Municipality of Kočevje

Municipality of Kočevje
Občina Kočevje
Municipality

Location of the Municipality of Kočevje in Slovenia
Coordinates: 46°38′35″N 14°51′34″E / 46.64306°N 14.85944°E / 46.64306; 14.85944Coordinates: 46°38′35″N 14°51′34″E / 46.64306°N 14.85944°E / 46.64306; 14.85944
Country  Slovenia
Seat Kočevje
Government
 • Mayor Vladimir Prebilič
Area
 • Total 555 km2 (214 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
 • Total 16,549
 • Density 30/km2 (77/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+01 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+02 (CEST)

The Municipality of Kočevje (pronounced [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.[1]

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.

Flag

Flag of Kočevje

The municipal flag of Kočevje is a tricolor consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the colors of Kočevje: blue and white, defaced with the coat of arms.[2] The association with the colors blue and white dates to the 1470s, when Emperor Frederick III approved the design of the coat of arms, along with civic rights, on April 19, 1471. The flag during that time varies from the one seen today. The old flag was a bicolor of blue and white, defaced with the coat of arms, which was also different at the time.

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

  1. 1 2 "Municipality of Kočevje". Place Names. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "Zastava in grb Občine Kočevje" [The Coat of Arms and Flag of the Municipality of Kočevje] (in Slovenian). Retrieved August 20, 2017.

Bibliography

  • Karl-Markus Gauß: Die sterbenden Europäer. Unterwegs zu den Sepharden von Sarajevo, Gottscheer Deutschen, Arbëreshe, Sorben und Aromunen. Zsolnay, Wien 2001, ISBN 3-552-05158-9 (Taschenbuchausgabe: dtv, München, ISBN 3-423-30854-0)
  • Mitja Ferenc: Kočevska, Bleak And Empty

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