European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

it was decided to have a silent protest march up to the cathedral.

Although the bishop did not allow that, we still went up there.

At the police station, the police were already waiting with the fire brigade.

When we got up there, there was a barrier.

Some of our people jumped up and tried to clear the way.

All of a sudden they pointed these hoses at us and instead of a greeting, they soaked us.

On the other side the English were standing.

I got so annoyed: “Oh, these are our confederates?”

We laughed into their faces.

Our women - our mothers were crying and screaming.

At that time I said: “If I could, I would jump into his face and rip his face apart.”

In this situation, Austria being liberated, we being liberated,

and you still have to face things like this, made us furious.

Well, up to 1955, they were able to learn German and Slovenian in school, as it was a bilingual area.

All of a sudden, with the treaty, it was different again. A state treaty was around 1957.

The teachers went out onto the streets with the children

and protested that they couldn’t teach and learn Slovenian.

Later our children had to be subscribed by their parents, if they wanted them to learn Slovenian.

Only the oldest ones didn’t have to.

But the lessons weren’t the same as the German ones.