Memorial Centre Lipa Remembers

The Memorial Centre Lipa Remembers (Memorijalni centar Lipa pamti) is a museum institution opened in April 2015 in a small locality of Lipa situated on the border between Croatia and Slovenia. Center functiones as a part of a larger Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral situated in Rijeka and it is cofounded by the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the Matulji Municipality.

Center is restored in a sight of the older Memorial museum of Lipa that functioned from 1968 till 1989 when it was closed due to lack of funds. Center is dedicated to the one event of the World War II history, to the suffering of 30 April 1944 when 269 inhabitants of Lipa were killed in just a few hours. Victims were all civilians, mainly elderly people, women and children. This crime was committed by the Nazis and Fascists during the Braunschweig offensive, a military operation aimed against the partisans. The killings of civilians were followed by ransacking and arson of their homes and outbuildings. Around hundred Lipa inhabitants survived, those who were lucky enough to be absent from the village at the time of the massacre: men being in partisans, women taking food to the partisan hideouts, children taking cattle to pastures, few man preparing traditional bonfire on the surrounding hills etc. Those survivors greeted the end of World War II homeless and desperate. A long and strenuous reconstruction began with lives affected by a sense of loss. Today Lipa lives and remembers.

Memorial Centre’s permanent exhibition interprets the history of World War II in the region of Liburnian Karst which, besides Lipa, incorporates the villages of Pasjak, Rupa, Šapjane and Brdce. Memorial exhibition is complemented by the cultural and ethnographic heritage of the region showing the continuity of life, starting from prehistoric times until today. Using a holistic approach, the tragic event of April 30, 1944 can be seen in a broader context, as one of the many identity features belonging to the vital and potent community of Lipa.

The Centers activities are based on the principles of community museums and homeland museums. In unity with the local population Centre actively contributes to the research and creation of this region’s identity, and also helps discovering new and sustainable possibilities for development and growth. All programme activities are concentrated on promoting tolerance, nonviolence and life in a multitude of its manifestations and features.