Hrastnik (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 20.) is a settlement in the hills to the northeast of Moravče in central

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

Upper Carniola Upper Carniola ( ; ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The largest town in the region is Kranj, and other urban centers include Kamnik, Jesenice, Jesenice, Jesenice, Domžale and ...

. It is now included with the rest of the

Municipality of Moravče A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

in the

Central Slovenia Statistical Region The Central Slovenia Statistical Region () is a Statistical regions of Slovenia, statistical region in central Slovenia. Geography This is the second-largest region in terms of territory. It has a total area of 2,555 km2, with a central po ...

. The settlement includes the hamlets of Kal, Hruševje, and Grad.Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, p. 88.

Name

Hrastnik was attested in historical sources as ''Kraͤsnyk'' in 1409, ''Crastnik'' in 1425, and ''Krestnikch'' in 1436. The name ''Hrastnik'' is derived from the Slovene common noun ''hrast'' '

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

'. Like similar names (e.g., '' Hrastje, Hrastovica, Hraše''), it originally referred to the local vegetation. In the past the German name was ''Hrastnigg''.

History

During the Second World War, there was extensive

Partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

activity in Hrastnik starting in the summer of 1941. On 20 June 1942, the Partisans held a rally in the village, and the German authorities imposed a curfew on the village. Early on the morning of 20 July 1942, German forces surrounded the village. The young men fled to the surrounding hills, and the troops took eight men to the Vrban barn. Then they looted the village and evicted the women and children, who were sent to various concentration camps. The German soldiers then burned the village, including the barn where the village men were held prisoner. A ninth man, who fled a burning mow, was shot and locked in the burning barn. The soldiers then dynamited the ceramic ovens and cellars of the houses, destroying them completely. The German authorities did not permit the villagers to bury the dead in the Moravče cemetery, and their remains were interred in a mass grave by the village

chapel-shrine A wayside shrine is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mount ...

. The remains were later moved to the Moravče cemetery. A monument commemorating the event was erected in the village in 1950.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number ešd 25513

References

External links

*
Hrastnik on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Moravče {{Moravče-geo-stub