Gottscheer Gedenkstätte

The Gottscheer Gedenkstätte stands in a chapel in Graz’s Mariatrost district. Built near the Mariatrost Basilica, the chapel was designed by Eberhardt Jäger and completed in 1967. Its altar cross was created by Koczewar artist Helmut Loske, while the stained glass came from Franz Felfer. Over 1,300 names of Koczewar victims from both world wars are carved into marble plaques on the walls. The Gedenkstätte remembers the German-speaking Gottscheers who lived in Slovenia for more than 650 years before forced expulsion. A permanent exhibition on two underground levels explores their history, language, traditional costumes and daily life in peasant rooms. Audio-visual recordings with witnesses and an archive in the cellar add to the displays. Visitors find a quiet chapel turned memorial space with sombre marble tablets and a suspended crucifix above the altar. The lower floors hold glass cases of folk art and photographs of Gottscheer villages. Outside, the Mariatrost Basilica’s domed towers rise against the Graz skyline, marking the chapel’s place in the city’s north-eastern edge.