dr. Vladimir Kante - Slovenian Top Spy in WW2 Virtual Cache

ENG: Dr. Vladimir Kante was the most important OF (Liberation Front od the Slovene Nation) informant and the highest ranking spy in the police force of Province of Ljubljana during WW2. To English description...

Dr. Vladimir Kante se je rodil 20. avgusta 1905 v Šmarju pri Ajdovščini. Mladost je preživel v Sežani, kjer je bil njegov oče šolski upravitelj. Ob koncu 1. svetovne vojne se je družina zaradi italijanskega nasilja preselila v Ljubljano. Tu je Vladimir opravil srednjo šolo in 1924 diplomiral kot pravnik. Julija 1941 je iz prava tudi doktoriral.

Njegova doktorska disertacija se je imenovala Priznanje. Kot velik nasprotnik telesnega kaznovanja in zagovornik človeškega ravnanja z zaporniki je priporočal pridobivanje priznanja tako, da psihološko prepoznaš zasliševanega in ga pridobiš na svojo stran. V disertaciji se je poglobil v pomen priznanja, vzroke za prikrivanje in laganje med zaslišanjem,... Za tiste čase so bili taki pogledi zelo napredni.

Prvo službo je dobil na upravi mesta Beograd in tam delal 5 let do leta 1935, ko je bil premeščen na upravo policije v Ljubljani. Tam je delal kot šef političnega oddelka in namestnik upravnika policije dr. Hacina. Ena od njegovih nalog je bila tako tudi odkrivanje in preganjanje komunistov.

A ob okupaciji (med 7. in 11. aprilom) je organiziral sežiganje političnega arhiva, kar pa so mnogi policjski uslužbenci počeli tudi na lastno pobudo. Večina jih je namreč bila zelo narodno zavedna – mnogi so prebegnili iz po prvi svetovni vojni zasedene Primorske – in italijanskim okupatorjem niso želeli izročati Slovencev. Od 240 uniformiranih stražnikov, ki so bili ob začetku vojne zaposleni na policiji, jih je tako kar 180 (tri četrtine) sodelovalo z OF. Na žalost je bil vodja policije dr. Lovro Hacin velik germanofil in je ves čas vneto služil najprej italijanskim, potem pa nemškim oblastem.

11. aprila 1941 so Italijani zasedli Ljubljano. Ob tem so slovenskim policistom pobrali orožje in ga oddali v skladišče policijskemu puškarskemu mojstru Alojzu Golobu. Ta pa je mimo okupatorskih straž prepeljal vse zaboje in puške s strelivom predal OF. Ko so Italijani zahtevali orožje, se je namestnik poveljnika Rijavec zlagal, da ga je prevzela italijanska divizija, ki je takrat že bila na ruski fronti in zato njegove izjave niso mogli preveriti.

26. aprila 1941 je bila ustanovljena OF. Maja 1941 je njen ustanovni član Boris Kidrič stopil v stik z dr. Kantetom in ta je privolil v sodelovanje.

Dr. Kante je bil zelo zadržan in samotarski ter je imel le ozek, tesen krog prijateljev. Po vstopu v odpor pa je z njimi prekinil vse stike – do osvoboditve, je razložil. Kot mnogi drugi sodelavci OF se je zavestno osamil, da je s tem varoval tako sebe, kot svoje bližnje.

Obveščevalci so delovali po načinu trojk – vsak je vedel le še za tri ostale, da ob morebitnem prijetju in mučenju ni mogel izdati cele mreže. Dr. Kante je uporabljal psevdonima »Lija« in »Filister«. Z njim so v glavnem sodelovali Zdenka Kidrič, Dušan Kraigher in Ivo Svetina. Le-ta je bil njegov »zveznik« vse do decembra 1944, ko je odšel v partizane. Zamenjal ga je namestnik dr. Kanteta Silvester (Silvo) Šivic, vosovec od 1942.

V začetku italijanske okupacije je dr. Vladimir Kante delal v kriminalističnem odseku uprave politične policije v Ljubljani, ob njenem koncu pa je bil cenzor slovenskih časopisov. Pod nemško okupacijo je bil postavljen za namestnika upravnika politične policije, obenem tudi šefa personalnega oddelka.

Na svojem položaju Hacinovega namestnika je imel dr. Kante dostop do množice dragocenih informacij. Tako je VOS-u posredoval podatke o:

• vojaških akcijah, racijah, preiskavah,
• ljudeh, ki jih okupatorji nameravajo aretirati,
• sestavi in delovanju italijanske kvesture in obveščevalne službe, plave in bele grade, Gestapa in t. i. »slovenske policije« (domobranske) pod nemško okupacijo,
• ipd.

Poleg »čistega« obveščevalnega dela pa je pomagal tudi:

• z izdajanjem dovolilnic za izhod iz z bodečo žico obdanega mesta Ljubljana,
• z živilskimi kartami. Skrbel je za celo mrežo družin sodelavcev OF ali partizanov, zapornikov in internirancev. Ker večinoma te družine niso bile deležne živilskih kart, hrane pa je v mestu-zaporu primanjkovalo, bi sicer stradale,
• omogočil stike z zaporniki in izročanju pošiljk le-tem,
• itd.

Pri vseh teh akcijah je moral biti zelo previden, da ga sovražniki ne bi odkrili. Že decembra 1941 je VOS poskusil ubiti dr. Hacina, načelnika policije. Ta je po tem dogodku trem najvišjim policijskim častnikom (tudi sebi, seveda) določil spremljevalce, orožnike. Dr. Kantetu je dodeli tri, a na srečo so bili vsi trije sodelavci OF, tako da njegovih »sumljivih« akcij in stikov niso sporočali dalje.

Svoj položaj je obdržal tudi ob kapitulaciji Italije in nemški zasedbi, a se je pritisk in nadzor nad prebivalstvom, pa tudi policijskimi uslužbenci izjemno povečal. Tudi dr. Kante je bil večkrat preverjan, a mu je kot izkušenemu operativcu uspelo odbiti sume.

Organi VOS so imeli razdelane načrte za odhod v partizane za vse tri tajne sodelavce v politični policiji (dr. Vladimir Kante, Anton Vrečar in Jeranče). V prvih dneh februarja 1945 so dr. Kanteta opozorili na možnost razkritja in mu svetovali umik, a je »povabilo« zavrnil.

9. februarja 1945 pa so ga aretirali. Takoj je priznal sodelovanje z OF, ni pa izdal sodelavcev, niti drugih pomembnih podatkov. Nemci so ga dva tedna zasliševali v podzemni samici v strogo varovanem delu zapora, do katerega sodelavci OF niso imeli dostopa. 24. februarja so ga obsodili na smrt z obešanjem.

V zadnjem poskusu, da bi ga rešili, so njegovi podrejeni narezali vrv, s katero naj bi ga obesili. Vrv se je strgala in dr. Kante je obešanje preživel. Po starem običaju so takšnemu obsojencu oblasti podarile življenje. Gestapovci so poklicali SS-generala Erwina Rösenerja in ga vprašali, kaj naj storijo. »Nochmal aufhagen!« (še enkrat obesiti), je ukazal. Tako so doktorja še enkrat privedli pod drevo. Preden so zategnili vrv, je zaprosil: »Ko boste obešali druge, prej preverite vrv, da ne bodo dvakrat doživljali tega, kar sem jaz.«

Nemci so njegovemu truplu slekli hlače in ga v spodnjicah pustili viseti dva dneva. Po tem so ga vrgli v beraški grob. Po koncu vojne je njegova družina dobila dovoljenje za prekop v družinski grob, kjer je pokopan še danes.

Tako se je tragično končala življenjska pot enega od vrhunskih tajnih sodelavcev VOS in Ozne Slovenije, ki je štiri leta pod italijansko in nemško okupacijo neutrudno obveščal partizansko politično in vojaško vodstvo Slovenije z vrha kvizlinške politične policije in tudi pokrajinske oblasti generala Leona Rupnika.

Kdo ga je izdal oziroma kako so ga Gestapovci odkrili, še danes ni povsem jasno. O njem se dolgo ni skoraj nič govorilo, saj je do leta 1982 veljala neuradna prepoved raziskovanja njegovega tajnega sodelovanja z VOS in Ozno Slovenije. Leta 1985 sta o dr. Kantetu izšla tako roman kot film z naslovom Doktor. RTV Slovenija je 2015 o njem posnela tudi dokumentarec, ki si ga lahko ogledate v arhivu. Kljub temu le malo ljudi ve zanj in za njegov velik prispevek k osvoboditvi.

Na žalost še vedno nimamo obeležja v njegov spomin, pokopan pa je v družinskem grobu, kjer nagrobnik z ničemer ne opozarja, da je tu pokopan velik domoljub. Zaklad vas bo popeljal prav tja, zato vas prosimo, da ste diskretni.

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English description

Dr. Vladimir Kante was born on 20th August 1905 in village near Ajdovščina. He spent his youth in Sežana where his father worked as school principal. At the end of WW1 Italy was granted rule over this part of the Slovene territories in exchange for joining the Allied Powers. His family moved to Ljubljana in newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia due to Italian brutality and forced Italianization. Vladimir finished his high school in Ljubljana and in 1924 graduated at Law School. In July 1941 he made his doctor degree in Law.

His doctoral disertation was called Confession. As a great opponent of corporal punishment and advocate of human treatment of prisoners he recommended obtaining confession by psychologically recognizing the detainee and get him/her on your side. In the dissertation he explored the importance of confession, the reasons for concealing and lying during the hearing ... For those times, such views were very advanced.

His first employment was at the City Administration of Belgrade (Serbia). He was there 5 years until 1935 when he was transferred to Police Administration in Ljubljana. He worked there as Head of the Political Department and Deputy of Police Director dr. Hacin. Among his tasks were detection and prosecution of the Communists.

On 6th of April Yugoslavia was attacked by Axis Powers. By 11th of April Slovenia was trisected and annexed between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Hungary. Part that was occupied by Italy was named Province of Ljubljana.

During the days before annexation he organized incineration of a political archive, though many police employees destroyed those papers at their own initiative as well. Most of them were steadfast patriots - many fled from annexed Slovene territories to Yugoslavia because of forced Italianization after the WW1 - and they did not want to give Italian occupiers information about fellow Slovenes. Out of the 240 uniformed police officers in Ljubljana at the beginning of the war, 180 (three-quarters) of them worked for the OF. Unfortunately, Head of the police dr. Lovro Hacin was a great germanophile and he diligently served first the Italian, then the German authorities.

On 26th April 1941 several groups formed the OF (Liberation Front od the Slovene Nation ) which was the leading resistance force during the war. As the most experienced in undercovered actions Communist fraction soon took the leading charge. Its military section were Slovene Partisans, but they also formed intelligence service called VOS.

In May 1941 OF's founding member Boris Kidrič contacted dr. Kante who agreed to join.

Vladimir was very restrained and a bit of a lone wolf. He had only a narrow, tight circle of friends. After entering the resistance, he stopped all contacts with them - until liberation, he explained. As many of the other colleagues of the OF, he consciously isolated himself to protected himself and his loved ones.

The informants were organized in troikas - each one knew only three others, so that he could not betray an entire network in case of possible arrest and torture. Dr. Kante used pseudonyms "Lija" and "Filister". His liasons were Zdenka Kidrič, Dušan Kraigher and Ivo Svetina. The latest was his main liason until December 1944, when he went to Partisans. He was replaced by the Deputy of Dr. Kante Silvester (Silvo) Sivic, VOS member since 1942.

At the beginning of the Italian occupation dr.Vladimir Kante worked in the crime department of the political police administration in Ljubljana, and at the end of it he was also a censor of Slovenian newspapers.

Italian rule was harsh and the violence against the Slovene civil population easily matched the German. The Province of Ljubljana saw the deportation of 25,000 people, which equaled 7.5% of the total population. The operation, one of the most drastic in Europe, filled up Itallian Concentration Camps. Italians also put the barbed wire fence around Ljubljana in order to prevent communication between the Liberation Front in the city and the surrounding countryside.

In his position as Hacin's deputy, dr. Kante had access to a multitude of valuable information. Thus, he provided VOS with data on:

• military actions, raids, investigations, …
• general measures of a police nature (e.g. the abolition of travel licenses for women),
• people that the occupiers intend to arrest,
• the composition and functioning of the Italian Questura and Intelligence Service, quislings, Gestapo and so called "Slovenian police" (homeland) under the German occupation,
• etc.

In addition to "pure" intelligence, he also helped:

• issuing permits for the exit from the town Ljubljana,
• with food cards. He took care of entire network of families of collaborators of the OF or partisans, prisoners and internees. Since most of these families did not receive food cards and food was scarce in the city, they would have been starving without them,
• to provide contact with prisoners and deliver packages to them,
• etc.

In all these actions he had to be very careful not to be detected by enemies. In December 1941, VOS attempted to kill dr. Hacin, the chief of police. After this event, dr. Hacin appointed top three police officers (including himself, of course) with bodyguards. Dr. Kante got three, but luckily all three of them were co-workers of the OF, so they did not report his "suspicious" actions and contacts.

When Italy surrendered Germans took over their occupational area. Dr. Kante managed to stay in the office and was appointed deputy political police chief and also Head of the personal department. He continued with his work for VOS, though Gestapo increased the pressure and control on the population, including police officals. He was under constant scrutiny, but as an experienced operative he was able to stay in the clear.

VOS had plans for all three highest secret police collaborators (Dr. Vladimir Kante, Anton Vrečar and Jeranče) how to get them to safety and to the partisans in case of need. In early days of February 1945 they warned dr. Kante that he was in danger of discovery and advised him to withdraw, but he declined "the offer".

He got arested on 9th February 1945. He immediately confesed that he worked for OF, but he didn’t betray his co-workers nor any other data. Gestapo kept him in underground solitary in the highly secured part of the prison, where OF members of police couldn’t reach him. On 24th February he was sentenced to death by hanging though there was no trial.

In the last attempt to save him, his subordinates sliced up a rope with which he was about to be hanged. The rope indeed broke down and dr. Kante survived. According to the old tradition such a prisoner was given a life. The Gestapo people called SS General Erwin Rosenberg and asked him what they should do. "Nochmal aufhagen!" (Hang him again!), he ordered. So Doctor was once again brought under the tree. Before tightening the rope, he asked: "When you will hang the others, first check the rope so that they will not experience what I had to."

The Germans stripped him of his pants and let him hang two days in the underpants. After that he was thrown into the beggars's grave. After the end of the war his family was granted permission to transfer him to the family grave where he is buried today.

Thus tragically ended the life of one of the top secret collaborators of VOS Slovenia, who for four years under the Italian and German occupations tirelessly informed Partisan political and military leadership of Slovenia from the top of the quisling political police.

Who betrayed him or how the Gestapo discovered him is still not clear today. For a long time dr. Kante was almost unknown. Until 1982 the unofficial ban on exploring his secret cooperation with VOS Slovenia was in force. In 1985, both the novel and movie with the title “Doktor” about dr. Kante were issued. In 2015, RTV Slovenia also made a documentary that can be viewed in its archive. Nevertheless, few people know about him and his great contribution to liberation of Slovenia.

Unfortunately, we still do not have a memorial for him. He is buried in a family grave with no sign at all that a great patriot lies there. The cache will take you right there, so we ask you to be unobtrusive.

Your task:

1. Approximately 25m toward West is a thomb with round base. How many pillars support its roof? Please send the answer by e-mail or messaging center. Don't write it in your log or we will delete it.
2. Take a photo in front of the nearby church (at the coordinates of additional waypoint). It's not required, that you are on photo. Please, be unobtrusive at the grave and don't take your photos there. Logs with unappropriate photos will be deleted!

The cemetery is opened every day from 7:00 to 19:00, between april and september to 21:00.

Virtual Reward - 2017/2018

Viri / Sources