Zgornji Hrastnik Partisan Hospital was a partisan hospital, which was started by Slovene partisans in February 1943 in the remote forests of Kočevski Rog. The first facilities were built in Bukovske gorice. At first those were only emergency posts, which were used to house the wounded from the evacuated convalescent unit from Škrilj during the German offensive, which began in October 1943, after the Italian army retreated from Slovenia.
<p>The Zgornji Hrastnik hospital began to play an increasingly prominent role in the care of the wounded. It was also the first hospital outpost in Kočevski Rog, not built in a sinkhole, but almost below the top of the hill. The first facilities built on this site were two emergency huts and a covered kitchen. The first barracks were built for recovering patients and the wounded. The second was for hospital staff. All the buildings were constructed of thick unpainted spruce and covered with shingles. In December 1943, the hospital received a manager. This became Dr. John Milcinski - Peter, who immediately began the expansion of the hospital.
</p><p>In the Zgornji Hrastnik hospital, more than 400 were treated during the war, most of them severely injured. 69 wounded died at the hospital and are buried in a cemetery near the hospital. It is surrounded by a low wall, and in the central part are graves with tombstones.
</p><p>The hospital was a great success for the national liberation movement in Slovenia, as it continued to operate continuously for more than two years and also carried out the most difficult medical procedures.
</p><p>The hospital and the hearby cemetary are registered as historical monuments of national importance in Slovenia.
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May the sacrifice of those fallen never be forgotten.
Uroš Novina
CC BY 2.0
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