Memorial to the Victims for Austria's Freedom in Villach/Beljak

In 1964, on the initiative of the KPÖ, a cross memorial to the "Victims for Austria's Freedom" was installed on a massive concrete base at the Villach Forest Cemetery. It is located close to the main entrance, after the funeral hall, in the second transverse path to the right, surrounded by graves. The communist party wanted to draw attention to the victims of resistance against the National Socialists, many of whom came from their own ranks. These freedom fighters, in contrast to the collective veneration of fallen soldiers after 1945, were forgotten and pushed aside. From an originally planned list of the names of the victims, it was ultimately decided to abandon this, and the base bears the general inscription "To the Victims for Austria's Freedom." Until the unveiling of the "Monument of Names" in the Villach city center in 1999, the KPÖ Villach held an annual commemorative ceremony at the memorial in the Forest Cemetery.