Partisanen

Partisans, persons participating in armed conflicts without belonging to military organisations. The term used in Austria for such individuals well into the 19th century (for instance in connection with the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878) was "insurgents". In World War II, partisan warfare against the German Wehrmacht in Yugoslavia spread to Carinthia and the southern part of Styria in 1944/45; in Yugoslavia there were Austrian guerilla units composed mostly of Slovenes and Austrian communists (including F. (see)Honner and F. (see)Fürnberg). It was not until 1949 that partisans taken prisoner were internationally accorded the status of prisoners of war under the Geneva Red Cross Convention of that year; prior to that date, partisans taken prisoner were treated as civilians and summarily executed.

Literature: J. H. Schmidt, Die völkerrechtliche Stellung der Partisanen im Kriege, 1956; C. Fleck, Koralm-Partisanen, 1986.