Dr. France Podkoritnik, partisans' cemetery, Grosuplje

In September 1933, Dr. Franc Podkoritnik from Velenje was, at his own request, transferred to Grosuplje, where he worked as a royal doctor at the central office for workers' insurance and as a private doctor until the beginning of World War II. He often visited his patients at home. Farmers came to him by cart, tricycle, and motorcycle, in the afternoon and at night.

In Grosuplje, he joined the Sokol and fire-fighting societies and actively participated in the Red Cross. In 1935, he became the sixth mayor and led the Sokol groups in Grosuplje until the beginning of the Second World War. His wife Vera also actively participated in Sokol as a treasurer. He conducted Samaritan courses in Šmarje, Šentjur, and Račna. At that time, political parties did not attract him, but as he wrote: "…I was always of progressive views."

He was a co-organizer of OF in the Grosuplje district. In the District Committee of OF, he was elected as treasurer and head of sanitation, and as he himself said: “…I performed all the work and collected everything that was useful for the liberation struggle.” For NOV and POJ, he conducted first aid courses.

Podkoritnik's house became in the autumn of 1941 the headquarters and mobilization point for the departure of fighters to the battlefield. Dr. Podkoritnik examined them and confirmed their physical fitness. Fighters left the house equipped both materially and morally for the battlefield. Often, he and his wife Vera went to the battlefields, into the forests around Grosuplje, and cared for wounded fighters. On 13 July 1942, he was taken from Šlajmarjevo house to the Italian concentration camp in Treviso. On 2 August 1942, he was brought back to the courts in Ljubljana (on Miklošičeva street, behind the court), where on 24 September 1942, the Italian military court ("Tribunale speciale") sentenced him to death for active participation in the uprising of the Slovenian people and cooperation with OF. On 13 October 1942, he was taken to the prison in Castelfranco in the Italian region of Emilia. From there, on 18 December 1942, he was sent to the prison in Volterra near Pisa. Due to the intervention of the Ljubljana Red Cross with the German command in Florence, he was released from prison together with 95 companions on 28 January 1944.

He returned from Volterra on 31 January 1944 by train and got off at Planina near Rakek. Because returning home would have been too risky due to the activities of the Grosuplje counter-revolutionary units, he connected with the coastal partisans. He voluntarily joined the III Battalion of Gradnik's Brigade in Pivka. In Gradnik's Brigade, he remained until the beginning of March 1944.From his return from prison in Volterra in January 1944 until his liberation in May 1945, a total of 15 months, he worked in the partisan sanitation service. In the temporary Partisan Hospital in Renče, he cared for wounded comrades; the commander and political commissar, and in mid-March 1944 he accompanied them to the SVPB Pavla, where he remained as a doctor until 25 July 1944. Dr. Pavla entrusted him with the leadership of the "B" post station, which was established in April 1944 in a hidden location in Bedrova Cave under the road from Krekovš to Mrzlo Rupo. Access to it was secured. The wounded were carried 20 minutes along the Bedrova stream to the barrack. Under the dense canopy of trees, a long hospital barrack with double partitions and a simple operating room was set up. To the right stood the barrack for staff and the kitchen. The post station was named "Očkova" after Dr. Podkoritnik, who was already 50 years old at the time, experienced and good as a father.

Dr. Očka's work in SVPB Pavla was described in the book "Partisan Hospital Pavla in Trnovski Gozd" by Dr. Pavla Jerina Lah. Dr. Podkoritnik immediately left the Pavla Hospital for the Franja Hospital. Due to the temporary absence of Dr. Franja Bojc Bidovec, the staff of the 9th Corps appointed Dr. Očka to the position of administrator. In SVPB Franja, he worked from 26 July 1944 to 3 October 1944. In his takeover report, he wrote:

"The central department is the best proof that there are no obstacles or barriers for a partisan. Where any regular army would have given up, the partisan creates his own eagle's nests."

".. and after a few moments I stood in the circle of the entire village barrack. He welcomed us, Očka – Dr. Franc Podkoritnik – whom I had met in the Ljubljana prisons in 1942. Now he was performing the temporary function of administrator of the SVPB 'Franja'. He took over the management exactly at the time when Dr. Franja Bojc Bidovec and Dr. Viktor Volčjak had been temporarily removed from their positions due to accusations, which later proved to be unfounded. Mikuž (1967) mentions that the event was investigated by a commission. On 7 August 1944, Dr. Podkoritnik provided a very objective description of SVPB Franja and, as an experienced professional, identified the main error – he called it inconsistency and lack of trust. He assessed that all post stations were functioning properly, the food was good, and the patients were satisfied with the staff. Aware of the immeasurable sacrifice and humanity shown by the locals and hospital staff in the most difficult times, Dr. Podkoritnik reflected on the legacy of Franja Hospital during the war. In October 1944, Dr. Podkoritnik was demobilized and sent to the Northern Coastal Region to organize civil healthcare. He led the sanitation section at the PNOO for Slovenian Coastal Region with headquarters in Cerkno. As a health representative in the section of the 9th Corps, he established sanitation station number 4. On Šentviška Planota, he established the Red Cross organization, which took over the collection of materials (food, supplies, disinfectants) for hospitals.

On 5th and 6th May 1945, he participated in a conference of divisional and unit sanitation representatives and hospital administrators, where they discussed hospital problems, sanitation in operational units, hygiene and pharmacy, and healthcare in general. The conference was important for the further development of partisan sanitation in the Coastal Region (Tavčar, 2025).

He worked on the northern Coastal Region until 7 May 1945 or until the recall of SNOS. Dr. Podkoritnik was demobilized on 9 May 1945 in liberated Trieste, returned to Grosuplje, and successfully worked there until his death in January 1962.

Source: Mojca Hrvatin, Portrait of Dr. Franc Podkoritnik, Dr. Očka, November 2025