As soon as the borders were roughly agreed, their fortification started. The Germans proceeded to vacate the strip along the border (deporting the people, demolishing houses and objects to make a clear line of sight, cutting down surrounding woodland, clearing overgrown areas and bushes, setting up wire obstacles along the border and reinforcing it with additional security measures in certain places – in practice this means minefields, bunkers and watchtowers). The Bled office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood was in charge of selecting and resettling the people from the border strip, and for other border-related issues. The head of the office was SS-Standartenführer Alois Maier-Kaibitsch, and the entire campaign was executed by Konrad Nimpfer, an engineer who devised the Report concerning the implementation of the border strip clearing in Gorenjska, Bled, 13 June 1942 (Archive of RS). According to the report, within 21 days 405 structures had been demolished along the entire length of the border, and 590 people resettled.
The Italian–German border crossing on Podgorska cesta, above Zalokar's house (Cesta Andreja Bitenca 22, Ljubljana). View toward Ljubljana; meadows and fields visible in the background. Today this is a residential block area. Author: Tine Bitenc. Archive of Milena Zalokar.
Border block at Šentvid nad Ljubljano on the German– Italian border. Author: Jakob Prešern. MNZS.
Milena Zalokar in front of her house on Cesta Andreja Bitenca, Ljubljana. As a way to mark the occupation border between Germany in Italy that ran here, the Zalokar family had the original boundary stones marked with D (Deutschland-Germany) and I (Italy) built into the wall, 11 December 2018. Author: Božidar Flajšman.
Milena Zalokar (b. 1927) at the site of the former Italian–German border crossing set up right next to her home (Cesta Andreja Bitenca). She is holding up photos of the demolition of her home, and of the border crossing, 11 December 2018. Author: Božidar Flajšman.
Demolition of the houses on the Italian–German border in Podgora on present-day Cesta Andreja Bitenca. Germans also demolished Zalokar's house below the Italian–German border crossing. The meadows and fields in the background have been developed after the war; today, this is Cesta Andreja Bitenca. In the background is the junction of Cesta Andreja Bitenca and Celovška cesta where the border crossing between Germany and Italy was located. Author: Tine Bitenc. Archive of Milena Zalokar.
Page one of the German report concerning the implementation of the border strip clearing in Gorenjska, Bled, 13 June 1942. Attached were extensive lists of people affected by the German sanctions. Archive of RS.
