Editing Maribor (section)

===World War II and aftermath===
{{see also|Maribor prison massacres|Stalag XVIII-D}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 121-0723, Marburg-Drau, Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|left|[[Adolf Hitler]] on the [[Old Bridge (Maribor)|Old Bridge]] in Maribor, Yugoslavia in 1941.]]
In 1941 [[Styria (Slovenia)|Lower Styria]], the predominantly Slovene part of Styria, was annexed by Nazi Germany. German troops marched into the town at 9 pm on 8 April 1941.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Vojaškošolski zbornik|url=http://www.slovenskavojska.si/fileadmin/slovenska_vojska/pdf/publikacije/VSZ_julij_2011A.pdf |location=Maribor |publisher=Poveljstvo za doktrino, razvoj, izobraževanje in usposabljanje |page=19 |date=2011 }}</ref> On 26 April [[Adolf Hitler]], who encouraged his followers to "make this land German again",<ref name="Tomasevich">{{cite book|author=Jozo Tomasevich|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration|volume=2|date=31 January 2001|publisher=Stanford University Press| isbn=978-0-8047-3615-2|page=85}}</ref> visited Maribor and a grand reception was organised in the city castle by the local Germans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kamra.si/digitalne-zbirke/item/dogodki-na-glavnem-trgu-hitler-v-mariboru.html|title=Hitler v Mariboru}}</ref> Immediately after the occupation, Nazi Germany began mass expulsions of Slovenes to the [[Independent State of Croatia]], [[Serbia]], and later to the [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration and work camps]] in Germany. The Nazi goal was to Germanize the population of Lower Styria after the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.drustvo-izgnancev.si/si/dejavnosti/|title=Društvo izgnancev Slovenije}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pokarh-mb.si/si/aktualno/240/vlak-bratstva-in-enotnosti.html|title=Pokrajinski arhiv Maribor}}</ref> Slovene patriots were taken hostage and many were later shot in the prisons of Maribor and Graz.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.svobodnabeseda.si/govor-dr-marjana-znidarica-v-mariboru-1-10/|title=Svobodna beseda}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/razstave/dragi-vsi-danes-sem-bil-obsojen-na-smrt/292715|title=Nova razstava Muzeja narodne osvoboditve Maribor}}</ref> This led to organised resistance by [[Slovene Partisans|Slovene partisans]]. The first act of resistance in Maribor and occupied Slovenia occurred only three days after Hitler's visit, when Slovene communists and [[League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia|SKOJ]] members burned two German cars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rtvslo.si/radiomaribor/spomincice/bojan-ilich-1922-1941-eden-prvih-upornikov-proti-nacizmu-v-mariboru/501692|title=Bojan Ilich (1922–1941) eden prvih upornikov proti nacizmu v Mariboru}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maribor.si/povezava.aspx?pid=13371|title=Spominski dan MO Maribor in Dan upora proti okupatorju - Volkmerjev prehod}}</ref>

[[File:Glavni_trg_v_Mariboru_ob_osvoboditvi_1945.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Maribor in ruins, 1945.]]

Maribor was the site of a [[List of German World War II POW camps|German prisoner-of-war camp]] from 1941 to 1945 for many British, Australian, and New Zealand troops who had been captured in [[Battle of Crete|Crete in 1941]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stammlager|url=https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Kriegsgefangenenlager/Stammlager-R.htm|access-date=2022-02-15|website=www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=II: The Crete Campaign—Prisoners in Greece and Germany &#124; NZETC|url=http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Pris-_N75380.html|access-date=2022-02-15|website=www.nzetc.org}}</ref> In 1944, the largest mass rescue of POWs of the war in Europe took place when 105 Allied prisoners from the camp were freed by Slovene partisans in the [[Raid at Ožbalt]]. The city, a major industrial centre with an extensive armament industry, was systematically bombed by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in the closing years of [[World War II]]. A total of 29 bombing raids devastated some 47% of the city area, killing 483 civilians and leaving over 4,200 people homeless.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zivljenjenadotik.si/index.php?id=275&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3178&cHash=1838e06bd636ba2a9732f225784f6f85|title=Maribor 2012: Smrt je kosila tudi iz zraka|website=Zivljenjenadotik.si |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> Over 2,600 people died in Maribor during the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/razstave/kako-so-proslavili-osvoboditev-maribora-in-ga-znova-postavili-na-noge/364639|title=Kako so proslavili osvoboditev Maribora in ga znova postavili na noge|trans-title=How Maribor was liberated and rebuilt|publisher=[[RTV Slovenija]]|date=8 May 2015|access-date=12 May 2015}}</ref> By the end of the war, Maribor was the most war-damaged major town of Yugoslavia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zveza-msdbranik.si/vsebina/1/30/Po_2._svetovni_vojni.html |title=Zveza mariborskih športnih društev Branik |website=Zveza-msdbranik.si |access-date=14 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618180213/http://www.zveza-msdbranik.si/vsebina/1/30/Po_2._svetovni_vojni.html |archive-date=18 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The remaining German-speaking population, except those who had actively supported the resistance during the war, was [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)|summarily expelled]] at the end of the war in May 1945.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Preece|first=Jennifer Jackson|date=1998|title=Ethnic Cleansing as an Instrument of Nation-State Creation: Changing State Practices and Evolving Legal Norms|journal=Human Rights Quarterly|volume=20|issue=4|pages=817–842|issn=0275-0392|jstor=762790|doi=10.1353/hrq.1998.0039|s2cid=201768841}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Troha |first=Nevenka |year=2014 |title=Nasilje vojnih in povojnih dni |location=Ljubljana |publisher=Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino |page=121}}</ref> At the same time [[Croatian Home Guard (World War II)|Croatian Home Guard]] members and their relatives who tried to escape from Yugoslavia were executed by the [[Yugoslav People's Army|Yugoslav Army]]. The existence of [[Mass graves in Maribor|nine mass graves]] in and near Maribor was revealed after Slovenia's independence.<ref>{{Cite book|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941–1945|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo|year=2001}}</ref>