Memorial Stone for the Murdered Members of the Hojnik Family

At the estate of the Polanšek family, commonly known as Hojnik, in Leppen/Lepena, National Socialists committed a massacre on 18 January 1944 against a Slovene-speaking family that supported the Partisan resistance. The farmer couple Johan and Angela Polanšek, parents of seven children, as well as the 89-year-old old farmer Florijan Polanšek, were murdered near the estate and their bodies burned on the spot. Two of the seven children, the 17-year-old twins Marija and Johi, were taken by the police: Marija was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp and later murdered there, while Johi was released from custody and joined the Partisans. The oldest son of the farmers, Jozej (Jože), was a soldier in the German Wehrmacht at the time of the massacre. He deserted and joined the Partisan resistance, and died in March 1945. The other four children of the murdered farmer couple remained with neighbors and relatives after the murder of their parents.
In 1982, the Association of Carinthian Partisans unveiled a memorial stone for the victims at the site of the crime.