The small town of Dravograd (“an overgrown village” according my friend Tanja, born and raised in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana) is not exactly a tourist’s paradise but it is home to a little known but fascinating museum. During World War Two the basement of what is now the municipality building (but was formerly the police station) was used a prison (place of torture, more accurately) by the Gestapo; today it contains a small museum which can be visited by arrangement with the Tourist Information Office.

During the Second World War, Slovenia (all of Yugoslavia, more correctly) was under German occupation and the town of Dravograd was used as a headquarters for the Koroska area. Anti-German sentiment was strong and the local partisans were well organised, resulting in lots of attacks, and attempted attacks, on German targets. The Gestapo had little trouble filling their cells, not only with locals who they suspected of being partisans, but also Russian prisoners who had been brought to Dravograd to work on the hydro-electricity plants on the River Drava (whatever else the Nazis did, they harnessed the power of the mighty Drava and today the Drava is an important source of power for the north of Slovenia).

We had read about the museum in our Lonely Planet and asked at the Tourist Information Office whether a visit would be possible that day. Having asked us no less than three times if we would definitely be there, the assistant agreed to meet us outside the town hall building at 1.00pm. The building is on the left hand side of the main road through town as the road starts to climb, just after you’ve come across the road bridge over the Drava. Quite simply, from the bus station cross the bridge, turn left and the town hall is less than fifty metres up the road and on the left. There is parking available.

The Tourist Information Office holds the key to the museum and you need to contact them in advance by phone or email, or go directly to the Tourist Information Office which is on Dravograd’s main street, next to the Church of St. Vitus.

The museum is very small with only a few exhibits. When we went in, our guide explained that it was the first time she had brought visitors to the museum herself but she did prove to be very knowledgeable, even more impressive when you remember that English is not her first language. First she read aloud from a printed sheet; this was a short overview of the background of the premises and a brief account of the Nazi occupation of the area. She then gave us a few minutes to read some information on a series of illustrated boards on the wall in the corridor of the prison. This was information additional to what she had told us already so overall we did manage to learn quite a lot. The only criticism I would make is that it might have been useful to have had the spoken information on a sheet too because our guide’s accent was quite difficult to listen to for a longer period and I struggled to work out a few words.

After this we were able to walk around the cells, having a look in each one. There are five cells, two of which are punishment cells (of course, I don’t imagine life was especially rosy in any of them) which the ceilings were even lower so that prisoners had no choice but to stoop. These cells had watertight doors so that the cells could be flooded from time to time; in such situations the prisoners were forced to stand, not able to sit or crouch to relieve themselves of the pain from continual stooping.

Graffiti was found in all of the cells and this had been photographed, enlarged and then displayed in frames on the walls so enable visitors to see it better. I was amazed at how many women had been imprisoned here and also at the large number of Russians who had carved their names into the plaster in Cyrillic script. While the Russians had been transported to work on the construction of the first hydro-electricity plant on the Drava (this can be seen just behind the town hall or from the road bridge), it often happened that shirkers or saboteurs were thrown in the prison.

Outside each cell were a couple of smaller boards, each one with a photograph of a man or woman and their memories of the prison. Unfortunately, these are all in Slovene but our guide did tell me a bit about what one of them said when I asked (I’m picking up new Slovene words all the time) if the woman pictured had been a cleaner (she had, I AM learning!). I thought it was interesting to have accounts from prisoners and local people working in the building and would have liked to have been able to know more about their experiences.

A couple of the cells contained display cabinets in which were items that had been found in the building when it was abandoned, and documents from the period, mainly directives and warnings issued by the Gestapo to local people. There were also maps that showed how the Germans had occupied that area and where they had stationed themselves to try to counter partisan activity. These exhibits were easy to understand and I found them very interesting, particularly so because they increased my knowledge of the area and threw up ideas for more places to visit.

We didn’t spend much more than forty minutes in the museum which included time spent talking with our guide about other places in the area but we came away feeling that we had spent our time well and had learned a great deal. The museum is very small but the few exhibits are well presented and even without a guide we would have been easily able to piece together the story it tells.

There is no charge for admission, nor to be accompanied by the guide. Admittedly there isn’t much work to be done inside the museum but we were getting the services of a skilled linguist and one who knew a lot about the history of the building and the German occupation, she wasn’t just reading from a sheet and holding the keys. There isn’t a huge amount to do in Dravograd although it’s a pleasant town to walk around. Most people come to walk in the Kodzak Hills, an area where you’ll find several monuments to the partisans and to families killed during the occupation so it’s nice to be able to go into Dravograd and link up some of the history.

Recommended if you have an hour to spare in the Koroska region.

Trg 4, Julija 7, SI-2370 Dravograd, Slovenia

Visits by appointment 8.00am – 2.00pm Mon-Fri, closed Sat-Sun and public holidays