After the end of World War II, in 1945, forced labor camps were established in Slovenia, officially called penal camps. To them, the power under the leadership of the Communist Party sent political opponents and people who were accused of various political criminal offenses. The detention of the accused, carried out by the secret police (first of all OZNA, which in 1946 was divided into civil – UDBA and military – KOS department), was usually carried out without judgment and the possibility of Defense. The penal camps, renamed forced labour institutions in January 1946, ceased to function in October 1946, which did not abolish the category of forced labour sentences for those convicted; under the new law, the sentence was served in penal reformatory homes (KPD). These were located in Ljubljana, Maribor, Novo Mesto and Begunje na Gorenjskem; the latter was replaced by the KPD at Rajhenburg Castle in June 1948.
Preparatory work for the opening of the KPD for women began at Rajhenburg Castle in May 1948. The castle was converted to accommodate convicts, and at the same time a building for employees began to be built in its immediate vicinity. The capacity of the institution was about 600 people.
The KPD in Rajhenburg was arranged with the aim of transferring to it the convicts from the KPD Begunje, which had been operating since 1. in June 1946. In Begunje, the sentence was served by women, as well as minors, who were sentenced to a sentence of strict imprisonment and imprisonment for more than six months. At the end of 1947, 449 convicts were imprisoned in Begunje.
Prisoners from Begunj were brought by a train to Rajhenburg 30. in June 1948 at three in the morning. From the station, accompanied by militiamen and militiamen, they had to walk to the castle, where they were placed in previously designated rooms. They brought political prisoners accused of crimes against the people and the authorities, against the general people's property and cooperative property, against official duty; they were accused of hostile propaganda, accusation, espionage and escapes across the border with elements of a hostile act. Three quarters were political prisoners and one quarter were criminals accused of various criminal acts. Due to the excessive number of female prisoners coming from all over Slovenia, hygiene and health conditions were very poor in the beginning. As there was a shortage of beds, two convicts each slept on one bed, some even on straw mats laid on the floor. They also lacked blankets, towels, underwear and handkerchiefs, and they did not have shoes at all. In 1948, there were 1,081 female prisoners in KPD Rajhenburg, of which 756 were political and 325 were criminal. At the end of the year, there were only 705 left: some were released after serving their sentences, while others were paroled, amnestied or transferred.
The basic goal of working with female prisoners was re-education, especially re-education through work. Thus, female prisoners in KPD Rajhenburg performed various jobs in workshops, Institute and economics. They worked in the workshops of the state industrial enterprise "Knitilka", where they sewed men's trousers, shirts, textile pillows, etc. In the" House sewing room " they sewed dresses and linen for the needs of the institution and also the guards, often patching old clothes and bags. In craft workshops, lace, tablecloths and carpets were knitted, baskets and checkers were knitted from willow twigs, matting and Bast, slippers were sewn and egg packaging was made. In the institution itself, the convicts worked in the kitchen, baked bread, worked in the laundry, and were also "orderlies" – on duty to perform various work. On economics, female prisoners performed all kinds of agricultural work. In addition to peasant women, prisoners were sent to these works, who had to perform heavy physical labor during the period of serving their sentences. They cultivated fields and gardens and grew food, raised livestock, and were also engaged in dairy farming, fruit growing and brandy cooking.
Many female prisoners from KPD Rajhenburg were sent to work on the construction of the "Bratstva and edinstva" highway; they worked in various labor camps in Croatia, set up along the routes of construction sites. Most of the trials against political prisoners - if not all-were rigged. As a result, almost all of the convicts succeeded in seeking pardons in 1952 and 1953. Later, most of them were rehabilitated and found guilty of the defendants. Many famous Slovenian women were imprisoned in Rajhenburg, including Ljuba Prenner and Angela Vode.
After the release of most of the political convicts, women accused of various criminal acts, including murder and infanticide, remained in the institution. In April 1956 there were only 230 convicts left in KPD Brestanica; in July 1956 they were transferred to KPD Ig near Ljubljana, and the women'S KPD in Brestanica was abolished. Already 4. in September 1956, a new KPD was opened in Brestanica, this time open to men. In the first open-plan institution in Slovenia there was room for 50 convicts. They stayed in the guard building, and not in the castle, as in front of them women convicts. 13. in January 1959, the KPD Brestanica was abolished as an independent institution, and a working settlement of the KPD Dob with an open-plan regime was organized in its place. The economic unit of KPD Brestanica "Ekonomija Bohor" was also completely transferred under KPD Dob. Prisoners, mostly sentenced to several years ' sentences for criminal acts and economic offenses, numbered around 40. On the economy, young fattened cattle up to 400 kg in weight were bred. All work in the Fields was devoted to the production of feed for fattening about 400 heads of livestock. They managed intensively until 15. in July 1963, when the KPD Brestanica was abolished, and the economy, along with livestock, was taken over by the Agricultural Cooperative Brestanica.
There are 11 in the castle. in March 1957, they arranged a camp for Hungarian refugees fleeing Hungary after the October 1956 revolution. The convicts of the KPD also took part in the arrangement of the castle for refugees. The camp for Hungarian refugees operated until 1. in November 1957. Following the cessation of the operation of the camp for Hungarian refugees, the Brestanica Reception Station was established in the castle at the end of 1957 as a base for the reception of those who had been arrested while trying to illegally cross the western border. Among its tasks were the reception of individuals, their questioning, and also proposals for punishment for the area of the districts of Maribor, Kranj, Skofja Loka and Nova Gorica.
A year later, for the reception of defectors from other republics of the FLRJ, the Federal collection center of the Ministry of internal affairs of the FLRJ was also established in the castle. The federal and Republican centers operated separately, each in its own territorial area. With the possibility of legal business and tourist exits from the country, the two became establishments in the mid-sixties 20. centuries gone and they stopped working. In mid-1966, the municipality of Krsko gave the castle to the management of the Tourist Association Brestanica; this began to convert the castle into a museum institution.
Exhibition author: Irena F
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Po koncu druge svetovne vojne, leta 1945, so bila v Sloveniji ustanovljena Taborišča za prisilno delo, uradno imenovana kazenska taborišča. Vanje je oblast pod vodstvom komunistične partije pošiljala politične nasprotnike in ljudi, ki so bili obdolženi različnih političnih kazenskih deliktov. Priprtje obtoženih, ki ga je izvajala tajna policija (najprej OZNA, ki je bila leta 1946 razdeljena na civilni – UDBA in vojaški – KOS oddelek), je bilo navadno izvršeno brez sodbe in možnosti obrambe. Kazenska taborišča, januarja 1946 preimenovana v Zavode za prisilno delo, so oktobra 1946 prenehala delovati, s čimer pa kategorija kazni prisilnega dela obsojenih ni bila odpravljena; po novem so kazen prestajali v Kazensko poboljševalnih domovih (KPD). Ti so bili v Ljubljani, Mariboru, Novem mestu in Begunjah na Gorenjskem; slednjega je junija 1948 nadomestil KPD na gradu Rajhenburg.
Pripravljalna dela za odprtje KPD za ženske so se na gradu Rajhenburg začela maja 1948. Grad so preuredili za sprejem obsojenk, obenem pa so v njegovi neposredni bližini začeli graditi stavbo za zaposlene. Kapaciteta zavoda je bila okrog 600 oseb.
KPD v Rajhenburgu so uredili z namenom, da vanj premestijo obsojenke iz KPD Begunje, ki je deloval že od 1. junija 1946. V Begunjah so kazen prestajale ženske in tudi mladoletnice, ki so bile obsojene na kazen strogega zapora in zapora nad šest mesecev. Konec leta 1947 je bilo v Begunjah zaprtih 449 obsojenk.
Zapornice iz Begunj je vlak v Rajhenburg pripeljal 30. junija 1948 ob treh zjutraj. S postaje so morale v spremstvu miličnikov in miličnic peš do gradu, kjer so jih namestili v že prej določene sobe. Pripeljali so politične zapornice, obdolžene kaznivih dejanj zoper ljudstvo in oblast, zoper splošno ljudsko premoženje in zadružno lastnino, zoper uradno dolžnost; obdolžene so bile sovražne propagande, ovaduštva, vohunstva in pobegov preko meje z elementi sovražnega dejanja. Tri četrtine je bilo političnih zapornic, ena četrtina pa kriminalk, obdolženih različnih kriminalnih dejanj. Zaradi prevelikega števila zapornic, ki so prihajale iz vse Slovenije, so bile v začetku higienske in zdravstvene razmere zelo slabe. Ker je primanjkovalo postelj, sta po dve obsojenki spali na eni postelji, nekatere celo na na tleh položenih slamaricah. Prav tako jim je primanjkovalo odej, brisač, spodnjega perila in robcev, obutve pa sploh niso imeli. Leta 1948 je bilo v KPD Rajhenburg 1.081 zapornic, od tega 756 političnih in 325 kriminalk. Konec leta jih je bilo le še 705: nekatere so bile izpuščene po prestani kazni, druge pa pogojno izpuščene, amnestirane ali premeščene.
Osnovni cilj dela z zapornicami je bila prevzgoja, predvsem prevzgoja z delom. Tako so zapornice v KPD Rajhenburg opravljale različna dela v delavnicah, zavodu in na ekonomiji. Delale so v delavnicah državnega industrijskega podjetja »Pletilka«, kjer so šivale moške hlače, srajce, tekstilne blazine ipd. V »hišni šivalnici« so šivale obleke in perilo za potrebe zavoda in tudi paznic, pogosto so krpale stara oblačila in vreče. V obrtnih delavnicah so pletle čipke, prte in preproge, iz vrbovih šib, rogoza in ličkanja so pletle košare in cekarje, šivale so copate in izdelovale embalažo za jajca. V samem zavodu so obsojenke delale v kuhinji, pekle kruh, delale v pralnici in bile tudi »redarke« – dežurne za opravljanje različnih del. Na ekonomiji so zapornice opravljale vse vrste kmetijskih del. K tem delom so poleg kmetic pošiljali tudi zapornice, ki so morale v času prestajanja kazni opravljati težka fizična dela. Obdelovale so polja in vrtove ter pridelovale hrano, redile živino, ukvarjale pa so se tudi z mlekarstvom, s sadjarstvom in z žganjekuho.
Številne zapornice iz KPD Rajhenburg so poslali na delo pri gradnji avtoceste »Bratstva in edinstva«; delale so v različnih delovnih taboriščih na Hrvaškem, postavljenih ob trasah gradbišč. Večina sodnih procesov proti političnim zapornicam – če ne celo vsi – je bila montiranih. Zato so skoraj vse obsojenke v letih 1952 in 1953 uspele s prošnjami za pomilostitev. Pozneje je bila večina rehabilitirana in spoznana za krivo obdolžene. V Rajhenburgu je bilo zaprtih veliko znanih Slovenk, med njimi tudi Ljuba Prenner in Angela Vode.
Po izpustitvi večine političnih obsojenk so v zavodu ostale ženske, obdolžene različnih kriminalnih dejanj, tudi umorov in detomorov. Aprila 1956 je bilo v KPD Brestanica le še 230 obsojenk; julija 1956 so jih premestili v KPD Ig pri Ljubljani, ženski KPD v Brestanici pa so ukinili. Že 4. septembra 1956 so v Brestanici odprli nov KPD, tokrat odprtega tipa za moške. V prvem zavodu odprtega tipa v Sloveniji je bilo prostora za 50 obsojencev. Bivali so v pazniški stavbi in ne v gradu, kot pred njimi ženske obsojenke. 13. januarja 1959 so KPD Brestanica ukinili kot samostojen zavod, namesto njega pa organizirali delovno naselje KPD Dob z režimom odprtega tipa. Tudi gospodarsko enoto KPD Brestanica »Ekonomija Bohor« so v celoti prenesli pod KPD Dob. Zapornikov, večinoma obsojenih na večletne kazni zaradi kriminalnih dejanj in gospodarskih prekrškov, je bilo okrog 40. Na ekonomiji so redili mlada pitana goveda do 400 kg teže. Vse delo na poljih je bilo namenjeno pridelavi krme za pitanje okrog 400 glav živine. Intenzivno so gospodarili vse do 15. julija 1963, ko so KPD Brestanica ukinili, ekonomijo pa je skupaj z živino prevzela Kmetijska zadruga Brestanica.
V gradu so 11. marca 1957 uredili taborišče za madžarske begunce, ki so po revoluciji oktobra 1956 bežali iz Madžarske. Pri urejanju gradu za begunce so sodelovali tudi obsojenci KPD. Taborišče za madžarske begunce je delovalo do 1. novembra 1957. Po prenehanju delovanja taborišča za madžarske begunce je bila v gradu konec leta 1957 ustanovljena Sprejemna postaja Brestanica kot baza za sprejem tistih, ki so bili prijeti ob poskusu ilegalnega prehoda čez zahodno mejo. Med njene naloge so spadali sprejem posameznikov, njihovo zaslišanje in tudi predlogi za kaznovanje za območje okrajev Maribor, Kranj, Škofja Loka in Nova Gorica.
Leto pozneje je bil za sprejem prebežnikov iz drugih republik FLRJ v gradu ustanovljen tudi Zvezni zbirni center Ministrstva za notranje zadeve FLRJ. Zvezni in republiški center sta delovala ločeno, vsak na svojem teritorialnem območju. Z možnostjo legalnih poslovnih in turističnih izhodov iz države sta postali ustanovi sredi šestdesetih let 20. stoletja odveč in sta prenehali delovati. Sredi leta 1966 je dala Občina Krško grad v upravljanje Turističnem društvu Brestanica; to je začelo grad preurejati v muzejsko ustanovo.
Avtorica razstave: Irena Fürst
Odpiralni čas je na voljo spletni povezavi.