THE PATH OF REMEMBRANCE AND COMRADESHIP
ROUTE BACKGROUND
A WIRE FENCE ENCIRCLING LJUBLJANA DURING WORLD WAR II
In 1942, while under the rule of Fascist Italy, Ljubljana became the epicentre of Slovenian resistance movement.
To destroy the heart of the resistance and to isolate the city from its surrounding areas, the Italian forces decided to enclose Ljubljana with a barbed-wire fence.
After the Italian capitulation in 1943, Ljubljana was then occuppied by Nazi Germany.
With German forces, the level of violence even increased: activists were arrested, people were deported to concentration camps, and hostages were shot.
Nevertheless, the resistance movement could never be supressed.
Because of brave activists taking the risk of being discovered to achieve a greater goal, Ljubljana became a symbol of defiance and resistance against the occupying forces.
The idea of freedom and independence was so powerful that no fence was able to diminish it.
When the Liberation Army came to the city on 9th May 1945, the wire barrier came down, which ended the 1,170-day (or 3-year) period of occuppied Ljubljana.
Church of St. Cantius
BICYCLES FORBIDDEN
For all those who didn't have special permission, it was forbidden to ride, push, or in any way use bicycles in Ljubljana during the occupation.
To spite the occupying forces, the city's residents had an ingenious idea: they attached an addittional wheel to their bicycles, transforming them into tricycles, and then cycled freely past guards.
(At least until tricycles were also forbidden.)
Bicycles forbidden during the occupation
THE PATH OF REMEMBRANCE
AND COMRADESHIP
In 1985, a 34-kilometre circular recreational path was built where the barbed-wire fence was once standing, called the Path of Remembrance and Comradeship.
Each year in May, it attracts thousands of people who participate in an organised march or run along the path in commemoration of Ljubljana's fight for freedom.
Educational nature trail
