“They Stand There as Living Monuments to a Rather Peculiar Way of Life”: Historical Archaeology and Memorialization of Partisan Hospital Sites in Yugoslavia

Abstract This article reveals how in situ material traces of historical events influenced the postwar design of monuments marking authentic sites of the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Struggle (Narodnooslobodilačka borba). Although the hybrid methodology employed for research and documentation of partisan hospital sites since the late 1960s resembles approaches used in historical archaeology, it emerged from distinct historical and political preconditions: the specificities of Yugoslav partisan warfare, the post-Cominform agenda for collecting material evidence, institutionalized practices of documenting authentic sites, and Yugoslav metacultural heritage-protection practices. The present study demonstrates how collective fieldwork conducted at Military Partisan Hospital No. 7 in Drežnica, Croatia, directly informed the innovative memorial complex designed by architect Zdenko Kolacio, exemplifying the integration of archaeological research and architectural design. Through systematic archival analysis and examination of interdisciplinary collaboration among heritage experts, veterans, and local communities, this research argues that Yugoslav heritage practices anticipated key developments in historical archaeology and heritage studies, operating decades before their theoretical articulation in Western scholarship. The collaborative methodologies developed for partisan hospital sites challenge assertions regarding the singularity of Western European “counter monuments,” revealing instead how innovative memorial approaches emerged from specific contexts that prioritized material evidence, community participation, and authentic site preservation. These findings expose the epistemological limitations of scholarship operating within geographically predetermined disciplinary narratives, demonstrating how monument-making functioned as a broader social practice wherein formal features constituted only one among multiple parameters.