Peršman's and Čemr's homesteads in Podpeca / Petzen, high in the forest solitude, were among the first outposts of the Carinthian partisan troops. Kranjc's battalion also visited them in August 1942 on its way to Styria. Towards the end of the war, on 25 April 1945, the SS (SS- and Policeregiment 13) descended on the Peršman homestead. They murdered eleven members of Sadovnik's and Kogoj's families and burned the. These are the names of the victims:
Luka Sadovnik, born 6 October 1906, farmer
Ana Sadovnik, born 15.6.1909, housewife
Frančiška Sadovnik, 26.1.1868, grandmother
Katarina Sadovnik, 25.4.1901, sister of the master
Frančiška Sadovnik, 4.2.1932, daughter of the master
Albin Sadovnik, 11.2.1938, son
Filip Sadovnik, 28.5.1940, son
Viktor Sadovnik, 4.4.1941, son
Mirko Sadovnik, 4.8.1944, son
Stanislav Kogoj, 3.2.1935, nephew
Adelgunda Kogoj, 28.1.1942, niece
Of the Sadovniks, only two girls survived, ten-year-old Anna and eight-year-old Malči, both of whom were badly injured and only quick help kept them alive. The masters's nephew, ten-year-old Ciril, managed to hide from the killers who had overlooked him. Two black marble plaques, in both regional languages, embedded in the facade of the restored Peršman house, bear witness to the crime of the Nazi gang.
On 25 April 1945, the Waffen-SS murdered 7 Sadovnik children
aged between 1 and 12, their mother Anna, grandfather Lukas,
the 80-year-old grandmother Franziska and the aunt Katharina.
The victims were burnt together with the residential and farm buildings.
The commemorative plaque was erected by the Association of Carinthian Partisans on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.
From memorial room to museum
For many years, the Association of Carinthian Partisans has been striving to do justice to the victims of Peršman in a dignified way. On the initiative of its former President, Karel Prušnik-Gašper, it decided to renovate the Peršman homestead and to set up a memorial room there. The renovation was carried out mainly with the help of young people. 150 volunteers from Carinthia and Slovenia took part, providing around 4,000 volunteer hours, i.e. free of charge. The first phase of the restoration (restoration to a raw state) was completed in October 1981 with the awarding of certificates of appreciation at the Peršman homestead. On 25 April 1982, the "Peršman Memorial Home" was inaugurated by the Association of Carinthian Partisans. In one of the rooms, an exhibition of documents and pictures about the events in Carinthia during the Second World War was set up. The crime against the Peršman family was thus placed in the broader historical context of the Nazi terror in Carinthia and the partisan resistance of the Carinthian Slovenes.
On the initiative of the Peršman Association/Verein Peršman, the Peršman Homestead was transformed into a modern, also in terms of content, newly arranged and bilingual museum of contemporary history in 2012. One hundred square metres are devoted to the central themes of the persecution and resistance of the Carinthian Slovenians, and in particular to the Peršman family, their fate and the course of the judicial investigation of this crime. The Museum is run by the Association of Carinthian Partisans in close cooperation with the Peršman Association. In recent years, the Association of Carinthian Partisans has renovated and restored the building, installing heating and modern sanitary facilities; it has also set up seminar rooms which, among other things, serve to educate young people.
Island of Remembrance in front of the house
In 1947, in the presence of representatives of the Allied Forces, the Carinthian partisans unveiled a memorial in Šentrupert pri Velikovcu / St. Ruprecht bei Völkermarkt to commemorate the Carinthian and international struggle against Nazism, in memory of the partisans of eight nationalities who had fallen on the Svinška planina / Saualpe. It was blown up by unknown perpetrators on the night of 10-11 September 1953. The Austrian authorities were not prepared to rebuild it in its original form, so the work was carried out by the Association of Carinthian Partisans in 1983. The restored building was placed in front of the Peršman homestead, thus marking the Peršman homestead as a museum and memorial site.
Location:
Koprivna-Podpeca / Koprein-Petzen is located in an easterly direction just over ten kilometres from the market town of Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel. If you drive through Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel in the direction of the Jezersko / Seebergsattel border crossing, you will soon turn left in the direction of Lepena / Leppen.
We recommend:
Rettl, Lisa & Blohberger, Gudrun: Peršman. - Herausgeber mit/Izdajatelja skupno z: Verband der Kärntner Partisanen und Verein Peršman / Zvezo koroških partizanov in društvom Peršman. Peršman. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2014.