The end of the Second World War
The Second World War was the biggest military conflict in human history. It ended after six years with the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan. Following Germany’s signing of the unconditional surrender on 8 and 9 May 1945, the last fighting in Europe ended on 15 May. Japan surrendered on 2 September 1945 after the USA dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war was the biggest cause of death in human history, not only among military personnel but also among civilian populations in mass slaughters, the Holocaust, concentration camps, air raids, anti-resistance fighting and reprisals. Most of humanity, both soldiers and civilians, reacted to the news of the end of the war with unbridled joy and spontaneous expressions of enthusiasm, or at least relief, although in many areas, not only in the countries on the losing side, these emotions were tempered by fears for the future.
Sport during the war
On 20 and 21 January 1945, in the midst of the final battles of the Second World War, the only known wartime winter sports competition took place in Cerkno and its immediate surrounding area, the centre of the Partisan-held area of Primorska. It was organised by Rudi Finžgar under the patronage of the commander of the 31st Division of the NOV and POS. The competitors, most of them pre war athletes, competed in a team military patrol event consisting of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting (the origins of today’s biathlon competition) and individual giant slalom and ski jumping events, the latter on a purpose-built ski jump. The tradition of this military sports competition has been maintained since 1975 by an event known as the Partisan Ski Competition Cerkno ’45. Sports competitions never entirely died out during the war and many were also held in military units.
The Partizanski dnevnik newspaper
Partizanski dnevnik was the only daily newspaper of the Slovene national liberation movement. It first appeared in November 1943 as the military bulletin of the Triglav Division of the National Liberation Army (NOV) and the Partisan Detachments of Slovenia (POS), and then from February to May 1944 as the military bulletin of the 9th Corps of the NOV and POS. On 1 June 1944 it became the newspaper of the Liberation Front for Primorska and Gorenjska. Originally duplicated using a cyclostyle machine, from September 1944 onwards it was printed in two clandestine printing shops in the Idrija area in runs of 4,000, rising on occasion to as many as 7,000 copies. With great sacrifice and ingenuity, its supply team provided type, paper and other printing necessities. Like all clandestine Partisan publications, the newspaper was distributed daily by couriers across the Primorska and Gorenjska regions. Publication continued until 7 May 1945. In the meantime, the editorial office had moved to liberated Trieste. On 13 May 1945 the newspaper was renamed Primorski dnevnik and is still published today as the main newspaper of the Slovene minority in Italy.
A global organisation to maintain peace and security
Even before the final victory over the Axis powers, the leaders of the wartime coalition of the United Nations had decided to establish an organisation dedicated to maintaining world peace. Having agreed in principle to this in the autumn of 1944, the countries of the wartime coalition signed the organisation’s founding charter at a conference in San Francisco in August 1945, giving it the same name as the wartime coalition established in 1942. Although the UN’s founding members were all members of the victorious coalition, membership was gradually extended to the defeated nations and newly created states. The founding members empowered the organisation to oversee international order, maintain peace and mediate in armed conflicts. The central body is the General Assembly, which meets once a year, while the actual decision-making body is the Security Council, which has five permanent members and ten non-permanent members. The UN also has a number of specialised agencies. Today the UN is a key international organisation with a membership that includes nearly every country in the world. Although the UN has faced many limitations and even powerlessness, it remains a symbol of post-war efforts for peace and security and a catalyst for global development, humanitarian and mutual aid and peacekeeping interventions in numerous armed conflicts.
