The Kucja Valley () is a

blind valley A steephead valley, steephead or blind valley is a deep, narrow, flat bottomed valley with an abrupt ending. Such closed valleys may arise in limestone or karst landscapes, where a layer of permeable rock lies above an impermeable substrate such ...

on the outskirts of

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, 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 ...

. Administratively, it belongs to the

Dravlje District The Dravlje District (; ), or simply Dravlje, is a district of the City Municipality of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is named after the former village of Dravlje. Geography The Dravlje District is bounded on the south by a line running ...

. The name may be derived from Slovene ''kucelj'' 'hill, rise', referring to the terminus of the valley. Geologically, it lies at the conjunction of a more gravelly layer with a more compact limestone layer.

Mass graves

The Kucja Valley is the location of two sites connected with

extrajudicial killing An extrajudicial killing (also known as an extrajudicial execution or an extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, ...

s after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

: the Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave () and the Kucja Valley Mass Grave (). At the end of May 1945 over 800 people were killed and their bodies were thrown into the Big Brezar Shaft.Ferenc, Mitja, & Ksenija Kovačec-Naglič. 2005. ''Prikrito in očem zakrito: prikrita grobišča 60 let po koncu druge svetovne vojne''. Celje: Muzej novejše zgodovine Celje, p. 73. The victims were a mix of Slovenian and Croatian

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

from the St. Stanislaus Institute in nearby Šentvid (which was being used as an internment center by the

Partisans 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 ** Itali ...

) and civilians, including women. The large number of bodies poisoned the groundwater in the area. Livestock refused to drink from the nearby spring in Podutik and local people noticed that the color and taste of the water had changed. Because of increasing talk among the local population, the communist authorities first tried to block the connection between the Big Brezar Shaft and the spring with a concrete barrier. German POWs were then forced to remove the bodies from the shaft on 12 and 13 June 1945 and bury them in the nearby

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 ...

at the head of the Kucja Valley. After this the German POWs were executed and buried together with the bodies they had moved. File:Veliko Brezarjevo brezno grave, Slovenia.jpg, The Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave File:Veliko Brezarjevo brezno grave - Slovenia - Cultural Property sign.jpg, Signpost at the Big Brezar Shaft Mass Grave File:Grobisce zrtev povojnih pobojev v Kucji dolini - Slovenia.JPG, The Kucja Valley Mass Grave File:Grobišče v Kucji dolini - Slovenija - signpost.jpg, Signpost at the Kucja Valley Mass Grave (defaced with "Rest in peace" obliterated)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kucja Valley Geography of Ljubljana Valleys in Upper Carniola Dravlje District