Kočevske Poljane (; german: Pöllandl''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 156–157.Ferenc, Mitja, & Gojko Zupan. 2012. ''Izgubljene kočevske vasi, vol. 2 (K–P)''. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, p. 224.) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice The Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice () is a municipality near Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. Its seat is the town of Dolenjske Toplice. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola. The municipality is now included in the S ...

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 ...

. The area is part of the historical region of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. Geography Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the no ...

. The municipality is now included in the

Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region ( sl, Jugovzhodna Slovenija statistična regija) is a statistical region in southeast Slovenia. It is the largest statistical region. The development of this region is largely the result of industry (the au ...

. The village includes the hamlets of Gorica (german: Büchel or ''Büchel bei Pöllandl'') and Trnovec (or Trnje; german: Dornachberg).

Name

The name of the settlement was changed from ''Poljane'' to ''Kočevske Poljane'' in 1953. In the past the German name was ''Pöllandl''.

History

Pöllandl was a village settled by Gottschee Germans inside the

Gottschee Gottschee (, sl, Kočevsko) refers to a former German-speaking region in Carniola, a crownland of the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg Empire, part of the historical and traditional region of Lower Carniola, now in Slovenia. The region has been a coun ...

region until 1941. During 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 ...

its original population was resettled by the German authorities. However, some Gottscheer families managed to resist and prevent expulsion, and most of these collaborated with the Partisans of the

Liberation Front of the Slovene People The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation ( sl, Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene ...

, which had a base (Baza 20) nearby. Their dialect

Gottscheerish Gottscheerish (''Göttscheabarisch'',Maridi Tscherne: Wörterbuch Gottscheerisch-Slowenisch. Einrichtung für die Erhaltung des Kulturerbes Nesseltal, Koprivnik/Nesseltal 2010. german: Gottscheerisch, sl, kočevarščina) is an Upper German ...

was forbidden after World War II, and so today there are only a few people left that speak it.Pokrajinski muzej Kočevje: Vsi niso odšli / Nicht alle sind gegangen
Zdravko Troha: ''Kočevski Nemci – partizani'' (Gottschee Germans – Partisans), Kočevje, Arhiv Slovenije. Slovensko kočevarsko društvo Peter Kosler, Ljubljana 2004,

Church

The local

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

is dedicated to

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

and belongs to the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Mesto The Roman Catholic Diocese of Novo Mesto ( la, Dioecesis Novae Urbis; sl, Škofija Novo mesto) is a diocese in the city of Novo Mesto in the Ecclesiastical province of Ljubljana in Slovenia. History * April 7, 2006: Established as Diocese of ...

. It dates to the 17th century. A second church belonging to the parish, built just north of the settlement in the hamlet of Gorica, is dedicated to

Mary Help of Christians Mary, the Help of Christians ( la, Sancta Maria Auxilium Christianorum) is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, based on a devotion now associated with a feast day of the General Roman Calendar on May 24. John Chrysostom was the f ...

and was a pilgrimage church built in the late 17th century. The cemetery is one of only ten in the Kočevje region to have (mostly) preserved the tombstones of the Gottschee Germans.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in Kočevske Poljane include the following: * August Schauer (1872–1941), parish priest at Koprivnik for over 30 years and editor of the ''Gottscheer Kalender'' (Gottschee Almanac) from 1925 to 1941Ferenc, Mitja, & Gojko Zupan. 2012. ''Izgubljene kočevske vasi'', vol. 2 (K–P). Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani.

References

External links

*
Kočevske Poljane on GeopediaPre–World War II map of Kočevske Poljane with oeconyms and family names
Populated places in the Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice {{DolenjskeToplice-geo-stub