Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave
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The Kucja Valley ( sl, Kucja dolina) is a
blind valley A steephead valley, steephead or blind valley is a deep, narrow, flat bottomed valley with an abrupt ending. Such closed valleys may arise in limestone or karst landscapes, where a layer of permeable rock lies above an impermeable substract such ...
on the outskirts of
Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...
, central
Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
. Administratively, it belongs to the
Dravlje District The Dravlje District (; sl, Četrtna skupnost Dravlje), or simply Dravlje, is a district of the City Municipality of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is named after the former village of Dravlje. Geography The Dravlje District is bounded ...
. The name may be derived from Slovene ''kucelj'' 'hill, rise', referring to the terminus of the valley. Geologically, it lies at the conjunction of a more gravelly layer with a more compact limestone layer.


Mass graves

The Kucja Valley is the location of two sites connected with
extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...
s after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
: the Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave ( sl, Grobišče Veliko Brezarjevo brezno) and the Kucja Valley Mass Grave ( sl, Grobišče v Kucji dolini). At the end of May 1945 over 800 people were killed and their bodies were thrown into the Big Brezar Shaft.Ferenc, Mitja, & Ksenija Kovačec-Naglič. 2005. ''Prikrito in očem zakrito: prikrita grobišča 60 let po koncu druge svetovne vojne''. Celje: Muzej novejše zgodovine Celje, p. 73. The victims were a mix of Slovenian and Croatian
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
from the
St. Stanislaus Institute St. Stanislaus Institute, also known as St. Stanislaus Orphanage and Holy Child Church, is a historic former Catholic Church, Roman Catholic orphanage complex located at 141 Old Newport Street in Newport Township, Pennsylvania, Newport Township, ...
in nearby Šentvid (which was being used as an internment center by the Partisans) and civilians, including women. The large number of bodies poisoned the groundwater in the area. Livestock refused to drink from the nearby spring in Podutik and local people noticed that the color and taste of the water had changed. Because of increasing talk among the local population, the communist authorities first tried to block the connection between the Big Brezar Shaft and the spring with a concrete barrier. German POWs were then forced to remove the bodies from the shaft on 12 and 13 June 1945 and bury them in the nearby mass grave at the head of the Kucja Valley. After this the German POWs were executed and buried together with the bodies they had moved. File:Veliko Brezarjevo brezno grave, Slovenia.jpg, The Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave File:Veliko Brezarjevo brezno grave - Slovenia - Cultural Property sign.jpg, Signpost at the Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave File:Grobisce zrtev povojnih pobojev v Kucji dolini - Slovenia.JPG, The Kucja Valley Mass Grave File:Grobišče v Kucji dolini - Slovenija - signpost.jpg, Signpost at the Kucja Valley Mass Grave (defaced with "Rest in peace" obliterated)


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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kucja Valley Geography of Ljubljana Valleys in Upper Carniola Dravlje District