Trnovec (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 38. or ''Tiefenreuter''Ferenc, Mitja. 2007. ''Nekdanji nemški jezikovni otok na kočevskem''. Kočevje: Pokrajinski muzej, p. 4.) is a settlement in the hills northeast of the town of

Kočevje Kočevje (; ; ''Göttscheab'' or ''Gətscheab'' in the local Gottscheerish dialect; ) is a town and the seat of Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. Geography The town is located at the foot of the Kočevski Rog karst plateau on t ...

in southern

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. The area is part of the traditional region of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region in Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south an ...

and is now included in the

Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region The Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region () 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 auto industry, pharmaceuticals, and other light ...

Name

Trnovec was attested in historical sources as ''Tieffenreutter'' in 1574. After the Second World War, the settlement of Trnovec was administratively combined with Podstenice and shared that name. It was separated again from Podstenice in 1988 and Trnovec was reestablished as a separate settlement.

History

Trnovec was settled by Gottschee Germans in the Middle Ages. It had 17 houses in the early 20th century. At the start of the

Second World War 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 ...

, its original population was evicted. As part of the Rog Offensive in the summer of 1942, the village was burned by Italian forces. After the Italian surrender in 1943, the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

used a site below the village to store ammunition.

Mass graves

Trnovec is the site of three known

mass graves A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...

associated with the Second World War. The Rog Sawmill Mass Grave () is located on the edge of the woods on the left side of Rog Road, at a large pile of sawdust. The remains of unknown victims were found at the site in 1989. The Larch Hill Cave Mass Grave () is located on a heavily karstified ridge north of Rog Road and southwest of Larch Hill (). It contains the remains of a large number of

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...

troops and soldiers of other nationalities that were turned over to the Yugoslav authorities after the war and murdered. In 2022, the remains of 3,200 victims were exhumed from the site. The Larch Hill Rock Shelter Mass Grave () lies on the southwest edge of a shallow sinkhole in the middle of a wooded leveled karstified area southwest of Larch Hill. It contains the remains of one or more unknown victims that probably fled to the rock shelter during the war or during the killing at Larch Hill Cave.

Church

The local

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, was a late Gothic building that was burned down in 1942 during the Second World War.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 2813

References

External links

Trnovec on GeopediaPre–World War II list of oeconyms and family names in Trnovec
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trnovec, Kocevje Populated places in the Municipality of Kočevje