The restored memorial at Ploština will open to visitors next spring

Zlín - The restoration of the memorial at Ploština in the Zlín region, which is a national cultural monument and commemorates the burning of the local settlement at the end of World War II, is nearing completion, and it is expected to welcome its first visitors in the spring of next year. The spokesperson for the Zlín region, Soňa Ličková, announced this today to ČTK. The region is the investor of the reconstruction at a cost of 151 million crowns, and the memorial is managed by the Museum of Southeast Moravia in Zlín, which is a regional contribution organization.

"This is one of four major investment projects in the field of culture, for which the Zlín region was successful in applying for European grants and which together secured 380 million crowns. After the reconstruction of the Kinský chateau in Valašské Meziříčí, the revitalization of the farmhouse in Rymice, and the establishment of the Cyril and Methodius Center in Staré Město, this is another significant investment project of the Zlín region in the field of culture," stated Governor Radim Holiš.

The settlements scattered across the Vizovice Hills became a refuge for members of the partisan movement at the turn of 1944 and 1945. "The people living in the Ploština settlement were senselessly and brutally murdered at the very end of the war, when a Nazi command burned down the entire settlement, and twenty-four people from Ploština and six surrounding villages met their death in the flames. Another four were killed on the road as German units passed through. In the following days, similar acts of hateful vengeance were also perpetrated against the defenseless inhabitants of Prlov and Vařákovy Paseky. Executions took place in Vizovice and Březina near Valašské Klobouk. Only by luck did Loučka escape a similar fate. The new exhibition at Ploština will also tell the story of these places," stated the director of the Museum of Southeast Moravia in Zlín, Pavel Hrubec.

Several houses in Ploština were rebuilt in 1947, and the newly built chapel was consecrated the same year, with plaques bearing the names of the executed loggers on its pillars. In 1975, a National Cultural Memorial of the Resistance was established at Ploština, and in 1985, an exhibition about the fight against fascism and for liberation in the Zlín district was opened in one of the newly built homesteads.

After the reconstruction, there will be three interconnected buildings in the area. The surface of the memorial has been cleaned, the center of the memorial has new paving, new flagpoles have been erected, and commemorative plaques with the names of communities that suffered tragedies during World War II have been installed. The new visitor center will present the life of loggers before the war, life during the protectorate, one part is dedicated to the Ploština tragedy, and there is also a so-called quiet space. House number 23 was built as a replica of the original building that was created on the site of the burned settlement in 1947 along with three other houses. It will offer an exhibition of period living conditions. Visitors will move along a timeline on the ground floor, where they will learn about the fate of Ploština from the end of World War II to the present day. There will be space for screenings, educational programs, lectures, and concerts.

The term "pasekáři" referred to small farmers in the mountainous areas of the Moravian and Silesian Beskids. The first loggers obtained land by clearing a piece of forest, removing stumps and stones to make it suitable for growing crops.