Franja Partisan Hospital

During World War 2, when Slovenia was under Nazi occupation, the country’s resistance movement built a large number of hospitals hidden in the forest to take care of the wounded. These hospitals were often built in hard to reach areas of the woods, in gorges and in caves, in order to keep them out of reach of the enemy, who actively sought out these medical establishments and destroyed them. Between 1942 and 1945, there were around 120 partisan hospitals active in Slovenia, giving shelter to more than 15,000 wounded and sick people of various nationalities who were fighting against Fascism and Nazism. Their existence and work were hugely dependent on the support of local inhabitants who helped transport and carry the wounded, organized undisturbed supply of food, medicine and sanitation, and protected the secret of their locations even at the price of their own security. Photo: Sl-Ziga/Wikimedia A handful of these hospitals still survive, although they no longer impart medical service. Among them, the Franja Partisan Hospital at Dolenji Novaki near Cerkno in western Slovenia was the most well-equipped with an operating room, X-ray apparatus, an invalid care facility, and a small electric plant. The Franja Partisan Hospital was located in a gorge deep inside German-occupied Europe, only a few hours from Austria and the central parts of the Third Reich. German military activity was frequent in the general region, but the hospital remained well hidden throughout its operation. The entrance to the hospital was hidden and the building could only be reached by retractable bridges that could be removed when the enemy was in the vicinity. In order to preserve the secrecy necessary for a clandestine hospital to operate, the patients were blindfolded when they were transported to the facility. The hospital was also protected by minefields and nests of machine guns.