By: Gašper Blažič
While media attention yesterday was focused on the camaraderie of the communist nomenclature in Dražgoše – well, now the villagers will have peace for a year – many historical dimensions of the Dražgoše tragedy of 1942 remain silenced to the wider public. For example, how long were the people of Dražgoše without a church, which the German occupiers severely damaged on their vengeful march in January 1942, rendering it unusable. The local enemies of Christianity also contributed, as they continued to demolish churches elsewhere in Slovenia long after the war ended (for example, the Church of Queen of Peace in Kurešček, where they burned bonfires, they started restoration in 1990).
Although a relatively small parish, Dražgoše, from which, among other things, the renowned sports Prevc family originates (currently, the youngest member of the family, Nika, is achieving first places in women’s ski jumping), is under the administration of the Železniki parish, which also manages the Zali Log parish. Unfortunately, due to a shortage of clergy, they can no longer provide Sunday Mass in Dražgoše. Currently, Masses in the local church are held only on Saturday evenings every two weeks.
Independent parish since 1876
As the Občestvo.si website notes, Dražgoše became an independent parish in 1876. The village had been known for centuries for the pilgrimage church dedicated to Saint Lucia. It is worth noting that in 1913, the priest, writer, and versatile social creator Janez Evangelist Krek dedicated his play St. Lucia specifically to the people of Dražgoše, as mentioned in Marjeta Žebovec’s article about the play.
The church is first mentioned in 1535, but it was rebuilt from 1642 to 1647. Situated prominently above the village, it stood there until 1942 when the Germans, together with the houses in the village, set it on fire and dynamited it. A special feature of this church was its four golden altars from the second half of the 17th century. These altars were saved from the demolition and transported to Škofja Loka by the Škofja Loka Museum Society, where they are now housed. The church’s interior also featured organs that were transferred to Kranj at that time and later to Železniki after the war, where they still serve their purpose. Only the stone foundations of the church remain today.
After the famous pilgrimage church of St. Lucia was destroyed along with the village in January 1942, Dražgoše no longer had their parish priest. This is not surprising, as the village was virtually empty, and many priests could not return after the war due to communist terror. The post-war reconstruction of the destroyed and burned village was unfortunately marked by ideological violence. Not only did communist liquidators murder the saintly priest Filip Terčelj in nearby Davča, but the “clerical” village of Dražgoše was forbidden from restoring both the church and the rectory. Similar events occurred in several parishes, including Poljane, where the remaining church was demolished by communist authorities. Although a new one was later built, it was situated in a flood-prone area, as explained by the local administrator, Archdeacon Dr Jože Plut, in a recent interview.
Therefore, Masses after the war were held outdoors, and in 1946, the parishioners arranged makeshift barracks on Mažova njiva. Next to it, a makeshift bell tower was erected a year later, and two bells salvaged from the old church were hung in it, as reported by Rok Pintar on the Občestvo.si website.
When a new priest, Maksimilijan Ocepek, arrived in the Železniki parish in 1959, later becoming an honorary canon in Ljubljana (he passed away in 2016), he also took charge of the Dražgoše parish. They began discussing the construction of a new church, but the circumstances were challenging at that time. The authorities did not allow the construction of church buildings, and the situation only softened in 1966 with the signing of the so-called Belgrade Protocol, which meant the restoration of diplomatic relations between communist Yugoslavia and the Holy See. Only then did more favourable conditions for construction and reconstruction arise in the former state. Therefore, it is a miracle that the project for building the Dražgoše church started earlier.
The authorities reserved the space where they initially planned to build the church for their own “Gazimestan”
The issue of where to build the church needed to be addressed first. “Some older parishioners wanted the church to be built on the site of the previous church. According to the majority, the church should be in a more accessible location,” as stated on the parish’s website. Interestingly, they initially planned to build it where the Dražgoše Battle monument stands today, but the communist authorities vehemently rejected this location, reserving it for their own “Gazimestan”, where annual political rallies are held. For this purpose, they erected a glamorous Babylonian tower visible from a distance. Therefore, they chose the location where the improvised church, a barracks, had stood.
It is worth noting that the Dražgoše monument was built in 1976, eight years after the church was consecrated. According to the Železniki municipality website, the lower part of the monument includes “a space with a memorial plaque and a bronze ossuary adorned with reliefs containing the mortal remains of the Dražgoše victims”. “On the descent to the monument, a mosaic by Ivo Šubic with scenes from the Dražgoše battle and the battle on Mošenjska planina, where Cankar’s battalion withdrew, is made in a semicircle.” This concrete colossus is indeed an insult to all of Dražgoše, especially the victims who were initially buried on consecrated ground but were barbarically exhumed and transferred to an unconsecrated ossuary. One can only speculate how many of the millions collected by the villagers for the church’s construction, confiscated by the authorities, ended up in this notorious monument.
“In 1963, after a fierce battle with the then authorities who could not come to terms with the fact that a church was being built in Dražgoše, a location permit was finally issued. Meanwhile, architect Eng. Tone Bitenc, a student of Master Plečnik, had already been chosen, and he determined the location of the church, allowing the construction to begin. On October 18th, 1964, the cornerstone was blessed. By 1965, the church was already covered, and a new bell tower was serving its purpose. Locals selflessly participated in the construction throughout,” as stated on the website. This church was also dedicated to St. Lucia. Its ground floor includes a catechetical classroom, a multipurpose hall, a kitchen, and toilets. The spaces allow accommodation for scouts and other scheduled groups.
On October 18th, 1964, a document with the following content was placed in the cornerstone of the new church:
“In the year of our Lord 1964, when Pope Paul VI ruled the Church for the second year, when Dr Jožef Pogačnik led the Ljubljana archdiocese for the second year, and when the Second Vatican Council convened in Rome for the third year, we say to the departed in memory, to the living in admonition:
22 years ago, the war storm engulfed Dražgoše: the enemy invaded, shot men, scattered women, and children to other places, plundered, and burned the village, and then blew up every home from its foundations, finally demolishing the parish church of St. Lucia – precisely three hundred years after its consecration. After the war, most families returned to their destroyed homes. With desired will, tireless work, and loyal mutual assistance, they built new homes and organised their lives with trust in God. Since the homes stand again, Dražgoše wish that their parish also gets a suitable common home in the new church. This church should witness unwavering faith in the triune God and Mother Mary, drawing strength from previous generations and aspiring to inspire the new generation, loyal to the mother of the holy Church. If the old church, dedicated to the patron St. Lucia, stood above the houses under the mountain, let the new church be in their midst, serving as the centre of communal life. In it, the new generation should gather for offerings and prayers, to be sustained for eternal life in honourable living, suffering, and work, fostering loyalty in families and awakening selfless love – to prevent the horrors of the past from ever happening again.
Unified common will became action through the lively efforts and dedication of the parishioners, led by the parish administrator Maks Ocepek, also the spiritual shepherd of Železniki and Zali Log. Thus, according to the plan made by Eng. Arch. Tone Bitenc and Tone Mlakar, after official approval, the construction company Tehnik from Škofja Loka carried out the initial work. On Sunday, October 18th, the cornerstone was blessed by General Vicar and Cathedral Provost Dr Stanislav Lenič, on behalf of Archbishop Pogačnik, who was absent due to the council in Rome, with the solemn assistance of priests and in the presence of the parish community – with fond memories of dear departed and best wishes for all living and future generations. May LOVE AND PEACE flow from this church to all hearts to heal the wounds of hatred. In Dražgoše, on the feast of St. Luke, in the year of our Lord 1964.”
The church was consecrated on Pentecost Sunday, June 2nd, 1968. It took four years to build, so after 26 years, the parishioners finally welcomed a new church.
Those who wanted to build the church were intimidated by the authorities, and at the same time, they confiscated the saved money!
The late Franc Kavčič, one of the witnesses of the Dražgoše tragedy, remembers the intentions and progress of building the new church as follows: “The first meeting to plan its construction was in the autumn of 1963. The mayor, comrade Osojnik from Škofja Loka, who vehemently opposed the construction of the church along with his like-minded people, also attended. He gave us a choice: either the construction of the church or the Dražgoše–Jamnik road. A decision was made at the meeting to build the church. We then began to collect permits for construction. According to the law at that time, we needed to have funds secured in a bank account, and to obtain a building permit, we had to collect 11 million dinars. With great effort and good will, we gathered this money and deposited it into the bank account. However, at that time, 72% tax had to be paid on the donated money (contributions from locals and good people), which meant that with the remaining funds, we could not even start building the church. Realising that construction would not succeed this way, I consulted with lawyer Ljuba Prener on what could be done in this case. She advised us that we could state that people had only lent us the money for building the church. So, we issued invoices to people for the borrowed money, avoiding the payment of the turnover tax. With these invoices, we faced a 14-day interrogation (everyone who had invoices about lending money was questioned).
As the interrogations seemed endless, a delegation of 12 people (with three “Fiček” cars) first went to Archbishop Jožef Pogačnik, who did not have the courage to accompany us to the Secretariat for Religious Affairs. So, we went there ourselves and only reached the gatekeeper. He sent us away, saying that there was no one we were looking for currently in the office. Therefore, together with Andrej Marenk, we went to lawyer Ljuba Prener, and she immediately took us to the Škofja Loka municipality, where she legally arranged for the money to be released the next day. Lawyer Prener also ensured that the Dražgoše people’s interrogations ended from that day and that construction of the church could begin with the collected money. The church was built in 1966 /consecrated two years later, note by G. B./, and the Dražgoše–Jamnik road a year later… I have been in the church construction committee from the very beginning, so I can guarantee that all the mentioned details are true.”
Traces of the Dražgoše tragedy in the new church
More about the artistic equipment of the church can be found HERE, but it is worth noting that the visual elements of the church were contributed by the renowned artist and clergyman Stane Kregar. However, it is essential to recall how the Dražgoše tragedy resonates in today’s church: “The upper part of the fresco on both sides of the risen Christ is filled with the symbols of the Lamb opening the seals and the four evangelists. On the right side, the fresco incorporates a tabernacle. Next to it is a painting of a man and boys in flames, with angels above them accompanying their souls to heaven. The image itself vividly shows how many Dražgoše victims died and serves as a constant reminder to believers of these sacrifices.”
It is also interesting to note among Kregar’s artworks the depiction of the Fatima Madonna. The construction of the church was dedicated to her, and not by chance. “We must not forget the Stations of the Cross, where the increasingly stronger red and black colours of the first stations symbolise the path to suffering, while the orange background of the subsequent stations expresses the compassion that Jesus received on the Way of the Cross. Then, the red and black become increasingly fragmented and powerful, illustrating the magnitude of suffering. In the last stations, the background becomes brighter and brighter, symbolising anticipation and hope for resurrection,” writes the website or the author of the text, Rok Pintar. “In front of the church, a memorial plaque with the names of Dražgoše residents who fell during World War II is made of Hotavlje limestone, with the inscription TO THE DEAD IN MEMORY, TO THE LIVING AS A WARNING.” More about the construction of the church and the church itself is in the book “Dni premišljanja”, written by priest Maksimiljan Ocepek.
However, in the years after the war, all attention was directed towards the new Dražgoše church, causing the site of the most tragic wartime events in Dražgoše to be somewhat forgotten. “Thick vegetation had already grown on the ruins of the old church, which was not a suitable memory of the destroyed pilgrimage church. Therefore, in 1992, the people of Dražgoše warmly welcomed the initiative of the then priest Maksimilijan Ocepek to create an appropriate monument. In March 1992, they began to remove the rubble. After rough cleaning, it turned out that some thick walls were still left in some places, while elsewhere, the church was completely demolished. The church floor was largely preserved. They renovated or newly built the walls up to a height of one meter and filled in the joints. They placed old stone slabs on the partly preserved bases of two side altars. The main altar, which was completely destroyed, got a newly built base and a concrete altar slab on top. To create a lapidary with remains from the old church in the bell tower, they erected a four-sided roof over the walls in 1993 and covered it with slate. Completing this task still awaits the people of Dražgoše. Nevertheless, an appropriate memorial park was created on the ruins of the old church.”
However, Dražgoše residents had to wait for their church for twenty years. Unfortunately, the fact that it is a small parish, where the war decimated the population, contributed to the absence of a permanent priest in this area for decades. Secularisation and a decline in the number of priests have only exacerbated the situation. All three parishes in the area, namely Železniki, Zali Log, and Dražgoše, have been served by a single priest, Tine Skok, the parish priest in Železniki. Only since last October, a priest (Msgr. Jože Hauptman, who usually operates in the Stara Loka parish) has been available as spiritual assistant, but the parish has been without a chaplain since last summer.
It is worth noting that the day before this year’s Dražgoše tragedy, on Saturday, January 13th, a holy mass was dedicated to all the victims of the Dražgoše tragedy: the slaughtered villagers, as well as the fallen partisans and Germans. This was a month after the feast of the parish patron saint St. Lucia (celebrated on December 13th), which is also a day of all-day worship in Dražgoše.
Thus, the Dražgoše church is a place of peace and reconciliation, reconciling the living and the dead – an antithesis to fuelling hatred. In this regard, one can agree with what Dr Aleš Maver recently said: Dražgoše can become a place of reconciliation. However, it is important to add that the popular term “Liegoše” (a play on words of lie and Dražgoše) is actually offensive to the innocent village, which heirs of the revolution still misuse for their dubious purposes. Dražgoše does not deserve this. Therefore, in the editorial office of Demokracija, we feel obliged to uncover the truth about what happened in this part of Slovenia during and after the war.
Source of information: Občestvo – website of the parishes Železniki, Zali Log, and Dražgoše (obcestvo.si)