Franja Partisan Hospital

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Partizanska bolnišnica Franja, Cerkno

Dolenji Novaki, SI-5282 Cerkno

http://www.muzej-idrija-cerkno.si

tajnistvo@muzej-idrija-cerkno.si

Phone386 (0) 5 372 6600

ProprietorIdrija Municipal Museum

Franja Partisan Hospital near Cerkno is a cluster of functionally-arranged hospital facilities located in the narrow, barely accessible Pasica Gorge, which is itself a natural attraction. The hospital complex comprises 13 wooden buildings and several small auxiliary facilities which were gradually set up in the period from December 1943 to May 1945. The hospital was among the best-equipped of clandestine partisan hospitals, with an operating room, X-ray apparatus, an invalid care facility and a small electric plant. Most of the equipment is preserved in situ. The hospital had a capacity of up to 120 patients, and provided treatment for a total of 522 severely wounded persons. Some 1,000 wounded soldiers of various nationalities were treated in Franja and its dislocated units alongside Slovenes and citizens of Yugoslav nations, including Italians, French, Russians, Poles, Americans and an Austrian. One of the patients, a captured German soldier, joined the hospital staff after his recovery and remained there until the end of the war. During the entire period of the hospital's operation, 61 patients died. Conspiracy and security were of crucial importance to all clandestine partisan hospitals because, if discovered, they lacked effective defence mechanisms. Most of the route leading to the hospital ran along a stream flowing through the gorge. The wounded were blindfolded and carried to the hospital by its staff, most often at night. In selecting its location, consideration was also given to adequate self-defence in the form of minefields and machine-gun nests, and for this purpose the hospital was accessible only by footbridges and drawbridges hidden in the steep Pasica Gorge. Still preserved in the steep walls rising above the stream are several fortified bunkers and natural caves - hiding places for the wounded. Although enemy forces launched several searches for the hospital, it was never discovered.

The hospital has been proposed for inclusion in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

Huge floods on 18th September 2007 demolished Franja Partisan Hospital. Entrance to the Pasice gorge is not possible and all visits are cancelled. Repairs are underway.