In May 1945, at the end of World War Two, thousands of Cossacks and their families who fought on the side of Nazi Germany against the Red Army retreated to the West hoping to avoid Soviet captivity. The Cossacks arrived in the valley of Lienz, Austria, from Yugoslavia via Italy, after crossing the Plöcken Pass in the Carnic Alps and Carinthia, where they believed they had reached safety under British protection. However, under the terms of the Yalta Conference agreements, they were to be forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union.
The Betrayal of the Cossacks
At Camp Peggetz in Lienz, 2,479 Cossacks, including 2,201 officers and soldiers of the XV (SS) Cossack Cavalry Corps who fought the Red Army as part of the German Wehrmacht and later the SS in former Yugoslavia and Hungary, had taken up their refuge here.
On 28 May 1945, the British Army arrived at the camp with transport vehicles, summoning the Cossack leaders and officers among them to attend a conference while being reassured by British officers that they would return later that day. Despite earlier friendly relations between British troops and the Cossacks, the situation quickly turned violent when suspicion of a forced repatriation arose and resistance began. Knowing they would face severe persecution, forced labor, or execution in the Soviet Union, the Cossacks unanimously resisted getting on the transports. During the terrible commotion that followed, many of them lost their lives while being heavily beaten by the British soldiers. Many, especially mothers with children, in their dispair jumped into the Drau river and drowned there, committing suicide.
Cemetery
The Cossack cemetery was founded in June 1945, right after the “Cossack Tragedy on the River Drau”. It is the final resting place of an estimated 300 Cossacks divided among 28 graves. In later years the crosses were added and a memorial obelisk with Orthodox cross was erected. The chapel “Mother of God Protection and Help of Saint Alexej” was erected in May 2015 in commemoration of the Cossack tragedy of 1945.
Commemoration
This event, often called the “Cossack Tragedy on the River Drau”, is still commemorated yearly in the region. While the majority of the survivors have already passed away, the memory of this tragic event remains very vivid thanks to the generation of their grandchildren and friends.
Visit
You can find the cemetery along the Drau river in Lienz, Austria. Use our map marker to find the exact location.
If you follow the river a little further to the East, you can also find a memorial marking the former “Cossack Bridge”, where many chose to take their own lives.
