Kaliste

About

On March 18th, 1945, the Nazis marched in to Kalište, executed 13 people, and burned the isolated village to the ground as retribution for sheltering partisans from the Slovak National Uprising. Days later, the area was liberated by advancing Soviet forces, but the village was never resettled. Since 1962, two renovated houses have housed expositions and memorial rooms showcasing everything from local recipes to pictures of the villagers. Of the rest of the village, only the building foundations remain. In 2008, the 'Garden of Life' was created, where a tree was planted for every other Slovak village that suffered that same fate as Kalište, making for a peaceful but grim setting.