Among the first signs of resistance to the Nazi regime were the so-called Green Cadres, i.e. those who escaped conscription into the German army or deserters. The largest group of boys who defected to the German army came from Sele / Zell and the surrounding area. Among them were the Olip brothers and the three Malle brothers, Pavel, Feliks and Ludvik from Zgornji Kot / Zell-Oberwinkel. Together with Pavel Kelih and Jožef Malle from Zgornji Kot / Zell-Oberwinkel, they escaped to Yugoslavia on 6 December 1939. Shortly after them, the forest workers Albin Užnik, Peter Kelih, Janko Kelih and Maks Olip also left. The other fugitives were from villages in the area of Pliberk / Bleiburg, Obirsko / Ebriach, Lobnik / Lobnig, Sinča vas / Kühnsdorf and Dobrla vas / Eberndorf.
Most of the refugees gathered in Ljubljana before the war with Yugoslavia started in April 1941. After the collapse of the Yugoslav army, they retreated to Šmarna Gora, where they stayed for five days. From there, they went to Kamnik, where they met up with other boys from Carinthia who had also returned to their home forests. This happened in the following days, after they had managed to smuggle their way over Žerjav mountain to Sele / Zell . Here they set up hiding places in the local forests and areas in Obirsko / Ebriach, Košuta and in the surroundings of Sele / Zell, and in 1942 the Slovenian National Liberation Movement made contact with them.
"Deserters and other bandits"
There are thirteen local people (twelve men, one woman) buried in the cemetery of this extremely beautiful mountain place who were sentenced to death for their collaboration with the partisans and beheaded on 29 April 1943 in Vienna (The Nazi indictment against the activists from Sele / Zell, Borovlje / Ferlach and Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel states, among other things, that "deserters and other bandits met at Jernej Oražeto's house quite often … according to Tomaž Olipa's diary entries, more than 30 times").
The memorial plaques on the facade of the old church preserve their names:
Olip Tomaž, born 15. 12.1913;
Olip Micka, born 28. 3.1913;
Oraže Jakob, born 17. 7.1902;
Oraže Jernej, born 12. 8.1902;
Oraže Janez, born 12. 5.1925;
Županc Miha, born 31. 8.1909;
Dovjak Ivan, born 12. 8. 1905;
Gregorič Franc, born 1. 10. 1901;
Kelih Florijan, born 30. 4. 1908;
Kelih Urh, born 22. 6. 1912;
Pristovnik Franc, born 30. 7. 1910;
Pasterk Jurij, born 12. 4. 1903;
Weinzierl Franc, born 19. 9. 1912.
The top of the plaques is carved with the inscription:
"They laid their sacrifice for their homeland on the altar."
In addition to those mentioned above, other known and unknown fallen fighters and victims of fascist violence are buried in Sele / Zell. In 1971, a monument was erected to the fallen partisans with their names carved on it:
Alojz Slak, Ferdinand Roblek, Maks Kelih, Aleš Žagar,
Jože Perko, Božo Erjavec, Jože Robič, Jože Komar and
an unknown partisan.
Six of them fell at Šajda / Zell-Schaida and two at Zgornji Kot / Zell-Oberwinkel. Some of the fallen partisans are buried in family graves, where they were buried by their relatives.
In front of the entrance to the cemetery is a stone sculpture of a partisan nurse supporting a wounded fighter. On the pedestal you can see following carved inscription:
As victims, you have fallen fighting for us!
Self-help
Sele / Zell played an important role in the anti-fascist resistance movement. Partisan activists came here as soon as they were formed, and it is not least here that we find the early germs of the organised resistance movement. In November 1944, the Regional Committee of the Liberation Front settled at the foot of Košuta on Tolsti vrh. The ruling committee of the communist party of slovenia KPS and forums of various other political organisations were also held there throughout the winter. This was made possible by the locals, as this centre protected the entire population of the "Partisan Republic Sele / Zell". The farmers were ardent Liberation Front OF collaborators, the local sons were mostly in the partisans.
Since the schools had the task of Germanising the young generation, the regional Liberation Front committee set up partisan schools wherever possible. This was also the case in Sele / Zell, where the teacher forbade the children to speak Slovene. Over ten children temporarily attended the partisan school here. The regional centre below Košuta / Koschuta was quite "modern". Two spacious barracks with large glass windows were used for the work and sleeping quarters of the members of the regional committee, and two for the kitchen and the protection quarters. Also under Košuta / Koschuta, in the autumn of 1944, the partisan hospital "Amerika", which could treat fifteen fighters at a time, was housed and operated there until the end of the war.
Location:
Sele / Zell is located high above Borovlje / Ferlach, just over 12 kilometres from the former industrial town. To the south, the Košuta / Koschuta rises, and to the east it opens up towards the Schajda / Zell-Schaida, the saddle over which you reach Železna Kapla / Bad Eisenkappel.