Monuments on the Peršman farm

On 25 April 1945, eleven people – four adults and seven children – were shot dead by members of the 13th SS and Police Regiment on the remote Peršman farm near Eisenkappel. This crime against members of the Sadovnik and Kogoj families was seen by many Carinthian Slovenes as symbolic of the NS terror.

Twenty years later, the partisans’ association affixed a memorial plaque at the dwelling and held the first memorial celebration. In 1982, a museum was established in the building. Around this time, the remains of the sculpture which had been blown up at St. Ruprecht in 1953 were found by chance. The sculpture was reassembled and erected in front of the Peršman farm in 1983. Its builders interpret the restored sculpture as a testimony to the discrimination against the Slovenian-speaking Carinthian population after 1945. Since the inauguration of the museum, memorial ceremonies have been held each year in June. In 2012, the museum was redesigned and the memorial plaque that was affixed to the house was renewed in the process.

Shortly after the museum had been inaugurated in 1982, criticism was raised on the representation of the events surrounding the murder of the Sadovnik family and the Kogoj children. In 1995, the journalist Ingomar Pust, writing for the Kronen Zeitung, started another campaign against the museum, which was even continued after his death in 1998. Until the present day, there have been persistent attempts to reinterpret the events of the Peršman farm.