Slovenia recalls notorious killer Trobec in new psychological series

Serial killers are rare in Slovenia, but one case continues to cast a long shadow over the country's collective memory decades after the murders were committed.

The story has now inspired a new television drama, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The six-part psychological series Pošast za Železno Zaveso (Monster Behind the Iron Curtain) draws inspiration from the crimes of Metod Trobec, one of the country's most notorious killers.

The show is not a strict biographical account. Instead, it uses the case as a starting point to explore broader themes such as the roots of violence, the psychology of serial killers, and the social conditions that can give rise to acts society tends to view as monstrous.

Director and screenwriter Tomaž Gorkič said the series examines "the hidden and ever-present violence among people, which we as a society repeatedly ignore or even pretend that it does not exist."

Trobec was convicted of murdering five women between 1976 and 1978. The killings took place at a remote homestead in the Polhov Gradec area west of Ljubljana, where he burned the victims' bodies in a large tiled stove.

He had already been known to police, having faced several trials for theft and assault. The extent of his crimes only came to light after another violent incident in 1979, when he robbed and beat a German tourist. Following his arrest, a search of his property uncovered the remains of his victims.

Trobec was sentenced to death in 1980, a verdict upheld in a retrial in 1982 in what became the last death penalty conviction in Slovenia. The sentence was later commuted to 20 years in prison after the court ruled he was not fully sane.

His prison term was subsequently extended twice after he assaulted fellow inmates. Although he was scheduled for release in 2014, Trobec took his own life in prison in 2006.

Gorkič, whose critically acclaimed debut feature was the 2015 horror film Idyll (also known as Killbillies), said the Trobec case marked the beginning of sensationalist crime reporting in Slovenia.

"If we as a society are not aware of crimes against humanity in their many forms, there is a high probability they will be repeated again and again," he said.

He added that contemporary global events show how easily societies overlook violence.

"I'm certain that we are clearly not sufficiently aware of these crimes because the situation in the current global socio-political sphere is absolutely horrible."

Slovenia has seen very few serial killers. In fact, in modern history there is only one other that fits the contemporary description of serial killer: Silvo Plut murdered several victims in the 1990s and 2000s before taking his own life in prison in 2007.

Photo courtesy of 666 Productions