The Franja WW II hospital is one of the most noble Slovenian symbols and its destruction last year was a great tragedy, President Danilo Tuerk told STA in Sezana on Thursday, as he attended a fund-raiser for the reconstruction of this monument.
The president is certain that there are many people in Slovenia that would like to see the hospital reconstructed so it will again symbolise humanitariansm, solidarity and nobleness, which were demonstrated in the resistance and got its most obvious manifestation in Franja. "That is why it needs to be preserved for future generations."
The reconstruction of the hospital that was destroyed in the torrential rain and floods in September last year and the establishment of an information centre are expected to cost some EUR 5m and should be finished in 2010.
The Idrija City Museum that is collecting money for the reconstruction has collected some EUR 100,000, most of the money coming from the Slovenians living abroad, the museum's director Ivana Leskovec said.
She explained that the area of the hospital, where 11 out of 13 wooden buildings were destroyed, was already cleaned up. Despite the renovation, tourists will be able to visit this WWII monument already this year.
The Franja hospital is located in the narrow, barely accessible Pasica gorge. It opened on 23 December 1943.
The hospital was among the best equipped clandestine partisan hospitals during the second world war. It boasted an operating room, X-ray apparatus, a disabled care facility, and a small electricity plant.
Some 1000 wounded soldiers were treated in Franja during the war. It was never discovered despite extensive searches by enemy forces.
In the years after WWII, the hospital became a popular tourist attraction. Last year, it received the European Heritage Label.
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