Podlesje


title: "Podlesje" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-the-municipality-of-kočevje", "populated-places-disestablished-in-1955", "1955-disestablishments-in-slovenia"] topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-the-municipality-of-kocevje" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podlesje" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
official_namePodlesje
other_nameVerdreng, Ferdreng (until 1955)
imagesize250px
dot_x
pushpin_mapSlovenia
pushpin_label_positiontop
pushpin_map_captionLocation in Slovenia
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_name[[Image:Flag of Slovenia.svg
subdivision_type1Traditional region
subdivision_name1Lower Carniola
subdivision_type2Statistical region
subdivision_name2Southeast Slovenia
subdivision_type3Municipality
subdivision_name3Kočevje
area_total_km215.34
population_as_of2002
population_blank1_titleEthnicities
population_blank2_titleReligions
coordinates
elevation_m510.9
postal_code1330
footnotes
::

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Podlesje (; ) is an abandoned settlement in the Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. It was a village inhabited by Gottschee Germans. During the Second World War its original population was expelled. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region.

Name

The name of the settlement was changed from Verdreng (identical to the German name Verdreng), or the Slovenianized form Ferdreng, to Podlesje in 1955. The name was changed on the basis of the 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares, Streets, and Buildings as part of efforts by Slovenia's postwar communist government to remove German elements from toponyms. During the Second World War, there were plans to reuse the name Verdreng for the villages of Rigonce and neighboring Loče in the Rann Triangle ().

History

During the Second World War, the village was burned by Italian forces in August 1942. Together with Zgornji Pokštajn, Spodnji Pokštajn, and Lapinje, it was merged into the settlement of Podlesje in 1955.

Prison camp

After the Second World War, Slovenia's postwar communist authorities set up a forced labor camp for female political prisoners at Podlesje. The prisoners included nuns, minors, and persons accused of having contact with the West. In 1949 about 600 women were imprisoned at the camp under very poor hygiene conditions. Prisoners that had previously been held at Auschwitz stated that the conditions at Podlesje were even worse. Internees were sentenced to perform "socially useful work" at the concentration camp; the labor involved destroying the local Gottschee German cemetery, breaking rocks into gravel for the roads, and destroying church statuary. The camp was modeled on Nazi concentration camps, with barbed wire, guard towers, and prisoners' barracks. Eventually the camp was closed and the prisoners were transferred to the concentration camp at the castle in Škofja Loka, where they were gradually released. Before they were released, they were forced to sign statements that they would not speak about conditions at the camp.

Church

The local church, dedicated to John the Baptist, was a Baroque church built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier church. It was demolished after 1952. A similar fate awaited the early 17th-century chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary on Mount Verdreng (Verdrenška gora; also known as Mount Verderb, Verderbška gora) north of the village, demolished between 1952 and 1955. The hill itself was known as Virgin's Mount (Dekličina gora) before the war and is occasionally still labeled as such. It was renamed after the war to remove its religious associations.

References

References

  1. [http://www.stat.si/eng/index.asp Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia]
  2. ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 38.
  3. Ferenc, Mitja. 2007. ''Nekdanji nemški jezikovni otok na kočevskem''. Kočevje: Pokrajinski muzej, p. 4.
  4. [http://www.obcinakocevje.si/ Kočevje municipal site]
  5. Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. ''Krajevni leksikon Slovenije'', vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije. p. 236–237.
  6. ''Spremembe naselij 1948–95''. 1996. Database. Ljubljana: Geografski inštitut ZRC SAZU, DZS.
  7. Urbanc, Mimi & Matej Gabrovec. 2005. Krajevna imena: poligon za dokazovanje moči in odraz lokalne identitete. ''Geografski vestnik'' 77(2): 25–43.
  8. Polšak, Anton. 1996. Ponemčevanje slovenskih krajevnih imen v Okrožju Brežice v letih 1941–1945. ''Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje'' 67(2): 205–235, p. 223.
  9. [http://www.dolenjskilist.si/media/arhiv-pdf/dl/1955/DL_1955_07_01_26_0277.pdf "Preimovanje, dopolnitve in popravki nekaterih krajevnih imen." 1955. ''Dolenjski list'' 8(25) (1 July): 4.] {{in lang. sl
  10. Žajdela, Ivo. 1990. "Gotenica - velika prevara?" ''Tribuna'' 11: 14–15.
  11. Mikola, Milko. 2006. ''Dokumenti in pričevanja o povojnij delovnih taboriščih v Sloveniji''. Ljubljana: Ministrstvo za pravosodje Republike Slovenije, p. 114.
  12. sl]
  13. "Program spominskih slovesnosti, romanj in komemoracij v letu 2011 (Schedule of Memorial Ceremonies, Pilgrimages, and other Commemorations in 2011), Item 10".
  14. Mrvič, Irena. 1999. "Taborišče." ''Enciklopedija Slovenije'', vol. 13 (Š–T), pp. 177–179. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, p. 179.
  15. [http://www.siol.net/novice/slovenija/2015/09/ferdreng.aspx Makovec, Urška. 2015. Ferdreng – nepoznano žensko delovno taborišče na Kočevskem. ''Siol.net'' (13 September).]
  16. Gabrič, Aleš, Polona Kekec, & Brigita Rajšter. 2000. ''Odvetnica in pisateljica Ljuba Prenner: pogumna, da bi je bila drugačna''. Ljubljana: Nova revija, p. 165.
  17. Žajdela, Ivo. 1991. ''Komunistični zločini na Slovenskem''. Ljubljana: ČZP Novo jutro, p. 123.
  18. [https://www.geopedia.world/#T12_L362_F3226:67964_x1665489.268877271_y5708156.378482822_s15_b2345 Mount Verderb on Geopedia {{in lang. sl] {{webarchive. link. (2012-10-28)
  19. [http://rkd.situla.org/ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage] reference numbers ešd 2750 & 2751
  20. [http://www.pmk-kocevje.si/media/pdf/sakralna_dediscina/34_verdreng_kapela.pdf Verdreng (Podlesje) {{in lang. sl. de]{{Dead link. (May 2020)
  21. [https://www.geopedia.world/#T12_L787_x1665498.8235058067_y5708065.609511734_s15_b2345 Virgin's Mount on Geopedia {{in lang. sl]
  22. Žajdela, Ivo. 1991. ''Komunistični zločini na Slovenskem''. Ljubljana: ČZP Novo jutro, p. 117.

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populated-places-in-the-municipality-of-kočevjepopulated-places-disestablished-in-19551955-disestablishments-in-slovenia