3With one of the most moving and tragic diaspora stories of World War II, Slovenia 1945 follows the fate of a strongly Catholic and non-Communist community in Slovenia caught up in the maelstrom of war and politics in the Balkans and the problems of post-war settlement. Thousands of soldiers returned to face death and exile at the hands of their wartime enemies. Thousands more civilians narrowly escaped the same fate. Yet the story of exile is also one of triumph as the refugees built new lives around the world. In this book, the authors call on more than 50 years of research and, for the first time, the survivors tell their story of wartime cruelty, refugee camps and emigration, building new lives through courage, self-help and strong cultural identity.