By: Nova Slovenska zaveza
From public reports, we have learned that the Ministry of Defence is carrying out the transfer of the mortal remains of the slain from the Macesnova Gorica pit, which are currently stored at the Kočevje municipal facility, to the ossuary near Škofja Loka.
Everyone agrees that the ossuary at the cemetery near Škofja Loka is a more dignified place for the unburied victims from Kočevski Rog to await burial than a municipal warehouse.
However, we oppose the government’s unilateral decision because we fear that the ruling political left is playing an insincere game with the slain: they speak of a temporary location, but practically, once the deceased are moved from Kočevje to the Škofja Loka ossuary, their burial will be considered complete. In the eyes of the heirs of communism, this will be deemed sufficient for our murdered people: there will be no further efforts to ensure them a proper burial. The media will fall silent, never touching on this topic again: the Home Guard soldiers are buried, and that is the end of it. The Minister of Defence even publicly stated: it is time to “respectfully close the painful chapter of our history.”
Initially, Nova Slovenska Zaveza did not oppose the transfer of the deceased from Kočevje to the ossuary near Škofja Loka. However, we set a condition: the government must first adopt a resolution committing to the victims’ burial in Ljubljana; only then could they be temporarily moved to a respectable location. If the ruling authorities had sincere intentions, they would have adopted such a simple resolution and then sought government-owned land for the burial. Alternatively, they could have amended the Law on the Capital City or passed legislation exempting certain burial activities from municipal jurisdiction. There are multiple solutions, yet the government refused to adopt any of them.
The Government Commission for Concealed Graves, led by Dr Jože Dežman, took a similar stance: its members unanimously opposed the transfer of the deceased unless the government first passed binding regulations ensuring their final burial in Ljubljana.
The fact that the government is now unilaterally moving the remains of the slain – without the consent of their relatives, who are represented by Nova Slovenska Zaveza, and in direct conflict with its own Government Commission on Mass Graves – to a place where they will remain hidden from the public and still unburied, indicates that they do not genuinely wish to provide them with a dignified burial. Instead, they want to push them aside and erase their memory. They want to clean up the scene so they can celebrate in May the 80th anniversary of the revolution’s victory, which they call “liberation.” This will help them gain a few more political points with certain voters and avoid uncomfortable questions from European institutions. This is the political mindset guiding their handling of the victims’ remains.
To us, these are not just bones. These are our people. They were murdered in a massive crime. In both European and Slovenian traditions, a dignified burial for victims includes stating at their funeral who they were, what they stood for, and how they died. Their burial must be inseparable from the condemnation of the crime that took their lives. However, the political heirs of communism have never changed their stance on this crime throughout Slovenia’s independence: they are incapable of publicly and legally declaring it a crime. They obstruct the moral conscience and intellect of Slovenians to prevent the condemnation of the revolution. Their so-called “acts of piety” are attempts to separate remembrance from the acknowledgment of the crime.
This has led to a series of misguided attempts that have all failed and remained hollow: the Teharje Memorial Park, the monument at Congress Square, and especially the burial of the Huda Jama victims at Dobrava near Maribor – a regrettable misplacement. Now we are facing yet another Dobrava. They speak of reverence and respect for the dead while ignoring the wishes of the victims’ relatives in Nova Slovenska Zaveza and creating entire classes of second-rate dead, condemned to oblivion. We condemn this and will oppose it. A person’s burial must include their dignity.
Dr Matija Ogrin
President of NSZ
Ljubljana, March 31st, 2025
