Angelca Batinica, Suhor

The monument is made from an irregularly shaped local stone into which a grey marble plaque with an inscription is embedded. In the grave lies the partisan Angelca Batinica, who fell in May 1944. The identity of the fallen partisan was only established in 2004.

Note 1: According to an article by Ivan Somrak in Dolenjski list, the identity of the unknown partisan was revealed in 1995.

Note 2: The 9th Brigade – Kočevska 18th Division was on 15 May 1944 with the 1st Battalion and the staff at Kuzarjevo Kal and with the 2nd Battalion west of Suhor. Early in the morning, a German Home Guard column tried to encircle the partisans above Luknja. Since the enemies were stronger, the partisans retreated. Angelca was with a group of partisans at the position above Luknja for several days and twice contacted the farm at Suhor. On 7 May, during the retreat, Angelca probably accidentally distanced herself from the other partisans and could no longer retreat, so the Home Guards surrounded her and captured her alive. They shot her only late in the afternoon, scattered her body and her belongings and left them at the crime scene. The Belogardists boasted to a local man during their return to the encampment that they had killed a partisan girl in the forest. This man told the owner of the farm at Suhor 7, Franc Lenaršič, who went to the site of the event, found the disfigured body of the young partisan, who had previously twice visited them. He buried her and after a few days with a neighbor buried her in a larger pile and pulled a larger stone onto it. For some time he took care of the grave, later the inhabitants of Suhor and Kuzarjevo Kal took care of the grave. In 1960, the ZZB Prečna surrounded the mound with a concrete frame and embedded a memorial plaque into the stone. The inhabitants of Suhor, Prečna and also Novo mesto have continuously maintained the grave. Since 2003, on the memorial day of the Municipality of Novo mesto, 29 October, they also stop at this grave during the night walk to Frato, lay flowers and perform a short cultural program.

The family has already searched for Angelca's grave during the war and in the years after the war. In 1995, they contacted the ZB NOB in Prečna, where the well-known partisan and historian of these areas during the war, Ivan Somrak, immediately realized, based on the message from the staff of the 1st Battalion of the 9th Brigade about the death of Angelca Batinica, that there is a high probability that the unknown partisan in the grave above Luknja is exactly her. They contacted the farm at Suhor 7, where the owner had found and buried the unknown partisan during the war. They informed them about the circumstances and the death of the unknown partisan and together established her identity. Thus, the unknown partisan in the grave above Luknja received the name: Angelca Batinica from Kočevje.

The monument was unveiled on 4 July 1964.

Angelca Batinica * 1 May 1926 in Kočevje, + 15 May 1944 Suhor-Banja Loka, burial place Luknja near Prečna. (Sistory)

EŠD 4234

Dolenjski list 1995_06_22_25, page 15

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

Guide to Partisan Paths.

Angelca Batinica. Sistory.