National Cultural Monument Ploština offers new exhibitions after reconstruction

Drnovice - The National Cultural Monument Ploština in the Zlín region, which commemorates the burning of the settlement of woodcutters at the end of World War II, was opened today after nearly three years of reconstruction. The site features a new visitor center, and the building marked number 23 has been renovated. It contains new exhibitions titled Tragedy in Ploština and New Ploština, said the author of the exhibitions, historian and ethnographer Ondřej Machálek from the Museum of Southeast Moravia in Zlín, in a statement today. The museum is the custodian of the monument. The concrete memorial from 1975 has also been renovated. The restoration cost 151 million crowns, with just under 110 million covered by European grants, and the rest financed by the Zlín Region.

On April 19, 1945, the Nazis burned the settlement due to the cooperation of its inhabitants with partisans. They murdered 24 people, and another four were killed on the way. For decades, events in Ploština were commemorated by a complex of buildings with a simple exhibition before the reconstruction. The renovation began in September 2020. A visitor center has been created at the site of the amphitheater, embedded in the terrain. It features an exhibition depicting Ploština as a typical woodcutter settlement set in the Vizovické Hills landscape. Woodcutters were small-scale farmers in mountainous regions. The scattered woodcutter settlements in the Vizovické Hills became a refuge for members of the partisan movement in late 1944 and early 1945. "We wanted to give visitors an experience of the entire context of Ploština, including how life was lived and managed in the Wallachian clearings, as well as about the tragedy of April 19, 1945, and to ensure that the visitor center also offers a symbolic memorial element. These are the columns dedicated to each of the 28 victims. The exhibition ends with the moment of the burial of the murdered and the acknowledgment that Ploština was not the only one. We wanted to place it in context, not just regional but also pan-European," Machálek stated. After the destruction of Ploština, similar acts of hateful revenge by the Nazis were repeated at the end of the war against the inhabitants of nearby Prlov or Vařákovy paseky.

The exhibition utilizes various projections, including speakers with audio testimonies from eyewitnesses. The centerpiece of the exhibition is light columns featuring photographs and information about the victims of the Nazi atrocities at Ploština. There are also the names of grandfather, great-grandfather, and uncle Josef Zicha (STAN), the mayor of nearby Vysoké Pole and former deputy governor. He is pleased to see the transformation of the place. "Under the former regime, it was something completely different; there was no respect, humility, or reverence. Times have changed, and I am glad that a memorial site has been established that, in my opinion, dignifies Ploština. As one of the speakers said today, when construction began, it was raining, and now, as the place opens, the sun is shining. It warms my heart, and I hope that someone from our family will feel it as I do," Zicha told ČTK today.

Building number 23 was constructed as a replica of the original house, which was built on the site of the burned settlement in 1947, along with three other houses. The house represents the living conditions in Ploština as the surviving families tried to live in the 1950s and early 1960s. According to Machálek, an important thread of the exhibition is how the approaches to the memory of the victims have changed. "From spontaneous reverence from survivors and locals, birch crosses, the hanging of photographs on the remains of houses, to large organized ceremonies, such as national funerals. Then we move to the 1950s, when the view of World War II was distorted by the communist regime. In the 1960s, a very refreshing perspective arrived through Ladislav Mňačka and his novel Death Calls Engelchen. In the 1970s, politically charged actions returned. We conclude with the present," Machálek noted.

On Sunday, a memorial event will take place at Ploština, which the public can attend. The site will be fully open to visitors next weekend. From May to September, it will be accessible daily except Mondays from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and in October on weekends. According to the mayors of neighboring municipalities, the museum, and the region, it is essential for Ploština to come to life and for young people and schoolchildren to find their way there.