AI Summary
5 min readIn May 1945, a week after the armistice, the small Austrian town of Bleiburg became the site of a mass repatriation that would end in slaughter. British forces, overwhelmed by the flood of surrendered soldiers and refugees streaming across the frontier from Yugoslavia, received an order: all surrendered personnel of Yugoslav nationality who had served in German forces should be disarmed and handed over to Tito's partisans. The new Yugoslav leader had assured their safety. The soldiers were herded into cattle trucks and sent south. There would be no clemency. For the repatriated of Bleiburg, the only route led to forced marches, remote killing sites, and mass graves. The massacres were about to begin.
The War That Would Not End
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:04) **The Bleiburg Repatriations Begin** - In May 1945, British forces in Austria hand over surrendered Yugoslav nationals to Tito’s partisans, setting the stage for mass executions.
- 2 (05:25) **Tito’s Victory and the Post-War Political Landscape** - Tito enters Belgrade in 1944, and by war’s end Yugoslavia has lost a tenth of its population, mostly to internal conflict.
- 3 (08:04) **Building a Multi-Ethnic Government** - Tito convenes a provisional government in March 1945, featuring a broad coalition of nationalities and political backgrounds.
- 4 (11:49) **The Bleiburg Massacres and Their Aftermath** - Repatriated prisoners face forced marches and executions, with estimates of up to 100,000 killed across Slovenia and Croatia.
- 5 (17:45) **Consolidating Power: Elections and the Abolition of the Monarchy** - Tito sidelines opponents, holds rigged elections, and abolishes the monarchy, establishing one-party rule.
- 6 (20:17) **Yugoslavia’s Stalinist Alignment** - The new constitution mirrors the Soviet model, and Yugoslavia becomes a loyal Soviet ally, though tensions simmer.
- 7 (23:27) **The Capture and Trial of Draža Mihailović** - Tito’s men trap and kidnap the Chetnik leader, who is put on a show trial and executed.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
In the war’s aftermath Tito exacts his bloody revenge. Manoeuvring the king out of the picture, Yugoslavia is swiftly consolidated under communist rule. A clash with the US risks further conflict, even a nuclear strike. Though the biggest showdown is to come… with Joseph Stalin…
A Noiser podcast production. Narrated by Paul McGann.
Featuring Neil Barnett, Branko Brkic, Christopher Catherwood, Richard Mills, Nicholas O’Shaughnessy, Geoffrey Swain, Susan L Woodward.
This is Part 4 of 5.
Written by Jeff Dawson | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design & audio editing by George Tapp | Assembly editing by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cian Ryan-Morgan | Recording engineer: Joseph McGann.
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