In Carinthia, a large-scale police operation at the Peršmanhof memorial, one of Austria's most significant memorial sites dedicated to the resistance and civilian victims of the Nazi regime, has drawn harsh criticism from civil society and political leaders.
A ‘heavy-handed’ operation at a place of remembrance
On July 27, police raided the international youth education camp at the Peršmanhof memorial, located in the Karawanken, the mountain range in the southeastern Alps that straddles the border between Carinthia and Slovenia.
The camp, attended by about 60 young people from Austria, Slovenia, and Italy, focused on anti-fascist education and the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The event was supported by the Peršmanhof Memorial Museum and organized by a Slovenian student association based in Vienna.
The authorities cited alleged administrative violations, including unauthorized camping and environmental concerns, as justification for the intervention.
However, the scale of the operation was considered excessive for such a context: more than 30 police officers, some of them heavily armed, along with helicopters, drones, and canine units, carried out identity checks and searched the grounds.
Several people were temporarily detained, and one sustained minor injuries during the collusions.
The tragic story behind the Peršmanhof memorial
During World War II, what was just a simple mountain farm, the Peršmanhof farm, became a center of partisan resistance against the Nazi occupation.
On the 25th of April 1945, just a few days before the end of World War II, members of the SS and the 13th Police Regiment massacred 11 civilians, including 7 children, at this location.
In the decades following the war, Peršmanhof was transformed into a place of remembrance and a center for historical education.
In 2012, it was expanded and transformed into a modern bilingual museum (Slovenian and German) offering interactive exhibitions on persecution and resistance, addressing topics such as forced assimilation policies, deportations, concentration camps, and the partisan struggle,
with a particular focus on the history and role of the Slovenian minority in Carinthia.
The controversy
The events at the Peršmanhof memorial sparked widespread debate and deep concerns about the sensitivity of the Federal Republic's institutions to issues relating to the culture of remembrance, minority rights, and the role of state authority in Austria.
For the Slovenian community in Carinthia, historically marginalized and subject to repression, the memorial represents a long-awaited recognition and a space for collective memory.
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the Peršmanhof massacre; the fact that the police interfered during a peaceful educational event involving, among others, descendants of Nazi victims and resistance fighters, has been described by community leaders as re-traumatizing and an affront to the memory of the victims themselves.
Bernard Sadovnik, mayor of Globasnitz and president of the Slovenian community in Carinthia—as well as a descendant of the families killed by the SS at Peršmanhof—said: "It struck us deep in our souls and hearts, as descendants, but also as members of the ethnic group, to suffer such revilement eighty years after the massacre. Those who claim that the operation was motivated by administrative violations, and then carry out an intervention of such proportions at Peršmanhof, must admit that they were either not sensitive enough or had other intentions. And it is simply shameful for the Republic, for democracy, that such an operation was possible. What has happened shakes my confidence, not only in the sensitivity of state institutions, but also in the sincerity with which Austria remembers the crimes of National Socialism.
An investigation has been opened into the recent events at Peršmanhof, and in the coming weeks the state authorities will give their response to what happened.
Gabriele Violino - EFAY Bureau
It is essential to ensure that these episodes do not go unnoticed
These patterns risk normalising state pressure against those who actively work to preserve the memory of resistance and to uphold democratic values, further marginalising communities already affected by historical injustice.
This shift is part of a broader inversion in how state institutions treat fascist and anti-fascist actors. Increasingly, anti-fascists are portrayed as sources of disorder, while far-right groups are given space to organise and gain legitimacy.
In Paris, for instance, authorities authorised a far-right march that provided a pretext for extremist groups to gather publicly, while a peaceful anti-fascist counter-protest was banned.
This selective application of public order laws not only shields reactionary movements from scrutiny but also deters public opposition to fascism.
A similar situation unfolded in Italy, where neo-fascist organisations such as CasaPound were permitted to hold rallies under police protection, despite promoting openly racist and violent ideologies. Meanwhile, anti-fascist demonstrators faced restrictions, surveillance or arrest.
Such asymmetry distorts perceptions of threat and legitimacy, and narrows the space for democratic resistance.
Tangi Stevant - EFAY Bureau