Gramozna jama, Memorial site near Žale cemetery in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Gramozna jama is a memorial complex near Žale cemetery in Ljubljana, built on a former gravel pit where Italian occupation forces shot hostages. It was designed by architect Vinko Glanz in 1955 and opened in 1957. At its centre stands Boris Kalin's 1947 sculpture of a falling hostage, and the site was declared a cultural monument of local importance in 2003.
The first execution at the gravel pit was on 7 February 1942, when Milan Šušteršič was shot. On 10 March 1942, sixteen villagers from Bistra and its surroundings were executed after a military court wrongly condemned them for a partisan attack on a railway bridge at Preserje. At least 185 hostages were killed in total, including the painter Hinko Smrekar on 1 October 1942.
The memorial draws its name from the former gravel pit and stands as a place where visitors can reflect on the individual people who lost their lives during the occupation. The grounds preserve personal details about those executed, making their stories part of the local memory.
Gramozna jama lies near the Žale cemetery, a short distance from Tomačevska cesta, and the Trail of Remembrance and Comradeship passes directly by it. The memorial complex, designed by Vinko Glanz and opened in 1957, stands at the entrance to the former pit. Visitors reach the obelisk and Boris Kalin's sculpture of a falling hostage on foot along the trail.
The first person shot here, on 7 February 1942, was Milan Šušteršič, secretary of the district committee of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia for Bežigrad, sentenced by an Italian military court. On 10 March 1942 sixteen villagers from Bistra and its surroundings were executed for an attack on the railway bridge at Preserje that the court wrongly attributed to them.
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