Dušan Špindler – Kovač (1912–2003)

Teacher and Central Organizer of the Resistance Movement in Maribor

Authors

  • Mateja Ratej ZRC SAZU, Institute of Cultural History

Keywords:

Maribor, resistance movement 1943-1945, Dušan Špindler, Informbiro, execution of partisan recruits on Pohorje in 1944

Abstract

Through a biographical study of Dušan Špindler (1912– 2003), the author examines the resistance movement in Maribor, whose main organizer from autumn 1943 to spring 1944 was this schoolteacher. A committed communist, Špindler taught at several elementary schools during the 1930s. After the Nazi occupation and his return from the Mauthausen concentration camp, he was tasked by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovenia for northeastern Slovenia with building the backbone of the Maribor resistance movement, with the assistance of fellow teachers. During the Informbiro trials of 1949–1950, he was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment with forced labour on charges of collaboration with the Gestapo. However, his conviction was most closely connected to the tragic events on Pohorje in January 1944, when a group of new recruits from the Slovenske Gorice region were tortured and executed within a partisan unit on suspicion of sympathizing with the Blue Guard movement.

Author Biography

  • Mateja Ratej, ZRC SAZU, Institute of Cultural History

    PhD, Research Associate, ZRC SAZU, Institute of Cultural History

References

Arhivski viri

Arhiv Muzeja narodne osvoboditve Maribor (AMNOM)

58/I, osebna mapa Maksa Gašpariča.

Arhiv Republike Slovenije (SI AS)

SI AS 1931, Republiški sekretariat za notranje zadeve SRS, t. e. 537–539, proces proti Kurtu Stageju in ostalim.

SI AS 1237, Vrhovno sodišče SRS, Ktr 746/77 – obnove, D. Špindler in ostali.

SI AS 1589/IV, CK ZKS, izključeni/črtani člani KPS/ZKS, t. e. 3597, mapi Dušana Špindlerja in Gizele Špindler.

Pokrajinski arhiv Maribor (PAM)

fond: Maks Gašparič, Spomini Dušana Špindlerja.

Zgodovinski arhiv Ljubljana (ZAL)

fond: Okrožno sodišče Ljubljana, t. e. 549–551, spis K 312/50, I.–III. del, Dušan Špindler in ostali.

Tiskani viri

Ostrovška, Milica. Kljub vsemu odpor, 1.–3. knjiga. Maribor: Založba Obzorja 1963–68.

Zalaznik, Franc. Dolga in težka pot 1941–1945. Maribor: Založba Obzorja, 1963.

Časopisje

Delo, 1972.

Jutro, 1937.

Ljudska pravica, 1944.

TV-15: naš tovariš, 1984.

Večer, 1981, 2023.

Članki in monografije

Čepič, Zdenko. »Mara Čepič«. V: Mariborske osebnosti. Ur. M. Ratej. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2018.

Maček, Jure. »Ivan Vomer«. V: Mariborske osebnosti. Ur. M. Ratej. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2018.

Maček, Jure. »Mavricij Zgonik«. V: Osebnosti slovenske humanistike in družboslovja. Ur. M. Ratej. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2024.

Ratej, Mateja. Svastika na pokopališkem zidu: poročilo o hitlerizmu v širši okolici Maribora v tridesetih letih 20. stoletja. Ljubljana: Beletrina, 2021.

Slovenska novejša zgodovina: od programa Zedinjena Slovenija do mednarodnega priznanja Republike Slovenije. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga; INZ, 2006.

Žnidarič, Marjan. Do pekla in nazaj: nacistična okupacija in narodnoosvobodilni boj v Mariboru 1941–1945. Maribor: Muzej narodne osvoboditve, 1997.

Spletni vir

Mariborski biografski leksikon. Vekoslav Spindler. Pridobljeno spomladi 2024. https://ukm.um.si/spindler-pindler-vekoslav

Published

2026-08-20

Issue

Section

Prispevki

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