Museum of Hostages, Begunje na Gorenjskem

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Muzej talcev

Begunje na Gorenjskem 55, SI-4275 Begunje na Gorenjskem

http://www.muzeji-radovljica.si

mro@siol.net

Phone386 (0) 4 533 3790

ProprietorRadovljica Municipality Museums

Svetislav Kostov, Manager

Begunje Museum of Hostages was founded by the Municipality of Radovljica in 1961 and incorporated in the Radovljica Municipality Museums in 1963. It is housed in a north-west wing of Katzenstein mansion, where the cells of those condemned to death were located during the Second World War. The Katzenstein mansion with its interesting history from 14th century onwards is now a psychiatric hospital. The museum is declared a cultural monument of national importance together with the Katzenstein mansion, the memorial park in valley Draga, the chestnut avenue, and the pavilions Jožamurka and Brezjanka designed by architect Jože Plečnik.

History

Before the Second World War the Katzenstein mansion was a women's mental hospital managed by the Sisters of the Society of St Vincent of Paul. During the Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1945 it functioned as a Gestapo prison in which more than 12,000 people, including children, were imprisoned. On 4th May 1945 the detachment of Partisan army took over the prisons in Begunje and set 632 prisoners free. This day marks a holiday in Begunje that is honoured with a commemorative ceremony every year.

Some of the former prison cells in the extension of the manor house have been converted into a memorial museum. The graveyard of hostages who lost their life here is located in the park and in nearby Draga Valley. The museum is an authentic monument to the horrors of war.

The museum is currently undergoing renovation.

Programme / Mission

Documented material and other objects show the life of internees and exiles in prisons and in certain concentration camps in years 1941-1945 and Nazi atrocities, committed on the local population. There are shocking written records of prisoners that are left on the walls of prison cells with the announcements of occupiers concerning the executions.

In the castle park and in nearby Draga Valley there are 667 organized burial places of hostages and Partisans. The two memorials are organized according to the plans of the architect Edvard Ravnikar. Artist sculptures Pripornik (Detainee) and Talec (Hostage) and Talka (Female hostage) in the park of the castle are works of academic sculptor Boris Kalin (1951 and 1954).

The former bell of parish church, which was cast in 1923 by the Kranjska industrijska družba, is also exhibited as a monument of its own kind.

See also

• Radovljica Municipality Museums

External links

• Begunje Museum of Hostages website
• Virtual Guide to Begunje Museum of Hostages

• [www.memorial.at/content/?download=2006_selbstbefreiungkaerntens Die Befreiung der Häftlinge vom Loibl KZ]