Obirsko / Ebriach can rightly be counted among the pioneering valleys of the Carinthian resistance movement. Ivan Županc-Johan was born here, and in 1939 he fled to Ljubljana to escape Nazi violence. When Ljubljana was occupied by the Italians, he decided to join the partisan ranks. He came from Gorenjska to Carinthia in June 1942 and, together with Stane Mrhar from Ljubljana, began to organise the first OF cells in the area of Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel and Sele / Zell. Johan's brother Mihi and sister Marija also took part in this.
It was in Obirsko / Ebriach near Golob's homestead, which was a strong outpost of OF activists, that the Gestapo uncovered the OF organisational network in November 1942 and by the end of the year they had arrested around 180 locals from the area around Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel and Sele / Zell, including Mihi Županc and his sister Marija. Both were among the thirteen beheaded in Vienna in April 1943. Ivan Županc-Johan was killed at Šmarjeta v Rožu / St. Margarethen im Rosental in October 1943.
Many lives extinguished in Obirsko / Ebriach
But in this mountainous world, the lives of many more young Slovenian partisans were extinguished. Anton Ročnik, the fighter Gorki, Miha Durnik, Gregor Karničar, Feliks Malle, Mirko Ikovec, Janez Poličnik and Franci Pečnik fell here. Only the first two, Anton Ročnik and the unknown fighter Gorki, are buried in the cemetery in Obirsko / Ebriach. On their grave is a beautiful 150 cm high stone square with an inscription:
To the Partisans who fell in the struggle against fascism 1941-1945
Anton Ročnik and the fighter Gorki
Anton Ročnik, native of Obirsko / Ebriach, born on 11 January 1928, fell under the church of Pristovnik in Korte / Trögern. There was also his first grave until the reburial to Obirsko / Ebriach on 3 June 1945. Partisan Gorki (in the obituary book of the parish from Obirsko / Ebriach he is entered under the name Filip) was a native of Črna. He was only nineteen years old when he fell on 27 July 1944, hit by a German bullet at Šober homestead in Obirsko / Ebriach. According to the stories of his fellow soldiers, Gorki was a tall boy with black hair, a brave and always smiling fighter. His body was initially buried at Šober's, but on 23 September 1945 it was reburied in the cemetery in Obirsko / Ebriach.
Three local men from Obirsko / Ebriach, fallen partisan fighters, rest on the other side of the Karavank Mountains, in Jelendol above Tržič. Miha Durnik, born on 9 September 1917, was seriously wounded on 28 February 1944 at Grubelnik in Korte / Trögern. His comrades carried him to the partisan hospital, but he died on the way. He was buried in Jelendol, where Gregor Karničar, born in Obirsko / Eriach (he was killed in February 1945 in Dolga njiva near Košuta / Koschuta) and Feliks Malle, locally known as Jakobov, from Zgornji kot in Sele / Zell-Oberwinkel, are also buried.
Some partisans who fell in the Obir area are also buried in the cemetery of Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel. Mirko Ikovec, originally from Solčava, fell on 2 March 1944 at Šajdnik on Šajda / Schaida; Janez Poličnik, also originally from Solčava (born 23 November 1927), fell at Štrugl in Obirsko / Ebriach; Franci Pečnik (born 7 October 1922), locally known as Podpesnikov from Bela / Vellach, was killed on 2 March 1944 on Šajda / Schaida.
More victims of Nazism
A cursory glance at the gravestones in the village cemetery of Obir unwittingly stops at the plaques next to some of the mounds. Thus, on one of these plaques we read the tragic fate of the entire Pegrin family, who died partly in the camps (Lublin, Auschwitz) and partly bled to death on the battlefields of Italy and Russia; another plaque commemorates Miha Županc, who was beheaded in Vienna; a third plaque is about Angela Traunik, whose life ended in the infamous Ravensbrück camp.
Location:
The mountain village of Obirsko / Ebriach lies high above the valley, already on the slopes of Obir. There is a small village cemetery around the ancient church. The village connects Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel via Šajda / Schaida and Borovnice / Freibach with Sele / Zell and Borovlje / Ferlach.