Below Svinška planina / Saualpe, in historic Grebinj / Griffen, there is the grave of Carinthian partisan Franz Juschitz, a worker from Velikovec / Völkermarkt. Juschitz was born on 17 January 1919 in Lipa pri Grebinju / Lind bei Griffen. He was an ardent fighter against Nazism; forcibly mobilised into the German army, he joined the partisans on his first leave and was always there in the front row when the fighting was fierce. As a local man, he was a valuable guide in nearby forests and hamlets. In February 1945, whilst operating as a scout, he came across a German ambush and was fatally hit by an enemy bullet near Tušak farm on Tolsti vrh / Großenegg. He left behind a young wife and a three-year-old daughter. His mother, Marija, died in a conzentration camp.
No record in the death register
Juschitz's name is not recorded in the death register of Grebinj / Griffen, and it was only through eyewitnesses' testimony, who also said that the fallen partisan was laid in a grave without a coffin, that it was discovered where his grave was; today Juschitz lies in a corner by the wall - in an inconspicuous place, but with a beautiful, artistically designed stone obelisk with a simple inscription carved in the two regional languages:
To the Partisan, fallen in the fight against fascism 1941-1945
Franc Juschitz
Before this monument was erected in 1970, a concrete cross stood on the partisan's grave, which was desecrated several times by local chauvinists.
Location:
The church and its cemetery are situated slightly to the north-east above the town of Grebinj / Griffen, to the left of the old federal road leading onwards towards Šentandraž v Labotski dolini / St. Andrä im Lavanttal.