Zgornja Kapla () is a

dispersed settlement A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a num ...

in the hills north of the

Drava River The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

in the

Municipality of Podvelka The Municipality of Podvelka (; ) is a municipality in the traditional region of Styria in northern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Podvelka. The Municipality of Podvelka–Ribnica was created in 1994, and it then split int ...

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 ...

, on the border with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Name

The name ''Zgornja Kapla'' literally means 'upper Kapla', distinguishing the settlement from neighboring ''

Spodnja Kapla Spodnja Kapla () is a dispersed settlement in the hills north of the Drava River in the Municipality of Podvelka in Slovenia, close to the border with Austria. Name The name ''Spodnja Kapla'' literally means 'lower Kapla', distinguishing the sett ...

'' (literally, 'lower Kapla'). Like other settlements named Kapla (e.g., ''

Kapla Kapla is a construction set for children and adults. The sets consist only of identical wood planks measuring 11.7 cm x 2.34 cm x 0.78 cm. This 15:3:1 ratio of length:width:thickness is different than the dimensions used for tradi ...

'' in the Municipality of Tabor) and similar names (e.g., '' Kaplja vas'', ''

Kapljišče Kapljišče () is a small settlement in the Municipality of Metlika in the White Carniola area of southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia on the left bank of the Kolpa River. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Ca ...

'', and '' Železna Kapla'' in Austria), the name is derived from the Slovene common noun ''*kapla'' 'chapel' (< ''*kapela'' < MHG and OHG ''kappella'' < Latin ''cappella'' 'chapel'), referring to a local religious structure.

Mass graves

Zgornja Kapla is the site of three 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 ...

or unmarked graves associated with the Second World War. All of the victims were murdered in May 1945 by the Jože Lacko Detachment of the

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. The Zgornji Pavlič Mass Grave () is located in the woods about south of the Zgornji Pavlič farm (at Zgornja Kapla no. 16). It contains the remains of about 45 Hungarian civilians. The Pušnik Chapel-Shrine Grave () is located about northeast of the Kure farm (Zgornja Kapla no. 65). It contains the remains of a Slovene that was murdered because he had been mobilized into the German military. The Sršen 3 Grave () lies on the edge of a woods about below the abandoned farm at Zgornja Kapla no. 57 and east of the Stojan farm. It contains the remains of a person murdered on suspicion of being an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Catherine and belongs to the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maribor The Archdiocese of Maribor (, ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Slovenia. Its episcopal see is Maribor. History * 1859 : Maribor (then Marburg) became the see of the Diocese of Lavant * ...

. It is first mentioned in written documents dating to 1389. The current building dates to after 1813, when the old church burned down.Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage
reference number 3061

References

External links

*
Zgornja Kapla on Geopedia
Populated places in the Municipality of Podvelka {{Podvelka-geo-stub