Ivan Čurič, Žižki

October 15, 1944, the regent Horthy surrendered in Hungary, and power was taken over by Hungarian fascist extremists led by Ferenc Szálasi. In Prekmurje, the period of the last cruel reprisals, mass arrests, internments, shootings, and the destruction of disobedient Prekmurcians began. On December 6, 1944, the Hungarian fascists announced a general mobilization of men up to the age of 50, in order to control the situation. Many Prekmurcians took refuge, since there were no connections with partisan units in Pohorje. In the search for such hidden inhabitants, the Hungarian soldiers were also helped by fascist-Italian-locals. Many of them were discovered, arrested, and sent to courts or the army, while more were shot on the spot, where they were found or on the cemeteries.

Ivan Čurič, a mechanic, born on June 17, 1917, in Žižki, had already spoken with Ignac Pergar from Turnišče in 1944, intending to go together across the Mura to the Partisans. However, this did not happen. In the summer of 1944, he was mobilized into the Hungarian army. On his leave, he hid, but the soldiers found him and locked him in the Sobeski Castle, from which he escaped. He hid at home in a bunker. When on February 4, with his brother Matija, they walked along the road to Lendava, four soldiers followed them and captured him. From the village of Kapca, where he was captured, they took him to Hotizo to a notary, then to Crensovci, and finally brought him, already imprisoned, to his home area. On the same day, at 4 p.m., they shot him in front of the fire station.

Today, there is a memorial plaque on the fire station in memory of Ivan Čurič, who was shot on February 4, 1945. The plaque on the fire station was discovered on October 10, 1957, by the municipal committee of ZZB NOV Beltinci.