Throughout World War II, Nazi occupation forces turned countless towns and cities across Europe into places of terror. But inside the occupied Slovenian city of Celje, one prison courtyard became the site of some of the most chilling executions carried out by German forces in Eastern Europe.
Inside the former Stari Pisker prison, men and women were marched blindfolded toward a concrete wall before being gunned down by large Nazi firing squads.
In total, at least 374 hostages — including 49 women — were executed there during the war.
But why did the Nazis turn this prison into a place of mass execution?
THE NAZI OCCUPATION OF SLOVENIA
On April 6th, 1941, Axis forces invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Soon afterward, Slovenia was divided between Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Hungary. The German occupation authorities immediately began brutal campaigns of repression, deportation, and ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Slovenians were expelled to make room for ethnic Germans loyal to the Third Reich.
The Nazis also targeted Jews, Slovenian nationalists, intellectuals, and even Catholic priests.
Within only weeks of the occupation, most priests in the region had either been arrested or forced into hiding.
At the same time, resistance groups began forming across Slovenia.
Partisan fighters launched guerrilla attacks against German patrols, sabotaged railways, and attempted to undermine Nazi control. The Germans responded with terror and collective punishment.
THE MONASTERY TURNED INTO A DEATH PRISON
In the city of Celje stood the former Stari Pisker monastery.
The Gestapo transformed the building into a prison for political enemies, resistance suspects, intellectuals, and civilian hostages.
Conditions inside quickly became horrific.
Prisoners were brutally interrogated, beaten, and tortured as the Gestapo attempted to extract information about partisan activities. Men and women were separated into different prison sections, but violence spread throughout the facility.
Then came the executions.
In September 1941, the first political prisoners were shot inside the prison courtyard. Over time, the courtyard itself became a permanent execution ground.
THE FINAL MINUTES BEFORE DEATH
Before execution, prisoners were locked inside condemned cells.
They were reportedly allowed to write a single goodbye letter to their families before death.
Then guards opened the cell doors.
Victims were led into the courtyard in groups of five or six, usually blindfolded and lined up against a concrete wall. Waiting for them were massive firing squads of up to 30 German soldiers wearing full Wehrmacht uniforms and steel helmets.
Moments later, the order to fire was given.
Rifle volleys tore through the bodies of the prisoners. During larger executions, German soldiers even used machine guns to spray bullets into groups of hostages at once.
One of the most haunting details was the appearance of the victims themselves.
Many were executed wearing ordinary civilian clothing.
Women stood in flowing summer dresses facing rows of rifles, only seconds away from death.
One infamous photograph taken in July 1942 captured five blindfolded women standing before a huge German firing squad.
Moments after the photograph was taken, all five women were dead.
CLEANING THE BLOOD FROM THE COURTYARD
As soon as the executions ended, cleanup crews moved in.
Workers armed with shovels repaired the damaged ground and attempted to cover bloodstains left behind by the shootings.
The bodies were loaded into coffins or piled onto trucks before being transported away for burial in mass graves at local cemeteries.
The killings were carried out with chilling organization and efficiency.
HOSTAGES EXECUTED FOR PARTISAN ATTACKS
The German authorities used civilian prisoners as hostages.
Whenever partisan fighters attacked German soldiers, the Nazis retaliated by executing more prisoners inside Stari Pisker. The goal was simple:
Terrify the population into abandoning the resistance.
But the strategy failed.
By 1944, partisan attacks had only intensified, and the Germans responded with even more executions.
Then came a humiliating blow for the Nazis.
Partisans disguised in German uniforms intercepted a transport carrying prisoners to execution. Without firing a single shot, they reportedly disarmed the guards and freed more than 100 hostages.
A PLACE STILL HAUNTED BY HISTORY
In May 1945, the prison was finally liberated.
But even after the war ended, the building continued being used as a prison by Yugoslav partisans for collaborators and political enemies.
Today, Stari Pisker remains a memorial site.
The prison courtyard where the executions occurred still exists, along with one of the torture chambers used during the occupation.
The executions carried out there remain one of the darkest examples of Nazi terror in occupied Eastern Europe — a place where hundreds of blindfolded hostages were marched toward concrete walls and erased by gunfire.
