2024

FRANJA PARTISAN HOSPITAL

Museums

From December 1943 to May 1945, the gorges hosted a hospital built for partisans (Yugoslav resistance fighters). The health facility is named after Dr. Franja Bojc-Bidovec, who became Chief Medical Officer in January 1944. The 578 injured people who stayed here are blindfolded from the farm Podnjivč (opposite the current car park). The march in the waters was intended to avoid encountering German soldiers. This hospital had a very low mortality rate (13%). German troops, despite two attacks, never succeeded in bringing down this almost untraceable site. Nine French people were treated, but also Austrians, Italians, Poles, Soviets and Americans. The path along the river at the foot of the cliffs immediately brings you into the atmosphere: the further you go, the narrower the gorges. We finally saw the first barracks. It is not a museum in the conventional sense of the term but rather an immersion. We discover the barracks dedicated to the operating room, the radiology barracks, the quarantine room, the doctors' and injured people's room, the canteen, the dormitories covered with Yugoslav propaganda posters (you will be surprised by their number!), etc. At the bottom of the gorge, there is even a micro hydroelectric power station. It is a striking dive into the history and lives of these men in times of war. You will not leave this place completely unscathed.

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