Partisan Printworks at Gorenja Kanomlja

The movement resisting the Nazi occupation in the countries that once comprised Yugoslavia depended heavily on communications between groups of partisans and on the maintenance of good relationships between the fighting men and the inhabitants of the towns and village in the areas where they operated. The distribution of leaflets was the main means of communication in the partisan war, and one of the places where such leaflets originated was the Partisan Printworks at Gorenja Kanomlja, a wild, sparsely-inhabited plateau overlooking the Kanonlijica Valley north-west of the town of Idrija. The print works was established in the summer of 1944 in wooden buildings prefabricated elsewhere and assembled on the site at Gorenja Kanomlja. They comprised an engine house, a building housing an electric generator, a kitchen with dining area, the print shop itself accommodating a high-speed press brought from Milan and another smaller press, and a workshop for collation and binding. The print works operated from 17 September 1944 until May 1945, and produced more than 300 publications. Between 40 and 50 people worked there. The works was never discovered by the occupying forces. The print works has been open to the public as a national monument since May 1947, and all the equipment is still working.

Partisan Printworks at Gorenja Kanomlja
Partizanska tiskarna Slovenija
Vojsko 61
5280 Idrija
Slovenia
+386 (0) 53 - 643916
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