Monument to the Victims of Freedom for Austria in Villach/Beljak

In 1964, on the initiative of the KPÖ Villach, a cross memorial honoring the "victims for Austria's freedom" was placed on a massive concrete base at the Waldfriedhof Villach. It is located not far from the main entrance, after the mortuary hall, in the second cross path to the right, surrounded by graves on all sides. The communist party wanted to draw attention to the victims of the resistance against the Nazis, many of them from their own ranks. These freedom fighters were forgotten and pushed aside in contrast to the collective veneration of fallen soldiers after 1945. Originally, there had been a plan to list the names of the victims, but ultimately this was abandoned, and the base bears the general inscription "To the victims for Austria's freedom." Until the unveiling of the "Memorial of Names" in the inner city of Villach in 1999, the KPÖ Villach held an annual commemoration ceremony at the memorial in the Waldfriedhof.