Carinthia and National Socialism
Carinthia and National Socialism
The exibition ‘Hinschauen! Poglejmo.’ is an invitation to
take an open and critical look at the National Socialist rule
in Carinthia – and to engage with both suppressed and
familiar aspects of regional history, 80 years after the end
of the Second World War.
Structured around seven themes, the exhibition sheds
light on war and destruction, deportation, forced labour,
repression, mass murder, resistance, and science – along
with post-war continuities, the role of institutions, and the
treatment of those responsible for the crimes to this day.
From Carinthia, the traces lead to sites of crimes in
Norway, Poland, France, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and
Carinthia – including places like Narvik, Zamość, Lublin,
Sobibor, Oradour, Trieste, Lipa, Begunje, Spittal an
der Drau, Dellach im Drautal, Himmelberg, Klagenfurt,
Zell/Sele and the Loibl Pass/Ljubelj.
The exhibition highlights the significant involvement
of Carinthian National Socialists in war, occupation, and
the Holocaust; as well as in the violent ‘Germanisation’ of
the region, in the deportations, and their consequences
that persist to this day. It also reflects on the role of the
museum itself – as a place where history has been written,
silenced, and reinterpreted.
Like a lifeline, the theme of resistance runs throughout
the exhibition. Because the sites of crimes were also places
of refusal, disobedience, escape, and social, political,
and armed resistance. A particular focus is placed on the
long-marginalised memory of Carinthian Slovenes – on the
voices of survivors, descendants, and those who carry forward
the work of remembrance today.
We ask: Who held political responsibility – then and
afterward? What were the paths of former perpetrators in
the Second Republic? What role did the judiciary play, and
how effective was the so-called denazification? What are
the narratives that shaped public memory for decades?
And how have these narratives shifted since the 1990s?
Who were and are the driving forces behind this shift?
What debates were sparked around memorial sites,
monuments, and museums? And where do we stand
with all of this today?
Each chapter moves through time, connecting places,
biographies, documents, objects and artistic interventions
with questions of responsibility and agency. This creates
a multifaceted picture: of perpetrators and bystanders, of
the persecuted, of survivors, of those who resisted – and
of the institutions that, after 1945, shaped, obscured, or
reinterpreted history.
Hinschaun! Poglejmo. invites you to actively engage with
history. Much is shown for the first time while other things
are presented in a new light. You are invited to find your
own path – with open eyes and questions that might still
have to be answered.