“That is why today, on All Saints’ Day, when we remember our dead, we also light candles in memory of the partisan who took up arms because the occupier burnt down his home or murdered his parents. He believed that he was defending his home, his family, and his country. He did not turn the other cheek, and on a personal level, he did the right thing. And let us also light a candle for the Home Guard whose father and sister were killed and whose home was burnt down by the ideologically blinded partisans. He did not turn the other cheek, and on a personal level, he did the right thing. He defended his family and his home.”
On All Saints’ Day, when we commemorate the dead, the leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), Janez Janša, also wrote about his own views of this holiday. In particular, he touched on those who still do not have a grave and lie in one of Slovenia’s numerous mass graves. Janša has repeatedly heard the famous phrase from the Bible about “turning the other cheek” in eulogies – a phrase that has brought sadness and tears to the few miraculous survivors.
As Janša pointed out, it was highly inappropriate to quote this passage from the Bible at such mourning ceremonies. “It would be equally inappropriate to hear it at a mourning ceremony for murdered partisans, hostages, or anyone who defended their parents, brothers, sisters, children, their home or themselves, by arms or otherwise, while being in mortal danger.” According to Janša, you can only turn the other cheek when the situation is about you, but not when you are obliged to defend your wife, children or parents, and he believes it is right that on this holiday, we also light candles for those murdered partisans whose home was burnt down by the occupier and whose family was killed, as well as for the Home Guard whose father and sister were killed and whose home was burnt down by ideologically blinded partisans. “He did not turn the other cheek, and on a personal level, he did the right thing. He defended his family and his home.”
Janša condemned those who took advantage of the war and the occupation to make their bloody rise to power. Who forbade any struggle against the occupier outside their control, because they saw their own brothers and their guns as a greater obstacle to a power grab than the occupier and his guns.
As Janša also wrote, reconciliation in the Slovenian nation can only be based on truth and an understanding of the weight of the personal decisions of individuals on both sides. “And acknowledgement for both of them that they did the right thing by not turning the other cheek.” He reiterated that there is a growing understanding of this among the younger generation, but warned at the same time, that we are approaching dangerous times.
You can read Janša’s writing in its entirety below:
“Do you really have to turn the other cheek if you are slapped on one?
Today, we remember that part of our community, which is made up of our dead. Especially our loved ones and those who still do not have a grave. For the latter, since 1990, we can at least light a candle in public at one of the hundreds of known mass graves in Slovenia. We have been gathering for three decades now in Kočevski Rog, Teharje, Huda Jama and elsewhere, and when we have gathered there, we have listened to mostly weighty eulogies and sermons by Catholic priests and bishops. Sadly, we also often hear the famous phrase from the Bible: “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also,” or vice versa.
In the first decade after Slovenia gained independence, the mourning ceremonies were attended by many elderly people who had experienced first-hand the cruel times of the occupation and the communist revolution. There were also some of the miraculous survivors present, who did not turn the right cheek at the time but defended themselves in one way or another. I have often seen bitterness, sadness, and tears on their faces when we heard this sentence. The bitterness of realising that, even after all these decades, even the world that is close to them does not understand the weight of their decisions or the depth of their pain. In the mid-1990s, in Rog pod Krenom, one could also hear the loud muttering and half-voiced exclamation of a man who said: “They did not hit me – because I wasn’t at home. They came in the middle of the night, dragged away and murdered my father, my mother and my older sister. What should I wait for, for them to come for me, my younger brother and my sister next time?”
That was the first time I thought that quoting this passage of Scripture at such mourning ceremonies was highly inappropriate. It would be equally inappropriate to hear it at a mourning ceremony for murdered partisans, hostages, or anyone who defended their parents, brothers, sisters, children, their home, or themselves, at gunpoint or otherwise in mortal danger. Yes, you can turn the right cheek if you are slapped on the left. But only your own. That is your choice. But if your wife, children or parents are being beaten, then you do not have that right. Not before yourself and not before God. You have a duty to defend them.
That is why today, on All Saints’ Day, when we remember our dead, we also light candles in memory of the partisan who took up arms because the occupier burnt down his home or murdered his parents. He believed that he was defending his home, his family, and his country. He did not turn the other cheek, and on a personal level, he did the right thing. And let us also light a candle for the Home Guard whose father and sister were killed and whose home was burnt down by the ideologically blinded partisans. He did not turn the other cheek, and on a personal level, he did the right thing. He defended his family and his home.
But we condemn those who used the time of war and occupation for a bloody rise to power. Who forbade any struggle against the occupier outside their control, because they saw their own brothers and their guns as a greater obstacle to a power grab than the occupier and his guns.
Reconciliation in the Slovenian nation can only be based on truth and an understanding of the weight of the personal decisions of individuals on both sides. And the acknowledgement that they were right not to turn the other cheek. I am pleased to see that among the younger generation, too, there are more and more who take both for granted. In the dangerous times ahead, this is extremely important.
Andrej Žitnik
