Franc Gortnar - Črt, Tršanca

Granite stone is dedicated to the partisan Franc Gortnar - Črt, who fell near June 1944. Erected 8. 5. 1955.

Guide through partisan trails, Ljubljana: Borec, 1978, p. 58.

Gozdana Miglič, Memory is strength: memorials of the revolution in the community Ljubljana-Šiška, Ljubljana: OK SZDL Ljubljana-Šiška, 1985, p. 108.

EŠD 19580

"Data is based on the storytelling of members of his family. My memories are incomplete, since I last saw him on 8. jan. 1943 as a five-year-old child. He was born on 3. feb. 1923 in Češnjica, as the third child in the family. He went to elementary school in Škofji Loki, and to vocational school in Kranj. He trained as a baker, since he was supposed to continue the family business. In autumn 1942 he was called up by the Germans for conscription, which he also participated in. In January 1943 it was announced that conscripts would be sent to the German army. The notice also contained warnings that families of conscripts would be relocated if the conscripts did not respond. His brother asked his father what to do. His father told him only that the decision was entirely his, but that he should not forget that he was a Slovene. Before making the same decision were the partisans in Železniki and the surrounding area. A large majority of them decided for the "gošarje", as they were then called by the partisans. He joined the partisans organized on 9. jan. 1943, which means that they were well-equipped and that the partisan units were expecting them. However, the Germans kept their promise and relocated the families.

He fought in the area between Poljanska Valley and Jelovica, and was somewhat a head of the economic department, probably responsible for the supply of units in that area. He worked extensively with Janez Trojar, Zaglobo from Ostrega vrh, from home to Petru on Kraju, who was later the president of the Loška okraja and later the mayor of Železniki. His brother was assigned as an informant in the area from Smlednik to Vodic in spring 1944. He died in a bunker during the fighting of the Rašiška unit against Gorenjska, which was built. The bunker was located on the slope about 50 to 100 meters south of the memorial. Shortly after the war, we visited him with the surviving brother Viktor. The burned support pillars were still visible at that time.

His father received permission in autumn 1945 to exhume his son. When the remains were brought to the cross, he saw that he was supporting his head just before death, and after that he concluded that he died while sleeping.

The memorial stone was erected in 1953, and seven years ago it was renovated with the help of the organization ZM Vodice, who also partly paid for the renovation. The memorial has always been maintained by our family. --

In Kranj, 5. nov. 2021, Peter Gortnar"