European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

the governor and authorities always lay down wreaths on All Saint’s Day.

But never in front of a partisan’s grave.

There are 53 monuments and graves of the partisans in Carinthia.

Nobody ever put a wreath down – nobody, officially.

And there were 50.000 deserters who were shot in Germany.

Nobody remembers them either, as if there hadn’t been any.

Only the one who was with Hitler up to the end was the right one.

That was quite sad, it drags on.

According to them we were all betrayers.

But we did not betray Austria.

Them betrayed Austria in the year of 1938 who voted for Hitler.

Liberation and its significance today

I had been looking forward to the day when the war would be over.

But unfortunately, I was wounded.

My brother was with the partisans, as well.

He came with a horse and took me home.

He came into the shack.

The horse came first and then the man. “Who is coming into the forest now?”

Then he said: “Lipej, come on. The war is over!”

We did not believe him that it was really true; that the war was over.