(Non )School Building in Pesnica

Leopoldina Pečar, her family, and several villagers were arrested on 25 May 1945 and taken to an unfinished building in Pesnica near Maribor. The photograph shows the building in 1946, when it was already serving as a school. In mid‑1945, however, it was a collection center for members of the German minority, who were then transported either to the Strnišče concentration camp or to the Maribor judicial prisons. The entire building had a basement, allowing the detention of many people. It was surrounded by a deep drainage ditch in which guards were stationed.
(Source: recollections of a civil engineer involved in the school’s renovation in the 1970s; Andi Brlič, principal of Pesnica Elementary School, 23 April 2024)