Miha Krek’s Reports on the Communist Seizure of Power and Repression in Yugoslavia (1944–1945)

The paper examines the reports of Miha Krek, a leading Slovenian politician of the Slovenian People’s Party during World War II, preserved in the personal archive of British intelligence officer Stephen Clissold at the Bodleian Library. Written between 1944 and 1945, Krek’s reports document the communist consolidation of power in Yugoslavia under Tito’s Partisans, with a particular focus on Slovenia, and detail the systematic repression of the Catholic clergy and anti-communist elements. Drawing from his sources in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Krek portrays the communist-led Liberation Front as a Soviet-backed instrument of terror aimed at establishing totalitarian rule. His appeals to British authorities for Anglo-American occupation of Slovenia reflect his vision of Slovenia as a Western, Catholic nation resisting communist domination. The study analyzes Krek’s anti-communist rhetoric, his documentation of massacres, and his proposals for Yugoslavia’s future, highlighting his prioritization of Slovenian interests despite a nominal Yugoslav outlook.