Sajevce, Kostanjevica Na Krki
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Sajevce () is a small settlement in the
Municipality of Kostanjevica na Krki The Municipality of Kostanjevica na Krki (; ) is a municipality in the traditional Lower Carniola region of southern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Kostanjevica na Krki. It is part of the Lower Sava Statistical Region. It i ...
in eastern
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
Lower Sava Statistical Region The Lower Sava Statistical Region (; until December 31, 2014 ) is a Statistical regions of Slovenia, statistical region in Slovenia. It has good traffic accessibility and is located in the Sava and Krka Valleys, with hilly areas with vineyards and ...
.


Geography

Sajevce lies on the left bank of the Krka River, at the southeastern edge of the Krakovo Forest. The village consists of three hamlets: Male Sajevce (literally, 'little Sajevce') is mostly fields and meadows and lies to the southwest, between the road and the Krka River; Velike Sajevce (literally, 'big Sajevce') is the village's population center to the northeast; and Poljane, with only one house, lies to the north surrounded by forest. Sajevec Creek, a tributary of the Krka, flows out of the forest and past the southwestern edge of the village. The soil is loamy.


Name

Sajevce was attested in historical sources between 1295 and 1307 as ''Ruspach''. The medieval German name is a compound of the Middle High German element ''ruoʒ'' 'soot(y), black' + ''bach'' 'creek', probably referring to the dark soil that the creek runs through or its turbid water (cf. also Sajevec, attested as ''Růzpach''). The Slovene name ''Sajevce'' contains the root ''saje'' 'soot', semantically corresponding to the medieval German name.


History

A
prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins  million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
burial ground A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...
has been found near the settlement, attesting to early settlement in the area. It dates to the
Early Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progr ...
and numbers 22 clearly defined and still visible
tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
between 15 and 20 m in diameter and 2 m high. During the Second World War, German forces evicted the population from the village. The farms remained vacant for the remainder of the war and fell into disrepair.


Mass grave

Sajevce is the location of one of two 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 ...
in the Krakovo Forest associated with the Second World War. The sites consist of 10 large mounds and contain the remains of an undetermined number of Croatian prisoners of war, civilians, and possibly German soldiers as well. The Krakovo Forest 1 Mass Grave () is located in the woods about northeast of the Ponikvar farm. The grave site was created simultaneously with the Krakovo Forest 2 Mass Grave () in neighboring
Kostanjevica na Krki Kostanjevica na Krki (; also ''Kostanjevica ob Krki,'' ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 68.) is a small town in the historic Lower Ca ...
. The two sites were created around May 15, 1945, when
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 ...
forces captured about 4,000 Croatian soldiers and civilians at Dobruška Vas fleeing toward Austria. They were held on the left bank of the Krka River and killed in the forest over the course of a few days; eyewitnesses stated that the victims included children, women, and elderly persons.


References


External links

*
Sajevce on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Kostanjevica na Krki {{KostanjevicanaKrki-geo-stub