Opening of the exhibition Coming home

Mass exile of Slovenians was among the major measures within Nazi denationalising policy. Nazis had the intention to exile 220 to 260 thousand Slovenians, but failed to do so due to the National Liberation Struggle and other factors. Because of mass arrests, local prisons were soon full and the migration headquarters formed assembly camps for Slovenian exiles. The assembly camp in the Melje barracks in Maribor was among the first to be established. Following their arrest in the small hours, when they were only allowed to take with them the bare minimum (their property was seized by the Nazis), the Ostrovška family ended up in the camp at Melje. Professor Josip Ostrovška, a composer, and Milica Ostrovška, a teacher, together with their daughters Darja and Milica found themselves on the verge of exile. In four waves of deportations from Melje barracks, organised between 7 June and 26 July 1941, 10.541 Slovenian exiles were deported to Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. At least 4.801 Slovenian intellectuals, priests, professors, teachers, etc. were deported in the first of four waves. Ostrovška family was among those leaving Maribor, being deported for four years to Jagodina, Serbia, from where they returned in summer 1945.