Vodje upora
Stane Žagar se je rodil 1896 na Žagi pri Bovcu. V Gorici se je izšolal za učitelja, bil med prvo svetovno vojno vpoklican in se po njej kot prostovoljec udeležil bojev za slovensko Koroško. Učiteljeval je v raznih krajih, najdlje, 18 let, na Srednji Dobravi pri Kropi. Bil je zgleden učitelj in ljudski prosvetitelj. Ker je bil komunist, je leta 1940 ostal brez službe. V začetku druge svetovne vojne je bil med ustanovitelji gorenjskih partizanskih enot, boril se je tudi v Dražgošah.
Padel je 27. marca 1942 na Planici nad Crngrobom skupaj s 14 tovariši. Kot partizana sta v vojni izgubila življenje tudi dva od njegovih petih otrok. Po vojni so ga razglasili za narodnega heroja, po njem so se imenovale najvišje državne nagrade za šolstvo, njegovo ime nosita osnovni šoli v Kranju in v bližnji Lipnici. Pokopan je v grobišču borcev NOB na Srednji Dobravi, kjer je vsako leto komemoracija.
Stane Žagar was born in 1896 in Žaga near Bovec. He graduated as a teacher in Gorizia, was drafted during the First World War and after it participated as a volunteer in the battles for Slovene Carinthia. He taught in various places, the longest, 18 years, in Srednja Dobrava near Kropa. He was an exemplary teacher and public educator. Because he was a communist, he was left without a job in 1940. At the beginning of the Second World War, he was among the founders of the Gorenjska partisan units, and he also fought in Dražgoše.
He fell on March 27, 1942, on Planica above Crngrob, together with 14 comrades. Two of his five children also lost their lives as partisans in the war. After the war, he was declared a national hero, the highest state awards for education were named after him, and elementary schools in Kranj and nearby Lipnica bear his name. He is buried in the partisan tomb on the cemetery of Srednja Dobrava, where a commemoration is held every year.
Jože Gregorčič (1903–1942) se je rodil v Voloskem pri Opatiji. Zelo zgodaj je postal sirota, oče mu je umrl v rudniku v Ameriki. Delo je po dolgem iskanju dobil v jeseniški železarni. Bil je nogometaš in alpinist, igralec na ljudskem odru in zborovski pevec. Ko so ga leta 1936 zaradi sodelovanja v štrajku odpustili, je ilegalno odpotoval v Španijo, kjer se je skupaj z več kot 500 Slovenci vključil v mednarodne republikanske brigade v vojni proti fašistom. Bil je mitraljezec in politični komisar. Po zmagi frankistov leta 1939 je v obupnih razmerah pobegnil čez Pireneje v Francijo, iz taborišča pobegnil in se kot slepi potnik na ladji pretihotapil iz Marseilla v Split in domov. Takoj po okupaciji leta 1941 so ga Nemci zaprli. Iz zapora je že naslednji dan pobegnil v partizane, postal komandir Jeseniške čete, komandant Cankarjevega bataljona in komandant 1. grupe odredov Gorenjske. Poveljeval je v dražgoški bitki. V spopadu z nemško zasedo na Lipniški planini je padel skupaj s 27 soborci, med njimi je bilo tudi njegovo dekle Marta Tavčar – Rija, ki je doma pri starših pustila leto dni starega sina. Gestapo je na velikih lepakih objavil, da je bil banditski glavar Gorenjske Jože Gregorčič ustreljen. Bil je veder človek in sposoben poveljnik. Leta 1951 je bil imenovan za narodnega heroja.
Jože Gregorčič (1903–1942) was born in Volosko near Opatija. He became an orphan very early, his father died in a mine in America. He got the work in the ironworks in Jesenice, in his free time he was a soccer player and a mountaineer, an actor on the amateur stage and a choir singer. After being fired in the summer of 1936 for participating in the strike, he traveled illegally to Spain, where he joined the international republican brigades in the war against the fascists together with more than 500 Slovenes. He was a machine gunner and political commissar. After the victory of the Francoists in 1939, he fled across the Pyrenees to France in desperate conditions, escaped from the camp and smuggled himself from Marseille to Split and home as a blind passenger on a ship. Immediately after the occupation in 1941, the Germans arrested him. He escaped from prison to the partisans the very next day and became the commander of several Gorenjska partisan combat detachments. He commanded in the battle of Dražgoše. In a clash with a German ambush on the Lipniška mountain pasture, he fell together with 27 comrades, among them was his girlfriend Marta Tavčar – Rija. The Gestapo announced on large posters that the bandit leader of Gorenjska, Joža Gregorčič, had been shot. He was a cheerful man and a capable commander. In 1951, he was named a national hero.
Ivan Bertoncelj (1908–1965) se je rodil na Zgornji Dobravi pri Kropi kot eden od devetih otrok. Izučil se je za mizarja. Bil je član društva kmetskih fantov in deklet, od 1936 član komunistične partije in od 1938 v njenem področnem vodstvu. 1941 je bil med organizatorji prvih partizanov na Jelovici, komisar Cankarjevega bataljona, ki se je bojeval na Jelovici in v Dražgošah, ter v drugih partizanskih enotah. Potem je organiziral Osvobodilno fronto med Jelovico in Karavankami ter na avstrijskem Koroškem, kjer je ostal tudi pod angleško zasedbo do oktobra 1945. Po vojni je živel v Domžalah, za tem štiri leta v Beogradu, kjer je končal višjo politično šolo. Po vrnitvi v Slovenijo se je z drugo ženo naselil v Kranju. Opravljal je visoke politične funkcije, bil je tudi direktor Gorenjskega muzeja v Kranju. Za udeležbo v NOB je prejel več priznanj. Zaslužen je za gradnjo Partizanskega doma na Vodiški planini 1961–1963 v spomin na ustanovitev Cankarjevega bataljona. Po njem se imenuje ulica v Kranju.
Ivan Bertoncelj (1908–1965) was born on Zgornja Dobrava near Kropa as one of nine children. He trained as a carpenter. He was a member of the progressive Society of Peasant Boys and Girls, a member of the communist party from 1936 and in its regional leadership from 1938. In 1941, he was among the organizers of the first partisans on Jelovica and the political leader of the Cankar battalion, which fought on Jelovica and in Dražgoše, and in other partisan groups. Then he organized the Liberation front of Slovenia between Jelovica and Karavanke and in Austrian Carinthia, where he also remained under English occupation until October 1945. After the the war, he lived in Domžale, later he spent four years in Belgrade, where he graduated from a higher political school. After returning to Slovenia, he settled in Kranj with his second wife. He held high political positions, he was also the director of the Museum of Gorenjska in Kranj. He received several awards for his participation in the WW2. He is credited with the construction of the Partisan Lodge on Vodiška mountain pasture 1961–1963 in commemoration of the establishment of the Cankar Battalion. A street in Kranj is named after him.
Nazaj na Spominska soba na Vodiški planini.