Partisan grave monuments: the example of Ebenthal
Remembrance of partisans killed in Carinthia
More than 50 sites in Carinthia are dedicated to the commemoration of fallen partisans. Most often, these take the form of funerary monuments at cemeteries, partially erected and maintained in cooperation between the partisans’ association and relatives of the deceased. The graves were set up between 1945 and 1948. It was only after the war that it was possible for the corpses, originally buried in haste, to be laid to rest in local cemeteries. The tombs commemorate men and women active in the resistance, both known and unknown, local and foreign. These include, in addition to resistance fighters fallen on site, forced labourers murdered by the NS regime who were associated with the resistance.
The honorary tombs are an expression of individual as well as collective remembrance of the deceased. After the graves had been set up, the respective monuments were erected one by one, typically in the form of lightly coloured marble steles or massive stone slabs. Next to the other graves, they often appear inconspicuous. Nevertheless, tombs and monuments have repeatedly been destroyed or blown up, such as the one in Ebenthal, which commemorates five people: three partisans and two Polish forced labourers, who were murdered in 1943. Their remains were laid to rest in a communal grave after the war. Immediately after it had been erected in 1971, the monument was defiled three times and also drew opposition in the local council. After the third defilement, it could no longer be restored and had to be rebuilt entirely.
The acts of defilement typically occurred in the context of controversies over minority politics and were expressions of criticism of allegedly minority-friendly policies.
