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Mit - SINFO 2008 04 - 8 - Index

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exceptions, the Germans confiscated all the factories in Kranj and
started deportation − they wanted to deport most Slovenes to
Serbia and Germany. At the end of the war, what was left of our
factory was burned down, so that only ruins were left.
PurSuaNt to tHE lEGISlatIoN IN
forcE aftEr tHE war, tHE ProPErty
coNfIScatED by tHE occuPIErS
SHoulD HavE bEEN rEturNED to tHE
owNErS ImmEDIatEly. DID you GEt
bacK your loSt ProPErty?
The authorities after the war did not hurry with restitution, as they
were anticipating re-confiscating, or nationalising everything as
soon as possible. They returned the land where the factory used
to be, but the machines remained scattered all over Slovenia.
Then the restitution process stopped. Still more, I was charged
with espionage and everything was confiscated from my family
in a after-war trial - that is, from my father and me, as we were
convicted.
Ljubo Sirc was born in 1920 in Kranj into a well-known
family of industrialists. He graduated from the Faculty
of Law in Ljubljana, where he joined a group of leftwing
intellectuals. At the beginning of the 2nd World
War, the occupiers confiscated the family's textile
factory, which at that time employed 250 workers, and
turned it into an arms factory.
Ljubo joined the Liberation Front and saw the end of
the war as a partisan. After the war he started working
at the government presidency press office, where he
was responsible for foreign journalists and translating
agency news. Due to his freethinking − he was one of
the initiators who set up a non-communist opposition
− he soon personally experienced the brutality of the
communist regime in post-war Yugoslavia. In August
1947 he was proclaimed an English spy and sentenced
to death. The verdict was later changed to 20 years in
prison. He spent 7 and half years there, and in 1955 he
secretly escaped from the country. His uncle and father
were also sentenced to prison for espionage, and the
latter also died in prison.
Ljubo Sirc took his doctorate in Switzerland and lectured
at the University of Glasgow until his retirement.
In 2001, Queen Elizabeth II personally made him a
CBE (Companion of the British Empire) for spreading
democratic ideas in Eastern Europe. In 2003 he became
an honorary freeman of Kranj, and he is currently a
member of the Slovenian Government Strategic Council.
In his various teaching posts, including twenty years
at the University of Glasgow, Sirc has been a leading
expert on socialist economics and communist regimes.
He is one of the founders of the Centre for Research
into Communist Economies (CRCE) in London and as of
2006 its current director. For many years, he lectured in
Political Economy at Glasgow University.
sinfo april 08 18
wHat wErE you coNvIctED of?
After my beginnings in the Liberation Front, I was with
the partisans in 1944-1945. After the war, I worked as an
interpreter and therefore met many foreigners. I obviously did
not behave as expected by the communist authorities. We were
not supposed to have contacts with foreigners. I thought that
was ridiculous. I still did not understand communism very well,
but on the other hand, such a stand seemed dangerous to
me − it expressed hostile conduct towards the British, French
and other nations. That was very stupid and it cost us the
possibility of alliances. As I was associating with foreigners more
than I was supposed to, I came under close scrutiny. But there
was another reason. I was one of the people who started to
establish a democratic opposition. The authorities at that time
did not expect anybody to do such things. It wasn’t forbidden,
but it also wasn’t desirable.
you aND your fatHEr wErE
offIcIally juDGED INNocENt by tHE
SuPrEmE court oNly IN 1991.
New times came − times of setting right past injustices. The
Court admitted that the trial was a fake; that ordinary relations
with foreigners were turned into espionage and every attempt to
act outside the communist party was considered high treason.
The verdict was overturned. As the sole survivor, I should also get
back all the confiscated property. But the process started to stall
and everything went wrong.
wHy?
I suddenly got the feeling that the court was functioning
according to some principle of the silent use of court procedures.
Legislation was changing, and these changes had a retroactive
effect. That is prohibited in normal democracies.
you rEcENtly wrotE tHat IN
SlovENIa, juDGES StIll PaSS PolItIcal
juDGEmENtS, aND jourNalIStS aGrEE
wItH PolItIcal juDGES aND StIll wrItE
bIaSED EDItorIalS. arE you claImING
tHat wE HavE PolItIcal juDGES IN
SlovENIa?
It is true that I wrote that. Looking at my case, I can confirm
that once again. Things were running according to the will of the
communist party in power − only what the party says is right and
just. Later we tried to implement the principle of legal certainty,
but the court still defined the facts incorrectly, deformed them
and used the laws arbitrarily. It was a case of old judges. Even
worse are the Constitutional Court judges, which have been
working since 1998. They were selected by the former president
Milan KuËan, whereby he was careful to select only communists.
They only knew how to do their job in the old way.
you arE alSo a mEmbEr of tHE
GovErNmENt StratEGIc couNcIl.
How woulD you DEScrIbE tHE