Memorial to the National Hero Ivan Krkača, Jakovlje, Croatia

Monument to the National Hero Ivan Krkač, sculpted by academic sculptor Ratko Petrić was erected in front of the Primary School in Jakovlje on 28th November 1986. The Primary School bore the name "Primary School Ivan Krkač" from 1961 until 1st September 1991. The monument was removed in the mid-2000s.

Ivan Krkač (Jakovlje, 30th March 1911 – Martinci, 15th May 1942), worker. As a young man, he went to Zagreb where he was employed as a physical worker. In 1933 he was dismissed from his job, which caused him to revolt, and he shot at engineer Eizner, which was his spontaneous protest against the treatment of workers by the employer. He was sentenced to four years of forced labor, and served his sentence in Lepoglava. While in forced labor, he became close to the well-known communist Martin Franekić, who introduced him to the workers' and communist movements. After his release from forced labor, he went to Jakovlje where he founded the Workers' Party Committee in 1938, which in 1940 transformed into a party organization, and he became its first secretary. Later, he was elected as a member of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia for the municipalities of Pušća and Bistra. After the occupation of the land and the establishment of the Ustaše administration "NDH", he was one of the organizers of the uprising in the Stubički region. From August 1941, he was a member of the KK KPH Zagreb, and from November of the same year, he was also a member of the OK KPH Zagreb (west). During the formation of partisan units in March and April 1942, which were supposed to join the First Partisan Detachment of the Croatian Zagora, he was appointed as the commissar of the 2nd unit, formed in the Stubički region. He died on 15th May 1942 in battle with the Ustaše and police in the village of Martinci near Zlatar. He was proclaimed a National Hero on 9th February 1952.

Source: Šimunković, M. (2019). Naslijeđe revolucije – Vodič kroz spomen obilježja posvećena Narodnooslobodilačkoj borbi u zaprešićkom kraju. Zaprešić: Proksima i UABA Zaprešić.

https://www.academia.edu/63673918/Naslije%C4%91e_revolucije_Vodi%C4%8D_kroz_spomen_obilje%C5%BEja_posve%C4%87ena_Narodnooslobodila%C4%8Dkoj_borbi_u_zapre%C5%A1i%C4%87kom_kraju