Janče was first attested in written sources as Iance in 1581. The name is derived from the personal name Jan, from Middle High GermanJohann 'John'. The morphology of the demonymJančar indicates that the settlement likely originally had a longer name, such as Janče selo/brdo/polje (literally, 'John's village/hill/field').[7] The settlement is known as Jančje in the local dialect[3] and was called Jantschberg in German in the past.[4][5]
There is evidence that the Janče area was already settled in prehistoric times.[2]
Janče had a prominent role during the 19th-century Slovene national revival. On 23 May 1869, the villagers attacked a demonstration in the village by the ethnic German gymnastics club from Ljubljana (German: Turnverein). The villagers seized the club's banner and beat the participants, who fled to the paper factory in Vevče to take refuge. In response, the Austro-Hungarian authorities sent troops to the village to pacify the residents. Several farmers were imprisoned, and Jakob Rode was killed in the conflict.[2][3]
During the Second World War, the Partisan commander of the Štična Company, Jože Kovačič (1916–1942), was killed near the village in an engagement with German forces. Kovačič was later proclaimed a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.[3]
A hiking lodge was built in 1959 in the middle of the village, with a memorial plaque dedicated to Slovene Partisans of the 2nd group of detachments that fell in the Battle of Janče in May 1942.[3][8]
Southwest of the village there is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. It has a square floor plan, arched windows on the sides, and a stone door frame with a holy water font. It was built in 1897, after the earthquake of 1895.[11]
Slovenia
Media related to Janče, Ljubljana at Wikimedia Commons
