Dobruška Vas (; ) 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 ...

in the

Municipality of Škocjan The Municipality of Škocjan (; ), established in October 1994, is a municipality in the traditional region of Lower Carniola in southeastern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is Škocjan. The Municipality of Škocjan is now included in the ...

in southeastern

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 ...

. Within the municipality, it belongs to the Village Community of Grmovlje. It lies on the regional road leading south from Škocjan to

Šentjernej Šentjernej ( or ; in older sources also ''Šent Jernej'',''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 72. ) is a small town in southeastern Slov ...

. The

A2 motorway A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ...

runs just east of the settlement. The area is part of the historical 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 ...

. The municipality 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 ...

. The settlement includes the hamlets of Cesta and Zatreb.Savnik, Roman, ed. 1976. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 3. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije. p. 482.

Name

The name ''Dobruška vas'' is derived from a possessive form of the

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; sometimes also ''hypocoristic''), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for Isabel or ''Bob (given name), Bob'' fo ...

''*Dobruš(a)'' or ''*Dobrux(a)''. Like similar place names (e.g., ''

Dobruša Dobruša () is a small settlement in the Municipality of Vodice in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungar ...

'', and also '' Dobruševo'' in Macedonia), it thus refers to an early inhabitant of the place.

History

Early settlement of Dobruška Vas is attested by Roman artifacts that have been found in the area. During the Second World War, part of the village was burned by German forces on May 14, 1944.

Mass grave

Dobruška Vas is the site of a

mass grave 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 ...

from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Dobruška Vas Mass Grave () is located about east of the settlement alongside a field, 10 m from the left bank of Mlaka Creek and above the bridge over the creek. It contains the remains of up to 62 Croatian refugees murdered at the site on the evening of May 17, 1945. The local people buried their bodies in two trenches at the site.

Murder of two Romani women

On June 3, 2005 two Roma women in Dobruška Vas were murdered in a racist attack, when a hand grenade was thrown into their bedroom. Three right-wing extremists were arrested and convicted of the crime. They appealed, however, and the trial is still ongoing.Bombašem tokrat zapor, pritožbe na Vrhovno sodišče. 2011. ''Dolenjskilist.si'' (March 17).

References

External links

Dobruška Vas on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Škocjan {{Škocjan-geo-stub