Unearthing Memories: The Agency of Place and Material Remains in Mass Grave Exhumations and Commemorations in Slovenia

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.