Anton Jelovčan and Ciril Osterman, Kroparska gora

A bronze plaque, mounted on a rock.

«Ciril Osterman was born on 25 February 1914 in an imperial family on the Otoči. His father fell in the First World War. His mother remarried. He stayed with her for so long that he completed primary school in Srednja Dobrava. In Ljubljana, he trained as a locksmith. [..] The Žagarjeva school contributed to his being among the first ranks of the workers' movement. [..] He worked organized in OF on the field and in the factory. He was arrested for the first time already in January 1942 and spent a month in prison in Kranj. He was arrested again in 1943, when they took him to Ljubljana, and after fourteen days sent him to the prison in Begunje. After eight days, he was released back home. He continued working in OF in the village. Before his third arrest, he managed to escape on 25 March 1944 to the partisans. He was assigned to the economic commission of the OF Jelovica district with headquarters in Kroparska Gora. [..] He worked in the transport caravan of the economic commission of the OF Kranj District Committee.

Anton Jelovčan spent his youth with his parents at Martinj Vrh. After finishing primary school, he did various temporary jobs. With his group of workers, he took over the sawmill and collected wood from peasant estates. In 1934, he moved with his six-member family from Selški Lajši to Kropa, where he bought a house. He was employed in the nail and iron manufacturing cooperative as a machine operator. During the occupation, he participated in the OF movement and supported it financially and materially. He joined the partisans on 25 September 1944. He was assigned to the district economic and financial commission of Kranj. Finally, he led the local branch of the Gorenjska military region.

The beginning of the spring German offensive in Gorenjska and Cerkljanje also encouraged the home guards with posts in Kranj, Kovrje, Brezje, and Kamni Gorici. They often raided Kropa and the surrounding area. On 20 March 1945, they conducted searches in Kropa and looted some houses. In the woods near Kropa and Kroparska Gora, they caught Jelovčan and Osterman, who fell while on the run. The commemorative plaque made of cast bronze, a work of the Jesenice Ironworks Foundry, was embedded in a living rock and unveiled in 1969 by the Local Organization of the ZB NOV Kropa.»

Ciril Osterman is buried in a tomb in the cemetery in Srednja Dobrava, where he has his monument.

Along the path of memories. Radovljica: Municipal Conference of SDZL, 1990, p. 125.

Ciril Osterman. Sistory.

Anton Jelovčan. Sistory.