BREG OB KOKRI - Memorial to Jožet Celar

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEMORIAL: A raised rectangular memorial plate made of grey stone (40 cm X 30 cm). The inscription is engraved.

BIOGRAPHY: Jože Celar - Tugo, born on 23 January 1916, by trade a merchant assistant, was included in the organization OF in Preddvor in 1941. In January 1942 he left for the partisans. Together with his brother Roko, he crossed temporarily the German-Italian border and later, upon returning to Gorenjsko, joined the Cankarjev bataljon. Initially he was a fighter, but later he performed various political functions. In the summer of 1942 Jože Celar was sent to the field in the area of Preddvor. There, as a secretary of the local OF, he organized local liberation committees, youth organization and SKOJ. In his work he was very successful.

Due to betrayal, he was arrested on 9 November 1943 in his birth house. From the Gestapo prisons in Kranj he was transported to Begunje. On 31 December 1943 he was shot dead in Svetje near Medvode, together with a group of fifteen partisans.

SOURCES: Monuments of the NOB in the municipality of Kranj, page 141.

Guide through partisan trails, Ljubljana: Borec, 1978, page 227.

EŠD: 15810

LOT: K.O. Breg ob Kokri, 31 part

The memorial plate on Celar's house was discovered by the local committee of ZB NOV Preddvor on 2 October 1945.