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A brief summary of the events transmitted:

1944

Frieda Paulitsch, a young girl, resident in Bad Vellach, borough of Eisenkappel, is 17 years old when she is abducted by partisans. From then serves them. She never returns home again.

Winter 1944/45

Recordings of that time state that up to two meters of snow fall in this winter, resulting in a period of famine.

April 1945

In April, Frieda’s mother receives an anonymous hint that her daughter might have perished in the mountains: on the “Saualm”. A mass grave is found in the area of St. Oswald. A hunter claims to have seen a blond woman in this grave and it may have been Frieda; a few items of clothing supported this conclusion. She was most likely to have perished in the war.

October 1945

Frieda’s mother has her doubts in regard to this statement, but has to wait until October to exhume the body from the mass grave and hold a funeral. At that point, she is unable to identify her daughter anymore as the time of death had been too long ago. She felt certain that the body’s hands are not Frieda’s; henceforth she questioned whether the woman in the grave was actually her daughter.

Visiting the graveyard in Eisenkappel was quite difficult for her. Almost every time she claimed, “I have buried a stranger.”

The 1960s

According to some stories, Frieda’s mother is offered money by a former partisan in the 1960s, but she markedly refuses the offer, saying “I don’t take money from murderers.”

For 40 years, a grim silence lies over these events, nobody in the area talks about it. One time only, an uncle argues after the war: “It is actually quite good that Frieda is dead, otherwise she would have revealed all the partisans.”

1984

A woman from around Eisenkappel tries to get in contact with Frieda’s mother to get a picture of Frieda from her. Frieda’s mother rejects this request. In spring 1985 this woman passes away in the state hospital Klagenfurt.

April 16th, 1985

Maria Paulitsch, Frieda’s mother, is sitting down for lunch with her youngest son Anton and his family. 40 years have passed since the unsolved disappearance of her daughter. The postman comes and hands her an anonymous letter: without identification of the sender. The envelope shows the postmark of Klagenfurt with the date April 14th, 1985. The content of the letter was and still is an incredible shock for the whole family: to this very day. With an ashen face, uttering the words “I have always known”, Frieda’s mother hands over the letter to Frieda’s brother.

Note: In respect of human dignity, it is difficult to show this letter. However, this is unhelpful for the clarification of this case. It is therefore in the reader’s individual responsibility to read the letter.

Of course, there is no evidence whether the events mentioned in the letter actually happened. Needless to say, the family hopes that these unimaginable horrors are a work of fiction and hopefully never happened. Yet, nobody can actually believe this. Historians suspect it must have occurred, as described in the letter. After all, who would make up such a story?

Anton Paulitsch hands over the original document to the Directorate for Security of Carinthia. A hearing follows, but to no avail.

October 1985

Maria Paulitsch dies. The anonymous letter weighs heavily on her until her last breath. This missive was written by the person witnessing the confession of her daughter’s murderer.

Frieda’s brother, Anton Paulitsch, has been trying to uncover the truth ever since. Unfortunately, to no avail. Too much time has passed, witnesses have passed away. It was not until he lay on his deathbed, that the murderer required relief from his heavy burden, confessing.

2017

The family, along with the Directorate for Security, is trying to inquire into a possible return of the original letter. At this point, they are told that the letter had been destroyed. The family was not informed.

It is not easy to share this story with the outside, but with the current affordances of the internet, (even for private individuals), we are initiating a new attempt to find answers and give voice to the victim. Are there any other confessions? Is the author of the letter still alive?

Please help and send any indications and leads to hinweis@friedapaulitsch.at

Historians

report.

Transcript of the original letter:

1984 I was called to a dying former partisan to officiate the last rites. His last confession contained something truly horrific. I cannot reveal my true identity as I would be likely to expect severe ecclesiastical punishment due to a breach of the confessional seal. He said, he had to clear his conscience before he died. He confessed, at the end of the war, that he and 44 comrades had detained a certain Miss Paulitsch (Pavlic). She didn’t want to be submissive to all the partisans: all but one. As a result, she was declared a spy and raped by 42 partisans. He then took her into the woods and battered her to death.  Only one other comrade knew that she was then dismembered by a butcher and a stew was made of her meat which was served to the partisans, properly peppered and salted, paprika added so nobody would notice. It happened somewhere in Lower Carinthia, he couldn’t name the location anymore.  Maybe you, as a business woman, might know a Paulic, so the truth can be uncovered.  Due to hunger, cannibalism was wide-spread in Eastern Germany, which is well known. In the 1920s, there was a butcher of humans named Haarman in Hanover.  Somebody named Henke ended up under the axe as well. In Africa, it is still custom today. It is possible that his confession was true. Maybe you could find out who this murder victim was. This for your attention! The culprit was Slovene. I was able to recognize this due to his language. I do not want to end up in front of the Papal court, but after the homicide of 14000 Domobranci, this is also within the realms of possibility.

P.T.

Kopie des Originalbriefes