This idyllic image was taken just around the bend from Peršman farm, a place where the police battaillon 13 and the SS, the Nazi elite troup, committed one of their last crimes against the Slovene minority in Carinthia.
On April 25, 1945, only two weeks before the end of that bloody war, they killed a whole farmer’s family, 15 people, grandparents, parents, children, aunt, nephews and nieces. They were accused of having supported Slovenian partisans. Most likely they did, but what could they have done? This was partisan territory, and then, the partisans were Slovenes as well, and most important, theirs was a just cause. They were fighting one of the most terrible and bloody régimes that have ever marred the face of the earth.
Today here, in the re-erected main building of the farm, is a museum reminding us of that cruel time and of how hate ruled a country.
The Song of the Day is “Hate And War” from the debut album of The Clash. Hear it on YouTube.