Begunjske knjige
- Begunje books
Extent and Medium
7 books
Creator(s)
Biographical History
During the war, 11,477 prisoners were imprisoned in the Gestapo penitentiary in the manor house in Begunje, 562 of them twice or more. Most of them were Gorenjska (9,150, or one in every 20 Gorenjska). 80% of the prisoners were under 40 years of age, half of them even under 30. Of the prisoners, 849 were shot (and some hanged) as hostages, and several thousand were sent to concentration camps.
Archival History
The prisoners' books of the Gestapo penitentiary in the manor house in Begunje are kept in the Gorenjska Museum. Due to their extensive use, the original books are endangered. The Gorenjska Museum and the Museums of the Radovljica Municipality, of which the Begunje Hostage Museum is a unit, have decided to scan the Begunje prison books as well as the camp books for the Slovenian deportees of the Goričani Castle who were deported to Germany.
Scope and Content
The collection includes 7 books: Index of the Begunje Book 14702 (Kazalo Begunjske knjige 14702); Index of the Begunje Book 14703 (Kazalo Begunjske knjige 14703); Begunje Book 14702/1 (Begunjska knjiga 14702/1); Begunje book 14702/2 (Begunjska knjiga 14702/2); Begunje Book 14703/1 (Begunjska knjiga 14703/1); Begunje Book 14703/2 (Begunjska knjiga 14703/2); Goričane Prisoner's Book (Zaporniška knjiga Goričane).
Finding Aids
Gorenjska Museum has published the transcription of the Begunje books in a MS Excel file, prepared by Stane Šinkovec and his colleagues in preparation for his book on the interwar prison in Begunje. In this transcription, only the first period of imprisonment is recorded for people who were repeatedly imprisoned in the penitentiary.
The scanned files of the books are published online in reduced resolution. Anyone wishing to obtain information about specific persons can contact the Gorenjska Museum and provide basic information (name, surname, prison number), and the museum will send the files in a higher resolution. The scanned books together with the finding aids are available here: https://www.gorenjski-muzej.si/begunjske-knjige-na-spletu/.
Archivist Note
Description created by Jovita Pristovšek based on research of the collection and data provided by the museum in 2024.
Rules and Conventions
EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0