Lokavec (pronounced[lɔˈkaːʋəts]) is a settlement on the northern edge of the Vipava Valley northwest of Ajdovščina in the Littoral region of Slovenia.[2] It lies below the slopes of Mount Čaven, below the Slano Blato Landslide. It includes the hamlets of Bitovi, Brith (or Britih[3]), Čohi, Gorenje, Kuši, Lahovše, Loretovše, Mizinška Vas (Slovene: Mizinška vas), Paljki (or Palki[3]), and Slokarji.[4]
Name
Lokavec was first attested in written sources in 1086 as Locunz and Locarizz. The name is derived from the adjective *lǫkavъ 'twisted, winding' or from the common noun *lǫkava 'curve, twist', perhaps originally a hydronym.[5]
History
The discovery of Celtic grave sites in Lovavec shows that it was already settled in prehistoric times. The Celtic settlement there had a defensive structure built on Gradišče Commons Hill (Slovene: Gradiška gmajna, elevation: 215 meters or 705 feet) in neighboring Ajdovščina.[4]
During the Second World War, German forces arrested all of the men in the settlement capable of bearing arms and sent them to perform forced labor.[4]
Mass grave
The Lokavec Mass Grave
Lokavec is the site of a mass grave from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Lokavec Mass Grave (Slovene: Grobišče Lokavec) is located in a field 600 meters (2,000 ft) west of the settlement. It contains the remains of five to seven Slovenian civilians murdered around 20 June 1945.[6][7][8]
Postwar
Lokavec annexed the formerly independent settlements of Dolnji Lokavec and Slokarji in 1952.[9]
^Ajdovščina municipal site Archived 2011-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
^ a bSpezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder. Bearbeitet auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1910, vol. 7: Österreichisch-Illyrisches Küstenland. Vienna: K. k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. 1918. p. 13.
^ a b c d e f g h iSavnik, Roman (1968). Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, vol. 1. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije. p. 24.
^Snoj, Marko (2009). Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan. p. 244.
^Ferenc, Mitja (December 2009). "Grobišče Lokavec". Geopedia (in Slovenian). Ljubljana: Služba za vojna grobišča, Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
^Ministrstvo za delo, druţino in socialne zadeve. 2007. Poročilo Ministrstva za delo, druţino in socialne zadeve o izvajanju predlogov komisije vlade republike slovenije za reševanje vprašanj prikritih grobišč v letu 2007. Ljubljana.
^Ferenc, Mitja, & Ksenija Kovačec-Naglič. 2005. Prikrito in očem zakrito: prikrita grobišča 60 let po koncu druge svetovne vojne. Ljubljana: Muzej novejše zgodovine, p. 124.