The Dachau trials (Slovene: Dachauski procesi[1]) were a group of show trials held between 1947 and 1949 in FPR Yugoslavia, mostly in PR Slovenia. The name refers to the fact that 31 of the defendants had been prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp.[2] Thirty seven people were sentenced, 15 of them to death, 10 of whom were executed. All sentences were reversed in April 1986.
The trials marked a departure from previous communist show trials in Slovenia such as the Nagode Trial because until this point the authorities had sought enemies outside the Communist Party, among the non-proletariat and the non-communist intelligentsia. By selecting enemies from the ranks of the Communist Party, a Yugoslav version of the Stalinist show trials was launched.[2]
In the preparations for the trials, a large number of writers, physicians, politicians, and engineers were arrested without knowing whether they would be accused or merely used as witnesses.[3] Those arrested were tortured and deprived of their legal rights.[2][3] Forged documents were prepared as evidence against them and false testimony was prepared.[3]
The defendants in the trials were forced to confess to being Nazi spies while imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp, collaborating with the Gestapo, and working for Western powers after the Second World War in order to undermine socialism.[4][5][6] The proceedings were broadcast to the public via special loudspeakers on the streets.[3] Most of the defendants were shot immediately after being condemned to death, and others were sent to the Goli Otok prison camp.[5] The total number of people executed, the specific dates when they were killed, and where their bodies were disposed of remains unknown.[6] Some are believed to lie in the forest near Kočevje, and others in Ljubljana's Žale cemetery.[2]
The sentences handed down in the trials were reversed in April 1986 at the Tenth Congress of the League of Communists of Slovenia.[1][2][3][6]