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 settlement from neighboring Zgornja Kapla. Like other settlements named Kapla and similar names, the name is derived from the Slovene common noun *kapla 'chapel', referring to a local religious structure.

Mass graves

Spodnja Kapla is the site of three known mass graves or unmarked graves associated with the Second World War. They all contain the remains of victims murdered in May 1945 by the Jože Lacko Detachment of the Partisan forces. The Četrtnik Cross Mass Grave is located at the Četrtnik farm in the southern part of the settlement. It contains the remains of a family of five from Ruše that was murdered because the head of the family was suspected of being an informant. The Breznik Chapel-Shrine Mass Grave lies behind a chapel-shrine about west of the Breznik farm. It contains the remains six people murdered on suspicion of being informants. The Sršen Grave —also known as the Sršen Shack Grave, Pekel Grave, or Spodnji Krampl Grave —is located about southwest of the house at the Spodnji Krampl farm. It contains the remains of an Austrian murdered on suspicion of being an informant.

Notable people