Velikovec / Völkermarkt cannot be said to be an ethnically tolerant place, as it even boasts the title of being a "plebiscite town". This is probably also because the town itself, although surrounded by a Slovenian population, was already at the forefront of german national intolerance in the years before the First World War. This is probably the reason why the Ciril-Metod School Society opened a primary school in Šentrupert / St. Ruprecht with Slovene as the language of instruction as early as 1910. The school in Šentrupert bei Velikovec / St. Ruprecht bei Völkermarkt no longer exists today, but the school in Šentpeter bei St. Jakob im Rosental / St. Peter bei St. Jakob im Rosental has even developed into a Higher School for Economic Professions under the administration of the School Sisters.
Members of eight nationalities
In the summer and autumn of 1944, the Carinthian Detachment Group (renamed to the Carinthian Detachment after the reorganisation in September 1944) worked to extend the partisan resistance towards the Svinška Planina / Saualm. To this end, several partisan groups crossed River Drava with great difficulty. The units on Svinška Planina / Saualm became a reception base for Austrian anti-fascist deserters from the German army, and especially for forced labourers who joined the Carinthian partisans. Thus, members of eight nationalities fought on the Svinška Planina / Saualm. The Association of Carinthian Partisans erected the largest partisan monument in Carinthia in memory of them and unveiled it on 26 October 1947.
Imprisoned because of his speech
At the unveiling of the monument in Šentrupert / St. Ruprecht, the secretary of the Regional Committee of the Liberation Front OF, Karel Prušnik-Gašper, said, among other things:
"This monument should be a symbol of a great struggle in our history, a reminder to us and to generations yet to come that once and for all we have ceased to be slaves. This monument, which we are unveiling today, is a shining proof that by consciously taking up arms against a foreigner in 1942, the Slovenes of Carinthia became part of the progressive democratic nations. We fought for a just peace, for a just democratic order, for the complete liquidation of fascism, and that what has brought so much misery to all mankind should never happen again, so that German imperialism could ever again shake off its atrocities against small nations."
For this speech at the unveiling of the monument, Prušnik was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment in Karlau - for the third time since November 1947. The first time he was imprisoned in Karlau before the war, from October 1935 to July 1936, for preparing the publication of an illegal Slovenian newspaper; the second time he was imprisoned in Karlau from April to July 1947.
The eventful history of the memorial
In 1953, this memorial, which commemorates those who died for the liberation of Austria, was blown up. To this day the perpetrators were not identified and no one was held responsible. All that remained of the artistically designed work was the stone base with the inscription:
"To those who fell for freedom in the struggle against fascism."
Even though the Austrian authorities should have complied with their international obligations and restored the monument in its original form, they replaced the previous two-metre-high bronze sculpture of two partisans and a partisan woman with a plain urn on top of the pedestal. The wreckage was reassembled by members of the Association of Carinthian Partisans. Today, the monument stands in front of the Peršman Homestead in Koprivna pri Železni Kapli / Koprein bei Eisenkappel.
The inscription on the monument in Šentrupert near Velikovec / St. Peter bei Völkermarkt was updated by the Association of Carinthian Partisans in 1992 in terms of content and multilingualism, and on 29 October 2016 the island of remembrance was unveiled in a completely new and updated form. The tombstone now bears witness to the national as well as the international nature of the struggle against National Socialism, as many forced labourers, mainly from the Soviet Union, and prisoners of war of various nationalities joined the struggle here on the north side of the river Drava / Drau.
Common burial site for 83 fighters
On the north side of the church in Šentrupert / St. Ruprecht, but already within the cemetery, is a 12-metre-long and five-metre-wide common burial ground for 83 fighters who fell in battles on the nearby Svinška planina / Saualm and were buried there after the end of the war in November 1946. Their names are mostly unknown. Only for some of them it was possible to obtain information: Anton Brdnik-Viktor (born 29 June 1921, died 15 December 1944), Jožef Drofelnik-Iztok (born 25 August 1925, died 24 October 1944), Jožef Filip-Feliks (born 21 March 1924, died 19 November 1944), Jožef Hermanko-Zvonko (born 15 March 1927, died 26 April 1944), Jožef Hermanko-Zvonko (born 15 March 1927, died 26 April 1944), Jožef Drofelnik-Iztok (died 19 November 1944), Jožef Filip-Feliks (died 19 November 1944), Jožef Hermanko-Zvonko (died 26 April 1944), Jožef Drofelnik-Iztok (died 24 October 1944). 1945), Ivan Juhant-Matija (born 13.3.1945), Stanko Kotnik (died 13.3.1945), Francka Logar-Nacesnikova (born 21.9.1920, died 15.11.1944), August Logar (born 1919, died 6.12.1944), Jožef Mori (born 1.2.1926, died 10.11.1944), Slavko Osojnik-Edi (born 24.4.1921, died 9.9.1944. 11. 1944), Hugo Osojnik-Filip (born 17. 7. 1924, died 27. 4. 1945), Adolf Pisar (born 25. 5. 1923, died 4. 5. 1945), Franc Petrič-Februar (born 3. 3. 1921, died 13. 3. 1945), Pavle Podričnik-Vinko (died 13. 3. 1945), Mirko Slemnik-Gašper (born 21. 5. 1925, died 10. 8. 1944), Engelbert Vačovnik (born 12.7.1926, died 13.3.1945), August Vršnik-Matija, commissar of the North Koroška Battalion (died 13.3.1945), Miha Roš-Polde (born 9.9.1912, died 6.12.1944 as a company commissar), Commander Hesketh Prichard-Cahusac, major, English liaison officer.
In Šentrupert / St. Ruprecht, there is also the grave of Dr. Franc Petek (1885-1965), a Slovenian politician, before the war Carinthian regional deputy and long-time president of the Union of Slovenian Organisations.
Location:
Coming from Celovec / Klagenfurt along the old federal road, the church and cemetery of Šentpeter pri Velikovcu / St.Peter bei Völkermarkt are located on the left hand side, just before Velikowec / Völkermarkt. Here you will also find the largest anti-fascist memorial island in southern Carinthia.