Borovnica was attested in written sources in 1260 as Vronitz (and as Vreuncz in 1300, apud Vraniciam in 1313, and Vraunitz in 1366).[4][5] In the local dialect, the settlement is known as Barounica. The name is a univerbation of *Borovna (vas/voda), literally 'pine village' or 'pine creek'. The name therefore originally refers to a place or stream where pines grow. The early German name Vronitz (which was later transformed into Franzdorf) is adapted from the Slovene name by shifting the stress to the first syllable and loss of the syllable -ov-.[5]
At the end of the Second World War, a concentration camp for Italian prisoners of war was established in Borovnica. The prisoners, who were kept in squalid conditions without water and toilet facilities, were abused and Italian sources referred to the camp as the "new Dachau." Approximately 200 prisoners died at the camp. Many of the prisoners were transferred to other camps by the fall of 1945, and a November 1945 Red Cross report concluded that conditions had become acceptable. The camp was closed in mid-August 1946.[8]
Slovenia
