Bleiburg Pliberk | |
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 Main square with plague column | |
.png) Coat of arms | |
  Bleiburg Location within Austria Show map of Kärnten Bleiburg Bleiburg (Austria) Show map of Austria | |
| Coordinates:46°35′24″N14°47′56″E / 46.59000°N 14.79889°E /46.59000; 14.79889 | |
| Country | Austria |
| State | Carinthia |
| District | Völkermarkt |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Stefan Visotschnig († October 2025) (SPÖ) |
| Area | |
• Total | 69.77 km2 (26.94 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 479 m (1,572 ft) |
| Population (2018-01-01)[2] | |
• Total | 4,072 |
| • Density | 58.36/km2 (151.2/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 9150 |
| Area code | 04235 |
| Vehicle registration | VK |
| Website | www.bleiburg.at |
Bleiburg (Slovene:Pliberk) is a smalltown in the southAustrian state ofCarinthia (Koroška), south-east ofKlagenfurt, in the district ofVölkermarkt, some four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the border withSlovenia.
The municipality consists of the twelveKatastralgemeinden Aich (Dob), Bleiburg, Grablach (Grablje), Kömmel (Komelj), Moos (Blato), Oberloibach (Libuče), Rinkenberg (Vogrče), Sankt Margarethen (Šmarjeta), Schattenberg (Senčni kraj), Unterloibach (Libuče), Weißenstein (Belšak) and Woroujach (Borovje). According to a 2001 census, 30.4% of the population areCarinthian Slovenes (in 1971, they were 52.8%).
The border town is located in the valley of the Feistritz creek, a right tributary of theDrava, north of thePeca massif of theKarawanks mountain range. It is home to adistrict court, militarybarracks and to the local productive and services industry. The name of Bleiburg, literally meaning 'Lead Castle', can be attributed to thelead mining operations in the Peca mountain.
The area was part of theLiupicdorf estate in theDuchy of Carinthia, which about 1000 Bishop Albuin I ofBrixen dedicated to his brother CountAribo. The oldest surviving document mentioning the town ascastrum et forum Pliburch is dated to 1228. The comital estates of Bleiburg Castle were seized by theHabsburg dukesAlbert III andLeopold III in 1369, the settlement receivedtown privileges the next year. On 16 March 1393 Duke Albert granted the citizens the right to hold the annualWiesenmarkt ('meadow market') fair, which has taken place on 1 September every year up to today at least since 1428. In 1601 the castle was ceded to theThurn-Valsassina comital family, who had it rebuilt in its presentRenaissance style and still owns it today, together with the nearby Castle Hagenegg inEisenkappel-Vellach.
Between 1918 and 1920, Bleiburg was occupied byYugoslav troops. In spite of the overwhelming Slovene majority in the area, the town remained in Austria after the dissolution of theAustro-Hungarian Empire along national/ethnic lines after the end ofWorld War I. In theCarinthian Plebiscite of 1920, in fact, the inhabitants of southern Carinthia rejected the proposal to unite with theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugoslavia), and chose to remain in Austria. In the constituency of Bleiburg, however, a slim majority of the population (51%) cast its vote for Yugoslavia. In the territory of the present-day municipality of Bleiburg, 59.8% of the voters chose Yugoslavia over Austria.[3]
On 15 May 1945, theIndependent State of Croatia capitulated to the victoriousYugoslav Army in Bleiburg. It was the initial location of a series of extrajudicial executions, in the course of which Partisans killed thousands ofCroatian Home Guard andUstaše,Slovene Home Guard and SerbianChetnik troops, who had surrendered to the British forces inAllied-occupied Austria and been repatriated inOperation Keelhaul.[4]
Bleiburg/Pliberk became famous in Austrian and Slovenian media in the years 2005 and 2007, due to a long controversy over the erection of a bilingual place name. The controversy was part of a decade-long Carinthian "place sign struggle" (Ortstafelstreit,Slovene:Boj za postavljanje dvojezičnih napisov) between representatives of the Carinthian Slovenes andright-wing politicians of the German-speaking mainstream society.
In December 2005, theConstitutional Court of Austria ruled that the topographic sign at the entrance to the town of Bleiburg was unconstitutional, since it was written only in German, and ordered the erection of a bilingual, German-Slovene sign.[5] In February 2006, the Carinthian governorJörg Haider made a great stir by personally moving the German sign for a few meters, hoping to create a new legal situation that would require a new decision of the Constitutional Court.[6]
However, already in March 2006, the district commissioner of Völkermarkt issued an official ordinance, enforcing the erection of a bilingual sign in accordance to the decision of the Court.[5] Nevertheless Governor Jörg Haider refused to carry out the ordinance, further fanning the controversy's flames. In August of the same year, Haider personally added a small plaque with the Slovene name of the town (Pliberk) under the German one. In December 2006, the Austrian Constitutional Court declared such action illegal, reiterating its decision that proper bilingual signs should be erected.
In February 2007, the Carinthian Regional Prosecution started a legal procedure against Governor Haider and his deputyGerhard Dörfler for official misconduct in the case of the Bleiburg place sign.[7] Investigations were scrapped after the governor had died in a traffic accident on 11 October 2008. Upon another verdict by the Constitutional Court on 9 July 2010, proper bilingual signs were finally erected at the behest of Haider's successor Gerhard Dörfler.
Seats in the municipal council (elections as of 2003):
The mayor of Bleiburg is Stefan Visotschnig from SPÖ.[8]
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