Babni Vrt - Memorial to Janez Čimžar

A little outside the village of Babni Vrt, towards the southwest, stands a roughly carved stone block with a flat surface, in which a coloured inscription is engraved. It commemorates the fallen partisan Janez Čimžar from Britof near Kranj. The monument was erected by KO ZB NOV Britof.

Janez Čimžar was a fighter of the 2nd battalion of the Gorenjski odred. He fell in this place when he was alone escaping from the German raid on the partisan camp on Kozjek after Mala Poljana. In Babni Vrt, he entered the crossfire of the German occupation, who literally shot him with bullets from a submachine gun.

Janez Čimžar was born on 21. 4. 1920, was a resident of Britof near Kranj, which is why the local committee of ZB NOV from this area erected a memorial plaque for him.

Chronological record of vandalism on this memorial (record KPSO):

1.) On 7. 8. 2023, ZZB NOB Slovenia informed via e-mail that the perpetrator had on 31. 7. 2023 dug a hole with a shovel and placed the memorial stone dedicated to the fallen partisan Janez Čimžar in Babni Vrt (ešd 20670) into it, and in total (including the pedestal?) covered or levelled it with earth. ZB NOB Kranj reported a report of a criminal act to PP Kranj due to the obvious vandalism.

2.) During the interrogation by PP Kranj and inspector of the inspectorate for cultural heritage (on the location directed by ZVKDS OE Kranj), the accused referred to a water flood (4. 8. 023), which caused 'the monument to sink into the ground'. The interviewed parcel owner was 'effective' in his defence, and they believed him:

• Inspector of RS for culture (L.G.), responsible for the protection of cultural heritage, in the notice of 13. 11. 2023, determines that there are no legal grounds to continue the inspection procedure, so this will be terminated according to article 28 of ZIN.

• Identical decision (dismissal) of the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Kranj, dated 8. 4. 2024, states: "Since there are no grounds for evidence, the charge of a criminal act is dismissed."

Without doubt, the prosecution authorities, in the dates, unimportant, yet decisive, have overlooked the facts.

The charge of a criminal act was dismissed, since the prosecutor (obviously) decided on the basis of completely erroneous statements of the inspector, who 'believed' the misleading (date-inconsistent) statements of the accused parcel owner, claiming that the monument had sunk on its own due to the water flood. The water flood occurred on 3. and 4. 8. 2023, that is, four days later than what the witness saw 'the shovel at work'.

3.) In November 2024, the monument was again found on the surface, dug up, and placed close to the public lighting pole (originally it was about 5m higher on the hill, below it was a pedestal - it is not there now), cleaning is needed, the surroundings are completely untidy (picture 9).

4.) On 18. 1. 2026, during the inspection of the monument by ZB NOB Kranj, it was seen that the dug-up monument was not placed back in its original location, but rather close to the public lighting pole, otherwise the ground was cleaned, the letters were renewed.

ZB NOB Kranj, responsible for the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (ZVKDS OE Kranj), asks:

a) Who dug up and reinstalled the monument?

b) Were the other cultural heritage protection conditions (KVP) from 7. 11. 2023 issued by ZVKDS OE Kranj fulfilled, or is the monument now placed on a concrete base?c)    Whether the condition and appearance of the mentioned unit of cultural heritage correspond to the authentic (original) setting (to which the Institute referred in the Aljažev Tower, when in 2018 it did not allow the reinstallation of the memorial plaque from 1944, and which the Institute ('overlooked' in the same year, also during the restoration) regarding the Monument to the Victims in Šenčur, upon the request of ZB NOB Kranj, to reinstall two metallic stars, vandalistically cut from the perimeter fence, in the year 1991).

d)    Whether, in the opinion of the Institute, the defacement of the partisan stone in Babnem Vrtu corresponds to the legislation on the protection of cultural heritage (ZVKD-1,.)?

Commission for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of IO ZB NOB Kranj (KPSO), January 2026

Monuments of NOB in the municipality of Kranj, p. 175
Guide along partisan trails, Ljubljana: Borec, 1978, p. 226
Data on monuments and memorial sites in the area of KO ZB NOV Goriče, which with its activities covers KS Golnik, Goriče, Tenetiše and Trstenik

EŠD 20670

Inspectorate of MK and ZVKDS upon report of vandalism.