In 2023, the Society of Native Gottschee Settlers, together with the University of Ljubljana, implemented a project that ended on September 18th. In addition to the University of Ljubljana, the project was strongly supported by: the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria and the Carinthian Regional Government, for which I am deeply grateful. The project was also supported by the Municipality of Dolenjske Toplice. The Society of Native Gottschee Settlers has been active in the field of promotion and preservation of Gottschee culture and cultural heritage since 1992. The centre of social activities is in the village of Občice (ger. Krapflern, gott. Kropflarn), where in 1998 the Society bought and renovated the old homestead with the help of the Carinthian Regional Government. It is recognizable by its symbolic blue painted facade, which is the colour of the town of Kočevje. The ethnological collection, which is scattered in the main building, the auxiliary building and under the barn, contains farm tools and objects for personal use from the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, as well as handmade models of Gottschee villages. The objects for the collection were collected by Gottscheers from the Črmošnjice – Poljane Valley and arranged by local volunteers and students of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana under the mentorship of Dr Ana Vertovec Beno. The collection was updated and reinterpreted in 2023 in the collaboration with students from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana under the mentorship of Dr Anja Moric (substantive part), Dr Tanja Žigon (translations) and Primož Primec (professional mentor).
There is a singing and folklore group, and workshops and courses are organised during the winter months.
We have a museum at our headquarters. We like to open the doors of our museum so that visitors can learn about the cultural and historical heritage of the Kočevary people, who lived in the area for more than 600 years and left their hearths together during the Second World War, spreading out all over the world. In addition to the museum’s collection, we also have models of the disappeared villages of the Kočevar region.
We are working hard to preserve the old fruit varieties in Kočevje, which is why we have a gene bank of old fruit varieties next to our museum.
The memory of the Kočevje Germans is preserved through the Days of Kočevje Culture, which are hosted alternately by the municipalities of Kočevje, Dolenjske Toplice and Semič.
