Unearthing memories : the agency of place and material remains in mass grave exhumations and commemorations in Slovenia

Repič, Jaka (author)

Since the 1990s, hundreds of mass graves from the Second World War have been documented in Slovenia; over 200 investigated, and more than 100 fully or partially exhumed. The process of uncovering and acknowledging these sites, concealed until the 1990s, has had a gradual but profound impact on the lives of those associated with the graves or the deceased, on the local communities where they have been uncovered, and it has redefined the broader field of memory politics. The article examines personal and embodied encounters with mass graves as sites of violence, memory, and death. It argues that the materiality of mass graves, human remains, and related objects not only evokes affective responses, but also mobilizes political and social action, thereby influencing commemorative practices and the broader politics of memory. Excavations thus not only recover human remains, but also facilitate the resurfacing of previously silenced memories and reshape the relationship with the dead.

• Language: English
• Keywords: cultural anthropology, history, mass graves, human remains, affect, materiality, memory, commemoration, second world war, Slovenia
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 99-122
• Numbering: Roč. 113, č. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-181285
• UDC: 726.84:393(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 0009-0794
• DOI: 10.21104/CL.2026.1.06
• COBISS.SI-ID: 273582851
• Publication date in RUL: 30.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Český lid : etnologický časopis
• Shortened title: Čes. lid
• Publisher: Etnologický ústav Akademie věd České republiky
• ISSN: 0009-0794
• COBISS.SI-ID: 24599

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kulturna antropologija, zgodovina, množična grobišča, človeški posmrtni ostanki, afekt, socialni spomin, komemoracije, druga svetovan vojna, Slovenija