Municipality of Kočevje

Updated on Nov 17, 2023

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Country Slovenia Time zone CET (UTC+01) Population 16,549 (2010)		Seat Kočevje Area 555 km²

The Municipality of Kočevje ([kɔˈtʃeːu̯jɛ]; Slovene: Občina Kočevje) is a municipality in southern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the city of Kočevje. Today it is part of the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region. In terms of area, it is the largest municipality in Slovenia.

Map of Kocevje, Slovenia

History

In 1247 Bertoldo de Merania, Patriarch of Aquileia granted the area around Ribnica within the Imperial March of Carniola to the Carinthian counts of Ortenburg. When the counts received further estates on the wooded plateau down to Kostel on the Kolpa River in 1336 from the hands of Patriarch Bertram, they called for German-speaking settlers from Carinthia and Tyrol.

The Kočevje area is also the location where the summary executions of thousands people believed to be guilty of collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II (such as the Slovene Home Guard) and their families took place immediately after the end of the war. They were thrown into various pits and caves, which were then sealed with explosives.

Notable people

Notable people that were born or lived in the Municipality of Kočevje include:

Matej Bor (1913–1993), poet and author

Milan Butina (1923–1999), academy-trained painter, art teacher, art theorist

Ivan Jurkovič (born 1952), apostolic nuncio to Russia

Zofka Kveder (1878–1926), writer

Alois Loy (1860–1923), longtime mayor

Viktor Parma (1858–1924), composer

Roman Erich Petsche (1907–1993), teacher, painter, and Righteous Among the Nations

Jože Šeško (1908–1942), secondary-school professor, social revolutionary, communist resistance fighter

Franjo Uršič (1898–?), geologist, taught at the secondary school before the Second World War

References

Municipality of Kočevje Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents

Map of Kocevje, Slovenia

History

Notable people

References