| Official Name: | Primoži |
| Other Name: | Handlerji (until 1953) |
| Pushpin Map: | Slovenia |
| Pushpin Label Position: | top |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Slovenia |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Slovenia |
| Subdivision Type1: | Traditional region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Lower Carniola |
| Subdivision Type2: | Statistical region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Southeast Slovenia |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | Kočevje |
| Area Total Km2: | 3.71 |
| Population As Of: | 2002 |
| Population Total: | 9 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Religions |
| Coordinates: | 45.6002°N 14.7908°W |
| Elevation M: | 582.8 |
| Postal Code: | 1338 |
| Footnotes: | [1] |
Primoži (in Slovenian pronounced as /ˈpɾiːmɔʒi/; German: Handlern,[2] [3] Gottscheerish: Handlarə[4]) is a small settlement in the Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region.[5]
The German name Handlern—and the Slovene name Handlerji, based on it—are both plural forms, derived from a surname.[4] The Slovene name of the settlement was changed from Handlerji (previously also Handlarji[6]) to Primoži in 1953. The name was changed on the basis of the 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares, Streets, and Buildings as part of efforts by Slovenia’s postwar communist government to remove German elements from toponyms.[7] [8] The three villages of Primoži, Koče, and Mlaka pri Kočevski Reki were also referred to collectively in German as Fünfzehnhuben (literally, 'fifteen hides').[9]
Primoži was a Gottschee German village. In 1498 the village consisted of two full farms and six half-farms. The land registry of 1574 shows that the two full farms were also subdivided and that two tenant farmers were also living in the settlement.[10] At that time the population was between 45 and 55.[4] In 1770 there were 20 houses in the settlement.[4] Before the Second World War it had 31 houses and a population of 84. The economy of the village was based on farming, gathering berries, and hauling sawn lumber and logs.[11] The original German inhabitants of Primoži were evicted in November 1941, after which their houses stood empty and began to deteriorate.[10]
Primoži has a walled collection area around a spring feeding a karst stream. It was built in the second half of the nineteenth century and is closed with a gate. Next to the spring is a rectangular concrete watering trough. It stands in a small karst valley.[14]