Vodje upora
The leaders of the uprising
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 became a teacher after his graduation in Gorizia. During the First World War, he was drafted, and after 1918, he volunteered 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. In 1940, he was fired for being a communist. At the beginning of the Second World War, he was among the founders of the Gorenjska partisan units. Apart from other battles, he also fought in Dražgoše.
He fell on March 27, 1942, in 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 award for education was named after him, and two elementary schools (in Kranj and in nearby Lipnica) bear his name. He is buried in the partisan tomb at the cemetery of Srednja Dobrava, where a commemoration is held every year.
Jože Gregorčič (1903–1942) se je rodil v Voloskem pri Opatiji. 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 gornik, 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 je proti koncu leta 1938 v obupnih razmerah pobegnil čez Pireneje v Francijo, kjer je bil interniran. V taborišču so pripravili razstavo, za katero je Gregorčič iz ilovice naredil velik kip Ivana Cankarja. Premazal ga je s katranom, da je dobil kovinski videz in bil odporen proti dežju. Leta 1939 je 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 poglavar 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 at an early age, his father died in an American mine. He was employed at the Jesenice ironworks. In his free time, he was a soccer player, a mountaineer, an amateur actor, and a choir singer. After being fired in the summer of 1936 for participating in the strike, he travelled illegally to Spain; there, he joined the international republican brigades and fought against the fascists along with more than 500 Slovenes among them. He was a machine gunner and a political commissar. Towards the end of 1938, after the victory of the Francoists, he fled in desperate conditions across the Pyrenees to France, where he was interned. The camp organized an exhibition, for which Gregorčič made a large statue of Ivan Cankar out of clay. He coated it with tar to give it a metallic appearance and make it resistant to rain. In 1939, he escaped from the camp and smuggled himself from Marseille to Split and finally towards home as a stowaway on a ship.
Immediately after the occupation in 1941, the Germans arrested him. He escaped from prison and joined the partisans the very next day. He became the commander of several Gorenjska partisan combat detachments. Also, the battle in Dražgoše was led by him. In the clash with the German ambush on Lipniška planina, he was shot together with 27 comrades, among them was also his girlfriend Marta Tavčar – Rija. The Gestapo displayed large posters saying that the bandit leader of Gorenjska, Joža Gregorčič, had been shot. In general, he was a cheerful man and a capable commander. In 1951, he was declared 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 naselil v Kranju. Opravljal je visoke politične funkcije, bil je tudi direktor Gorenjskega muzeja v Kranju. Za udeležbo v NOB je prejel več priznanj. Skupaj s Francem Konobljem z Jesenic je zaslužen 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 in Zgornja Dobrava near Kropa into a family with nine children. His profession was a carpenter. He was a member of the progressive Society of the Peasant Youth. In 1936, he joined the Communist Party and, from 1938 onward, served on its regional leadership. In 1941, he helped organise the partisan resistance on Jelovica. He was appointed the political leader of several partisan groups, among them the Cankar battalion, which fought on Jelovica and in Dražgoše. Then he organised the Liberation Front of Slovenia in the region between Jelovica and Karavanke and also in Austrian Carinthia, where he stayed until October 1945, when Carinthia was already under English occupation. After the war, he lived in Domžale, and later he spent four years in Belgrade, where he graduated from a higher political school. After returning to Slovenia, he settled in Kranj. He held high political positions, and he was also the director of the Museum of Gorenjska in Kranj. He received several awards for his participation in the WW2. The construction of the Partisan Lodge on Vodiška planina 1961–1963, is also his achievement (along with Franc Konobelj from Jesenice). It was built to commemorate the establishment of the Cankar Battalion on August 5, 1941. A street in Kranj is named after him.
Nazaj na Spominska soba na Vodiški planini.