagonov, ko bi ti že podivjali. »Veliko je bilo že storjenega, da so te stvari postale bolj znane in spoštovane, vendar pa soška fronta, ki je bila zelo podobna veliko bolj znanim bitkam v Verdunu, še nima mesta, ki ji glede na objektivna dejstva gre,« je o pomenu spomina na krvavo bojišče povedal dr. Danilo Türk, nekdanji slovenski predsednik. »Doseči bi bilo treba, da bi Evropa in svet dobro razumela soško fronto kot eno največjih bojišč in tragedij prve svetovne vojne.« Tako je povedal vplivni politik.

Gospa, ki sva jo med povratkom z Mengor srečala počivajočo pri eni od utrdb, pa je rekla: »Če pomislim, kako so v teh rovih trpeli in umirali mladi ljudje, se mi zdijo težave, ki jih imam, tako kot jih imamo vsi starejši, res majhne.« Pot miru Posočje, Gregorčičeva 8, 5220 Kobarid Tel. št.: 05/38 90 167, info@potmiru.si, www.potmiru.si 63

the walk of peace

For Fatherland and Emperor "Yes, it was terrible here," said the old lady, shaking her head. My friend Rafel and I had overtaken her, that fine spring day, as we climbed up towards the church on Mengore, a hill not far from Tolmin. We exchanged a few words. She said that she often came here, and to a few other places where reminders of the war are still visible. Awareness of the horrors of the Soča/Isonzo Front is still strong in people of a certain age. There are also many books that tell of that time.

"Will my mother receive a white telegram like the one that tearful old man showed me in Štanjel – 'Killed fighting for the fatherland and our most illustrious Emperor...'?" wondered Andrej Zlobec, from the Karst village of Ponikve, in his book In the Maelstrom of the Soča, one of the many accounts of the horrors of that time. He was sent to the front in the spring of 1916, aged just seventeen. Austria-Hungary was running short of cannon fodder and had begun sending boys who were not yet eighteen to the battlefield, and with them members of the Landsturm, soldiers whose age or physical infirmities had until then kept them in auxiliary units in the rear. "In the slaughterhouse of the Soča Valley there was a shortage of ammunition, food and water. But there was never any shortage of people," wrote Zlobec. "Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands came and died here. … The hospitals and dressing stations were full of the wounded."

A long echo Hundreds of thousands of soldiers lost their lives on the Soča/Isonzo Front.

A large part of the civilian population died of cholera. Great numbers found themselves in refugee camps, where many also died, or were dispersed across Slovene ethnic territory. The Austro-Hungarian authorities expelled around 80,000 civilians from the Gorizia area and the Soča Valley. Between 10,000 and 12,000 Slovenes were driven out of the border region by the Italians. The displaced persons took with them everything they could carry. Even the doors of their houses, which they used to try and protect themselves during artillery bombardments. "My father, who experienced the front as a child, used to tell me about, even though he couldn't really remember it," said the old lady we met on the path. "The older ones, our grandparents, didn't even want to talk about it in front of us children. It was too awful for them to even think about."

The full numbers of dead, wounded and missing are not known; estimates range from 1,000,000 to 1,400,000. Yet the casualties did not end with the cessation of hostilities. Unexploded shells were still claiming victims right up until the end of the last century. Even today it is possible to find unexploded shells here. Not to mention shell fragments, which you can find at almost every step.

The background Less than a year after the start of the First World War, a 90-kilometre front line between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies was established in the valley of the Soča/Isonzo. It ran from the Gulf of Trieste in the south to the peak of Mount Rombon (2,208 metres) in the north. The first major battle on this front began on 23 May 1915; the last – the twelfth – ended on 27 October 1917.

The Isonzo Front, the largest conflict in a mountain area in human history, was the consequence of Italy's decision to satisfy its territorial appetites. Although it had signed a defensive pact with Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1882 (the Triple Alliance), Italy declared itself neutral when Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia in 1914. Since it was anything but clear how the war was going to develop, the Italians had opted to be cautious. Italian diplomacy was in secret talks both with the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary and Germany) and with Great Britain, which together with France and Russia had formed the Triple Entente. The latter proved to be very free-handed with other people's property.

In an effort to persuade the Italians to enter the war on its side, it promised that in the event of victory Italy would receive a considerable amount of AustroHungarian territory, including Trieste, Gorizia and Fiume (Rijeka), together with a large hinterland. This was too tempting an offer to refuse.

the walk BASEof JUMPING peace

Accordingly, Italy attacked Austria-Hungary and the front was established in the Soča Valley and around Gorizia. The aggressors were, for the most part, the numerically stronger and better-armed Italians, who mainly attacked the entrenched Austro-Hungarian army, which also numbered many Slovenes in its ranks, with the help of artillery. Yet all these attacks had little effect. Despite the enormous numbers of casualties on both sides, the front line hardly moved at all – a little way forwards and then a little way back. The slaughter ended with an offensive which the Italians, perhaps in an attempt to justify their defeat, called the "Miracle of Caporetto" (from the Italian name for Kobarid). In October 1917, after almost two and a half years of fighting, the Austro-Hungarian army, together with the German forces who had come to assist them, drove the Italians from the Soča in a rapid offensive. Nevertheless, after the war the victorious Entente powers rewarded Italy with the Slovene territories of its former ally Austria-Hungary – territories it had been unable to conquer in battle.

A memory and a warning For a long time, official memory of the Isonzo Front was pushed to the margins; the authorities who took the reins of the new Yugoslav state after the Second World War were not particularly interested in it. Things began to improve in the 1980s when conditions were put in place to open a First World War Museum in Kobarid. In 2000 this was joined by the Walk of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The latter dedicates itself – as a number of historical societies and tourism organisations had done before it, to the best of their abilities – to safeguarding the historical heritage of the Soča Valley – fortifications, trenches, bunkers, military cemeteries, etc. These are linked together in a route – the Walk of Peace – which includes Mengore, where my friend and I were headed that spring day. The result was a series of open-air museums, where today it is possible to learn about the past. To discover this historical memory and heed its warning, so that we do not find ourselves having to learn, once again, to restrain our self-destructive impulses when they rage out of control.

"Much has already been done to ensure that these events become better known and honoured, yet the Soča/Isonzo Front, which was very similar to the far more famous Battle of Verdun, has still not been given the place that, in view of the objective facts, it deserves," believes Dr Danilo Türk, the former president of Slovenia. "We need to ensure that Europe and the world properly understand the Soča/Isonzo Front as one of the biggest battlefields and greatest tragedies of the First World War." This is the view of an influential politician.

Meanwhile the old lady we met on our return from Mengore, as she rested by one of the fortifications, had this to say: "If I think about how all those young men suffered and died in these trenches and dugouts, my own problems, the ones all old people have, seem insignificant."

Ustanova “Fundacija Poti miru v Posočju” (The Walk of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation) Gregorčičeva ulica 8, 5222 Kobarid, Slovenia Tel. 00 386 5 389 0167, info@potmiru.si, www.potmiru.si 65

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