One of the few villages with a parish church and cemetery so high above the village is certainly Šentjakob v Rožu / St. Jakob im Rosental. In the place of honour of the cemetery stands a tall stone obelisk marking a partisan burial ground over seven metres wide. The carved inscription in both regional languages reads:
Partisans killed in the fight against fascism 1941-1945 / Ivan
Kordež-lvan, Marija Živalič-Mira, Borec Rudi from Žerjav,
Franc Bogataj-Rok, Ivan Bohinjc-Džon, Mila Kmet-Andreja,
Cirila Kržišnik-Tona, Franja Markelj-Breda, Ludvik
Primožič-Milan
The partisans who were killed on 9 February 1945 are buried here in the snowy forest below Arih's stove. They were betrayed. In order to intimidate the local population, the Nazis displayed their bodies for a week along the road between Šentjakob / St. Jakob and Šentpeter / St. Peter. This was certainly an attempt by the police to dissuade people from sympathising with the partisan movement.
The victims were from different parts of Slovenia: Emilija Kmet and Franja Markelj from Maribor, Marija Živalič from Škofja Loka, Cirila Kržišnik from Ljubljana, Ivan Kordež, Ivan Bohinjc and Franc Bogataj from the Mežiška valley. The ninth partisan buried in this common grave is Eng. Ludvik Primožič-Milan, a native of Šentjakob v Rož / St. Jakob im Rosental, who fell in April 1945 above Podgorje / Maria Elend.
They were all young. The oldest was twenty-six and the youngest, Maria Živalič, was barely twenty. Almost all of them were members of the Liberation Front OF District Committee for the area of Beljak / Villach.
Location:
Šentjakob / St. Jakob is situated in Rož / Rosental, south of the Drava River, somewhat centrally in the knot between Vrba / Velden, Beljak / Villach on the Austrian side and Jesenice on the Slovenian side. The cemetery is located on a hill in the very centre of the main town of Šentjakob / St. Jakob.