Kľak () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Žarnovica District Žarnovica District () is a district in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was mostly part of the county of Kingdom of Hungary of Tekov, only a part of Hodruša-Hámre, namely Banská Hodruša in the east ...

Banská Bystrica Region The Banská Bystrica Region (, ; , ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest of the eight regions by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystrica Region was established in 1923; its bord ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

History

On January 21, 1945 the village was burned by

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

anti-partisan unit

Edelweiss ''Leontopodium nivale'', commonly called edelweiss () ( ; or ), is a mountain flower belonging to the daisy or sunflower family Asteraceae. The plant prefers rocky limestone places at about altitude. It is a non-toxic plant. Its leaves and f ...

with help of

Heimatschutz ''Heimatschutz'' is a German word which literally translated means 'homeland protection'. The ''Heimatschutz'' movement arose in the late 19th century in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, with a focus on nature and landscape conservation ...

unit. There were 84 inhabitants of the village killed (including 36 children), and all of 132 houses and buildings were destroyed. Numerous victims were burned alive in their own houses. Nazi soldiers raided the village and expelled the rest of the inhabitants from the village, they also shot all of the cattle. Considering the method of accomplishment, not the number of casualties, this was one of the most brutal

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

committed on the Slovak territory during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

Villages and municipalities in Žarnovica District {{BanskáBystrica-geo-stub