Memorial Plaque for the Resistance of the Austrian Freedom Front in the Mountains

Near the Leopoldsteiner Lake, on December 1st, 1944, a firefight occurred between the partisans of the Austrian Freedom Front (ÖFF), founded in the autumn of 1943, and their pursuers, during which one partisan, Heinrich Kohnhauser, was shot dead, another, Sepp Filz, was seriously injured and could escape with the help of Max Muchitsch. These partisans carried out sabotage actions along the Styrian iron road against the war economy infrastructure of the National Socialists – especially the destruction of railway tracks – in an attempt to shorten the war. This would have been impossible without a close network of sympathizers and supporters who provided the partisans with shelter and sustenance. Approximately 500 members of this "Bodenorganisation" – among them many women – were arrested, tortured, executed or deported to concentration camps. Thus, 125 people lost their lives in the district of Leoben for the restoration of an independent and democratic Austria.