Angelca Batinica, Suhor

The memorial was made from autochthonous stone of irregular shape, into which a grey marmoreal slab with a lamp has been inserted. In the crypt lies Partisan Angelca Batinica who fell in May 1944. The identity of the fallen Partisan was established only in 2004.

Note 1: According to Ivan Somrak's article in Dolenjski list, the revelation of the identity of the unknown soldier in 1995 was disclosed.

Note 2: 9th Brigade - Kočevska 18th Division was stationed at Kuzarjevem Kal on May 15, 1944, with the first battalion and headquarters to the west of Suhor. Early in the morning on that day, a German home guard detachment tried to encircle Partisans above Luknja. As opponents were stronger, the Partisans withdrew. Angelca was with a group of Partisans above Luknja for several days and announced herself twice at Suhor farm. On May 15, Angelca, likely due to panic during her escape, separated from the other Partisans and could not retreat further so that she was surrounded by the home guards and captured alive. She was shot late in the afternoon; her body and belongings were dumped on the crime scene. Belgradists praised a local man for killing a Partisan in the field as they returned to their post. Only this man told the farmer at Suhor farm, Franc Lenaršič, who went to the site of the incident, found the exposed body of a young Partisan woman who had been there twice before. He buried her and, over several days, with a neighbor, placed her in a larger pit and covered it with earth. For some time, they cared for the grave; later, local Suhorians and Kuzarjevem Kalians took care of it. In 1960, ZZB Prečna excavated the mound with a concrete frame and raised the commemorative slab in stone. Local Suhorians, Prečnians, and even Novo mesto residents have consistently guarded the grave. Since 2003, on the memorial day, Mestne občine Novo mesto, on October 29th, during a night procession to Frato, also stop at this grave, lay flowers, and conduct a shorter cultural program.

The family had already searched for Angelca's grave both during and after the war. In 1995, they contacted ZB NOB in Prečna where known Partisan and historian of those areas during the war Ivan Somrak, based on a report from the headquarters of the first battalion of the 9th brigade about Angelca Batinica's death, immediately concluded that there was a high probability that the unknown soldier buried above Luknja was her. They announced themselves at Suhor farm where, during the war, a farmer found and buried an unknown Partisan woman. They familiarized them with the circumstances and the death of the unknown Partisan and together identified her identity. Thus, the unknown Partisan in the grave above Luknja received the name: Angelca Batinica from Kočevje.

The memorial was discovered on July 4, 1964.

Angelca Batinica * May 1, 1926, Kočevje; + May 15, 1944, Suhor-Banja Luka, near Luknja above Prečna. (Sistory)

EŠD 4234

Dolenjski list 1995_06_22_25, page 15

https://issuu.com/zbdrska45/docs/naprej_december_2021_net, page 43

Guided tour of Partisan routes.

Angelca Batinica. Sistory.