Elvira Vatovec

INTRODUCTION TO ELVIRA VATOVEC

Elvira Vatovec was born on June 8, 1922, in a numerically small peasant family.
She was the youngest of six children of mason Jožeta Vatovca and his wife Ana, born Peharc. She attended elementary school in her hometown of Čežarje. Since they did not have enough land to sustain the family, and there were no jobs at home, the children left for work abroad at a very young age. Elvira, at the age of twelve, went to work as a domestic helper for a wealthy Italian family in Cosenzo (southern Italy). She completed only five grades of compulsory Italian school. After three years, when she returned home, she no longer knew the Slovene language. She was talented and quickly relearned the Slovene language. Since she did not get a job, she once again worked as a domestic helper. With her family, who she worked for, she moved to Tirano in Albania. In 1941, she returned to Čežarje, where she worked temporarily and joined political activities within the Liberation Front (OF), where she was an activist and courier. Through her politically very active work, she acquired knowledge of the Slovene literary language. Together with another comrade, she began organizing a Slovene school for children. They did not have enough schoolbooks and supplies, but this did not discourage them. They themselves started preparing materials for the school and illegally taught children in the Slovene language. Elvira was very eager to learn and read a lot. After Italy's capitulation, she became a teacher in her hometown.

On September 3, 1943, an activist meeting of the territorial area was planned in her birth home in Čežarje. German occupiers surrounded the house, poured gasoline on it, and set it on fire. During the search after the fire, they found a red manifesto in Elvira's chest and began shouting «Communists!» Both sisters were violently taken to Dekane. Two days later, they were publicly shot on the square in Dekane. They died on September 5, 1944, proudly and without asking for mercy. Despite the torture, they did not reveal any collaborators (School Chronicle 1953). After liberation, the organization named the Center for Training Elvira Vatovec in Strunjan, a kindergarten in Strun, and a secondary school in Pradje.

On the day of the opening of the Strunjan center on June 8, 1983, they discovered a statue of the partisan teacher Elvira Vatovec. They placed it in front of their school. The statue was made by academic sculptor Marjan Drev. It was made from concrete mixed with plastic. On this occasion, the organization prepared a special program (Chronicle 1982).

On the 70th anniversary of Elvira Vatovec's death, Zb Piran completely restored her statue. On September 12, 2014, at the unveiling of the restored statue, students and teachers from the Center for Training Elvira Vatovec and students and teachers from the secondary school Lucija Podružnična Šola Strunjan enriched this important event with a rich cultural program.

Source: Master's thesis by Hana Marinič

Source: Bojan Česnik