A total of over sixty people worked in all the hospital’s wards. Some were sent there from other partisan units, while others were former patients who joined its staff after recovery. Before the war, the hospital staff were engaged in various professions; most of them were workers, farmers and craftsmen, while some were students and officials. Compelled by current needs they turned into nurses, builders, stewards, etc.
List of the staff
Search the list of the staff
The list is not complete, any corrections and additions can be reported to: info@muzej-idrija-cerkno.si
Kovač, Stane, courier
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Š Stol II
Time of operation
?
Kragelj, Jože, guard, steward, supervisor
Date and place of birth
24. 04. 1926 - Rakek
Ward
B
Time of operation
at least from May 1944–5. 5. 1945
Krapež, Zora, kitchen aid
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
B
Time of operation
?
Kunsterl, Miha,
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Š Stol II
Time of operation
?
Lapanja, Anton, driver, guard
Date and place of birth
13. 06. 1902 - Dolenja Trebuša
Ward
B
Time of operation
2. 1. 1944–5. 5. 1945
Lapanja, Peter, carpenter
Date and place of birth
? - Podlanišče
Ward
occasionally v B, Pokljuka 10
Time of operation
November 1943–5. 5. 1945, occasionally
Leban, Pavla, Nurse, cultural animatorRead story
Date and place of birth
27. 12. 1913 - Poljubin (Tolmin)
Ward
A, B, Pokljuka 10
Time of operation
november 1943–5. 5. 1945
Lotrič, Stane, steward
Date and place of birth
21. 08. 1921 - Železniki
Ward
Time of operation
December 1943–1944
Lučić, Špiro, deputy political commissar
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
B
Time of operation
23. 11. 1943–6. 1. 1944
Mavri, Mirko, guard, courier
Date and place of birth
13. 09. 1921 - Grant (Grahovo)
Ward
B, Pokljuka 10
Time of operation
15. 2. 1944–5. 5. 1945
Mažgon, Martin, steward and intelligence operator
Date and place of birth
25. 11. 1909 - Cerkno
Ward
A, B, Medical Supplies Department PBF
Time of operation
?
Medvešček, Milan, guard
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Time of operation
?
Mencinger, Tomaž – Jumbo, steward
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Medical Supplies Department PBF
Time of operation
?
Mermolja, Tanja, nurse
Date and place of birth
10. 09. 1921 - Kostanjevica na Krki
Ward
B
Time of operation
26. 7. 1944–3. 10. 1944
Mihelič, Angela – Marija, cook
Date and place of birth
11. 06. 1919 - Podbrezje (Naklo)
Ward
C
Time of operation
From January 1944, at least to 14. 8. 1944
Mihelin, Mira – Nataša, assistant worker
Date and place of birth
22. 02. 1921 - Zagorje ob Savi
Ward
B
Time of operation
8. 12. 1944–5. 5. 1945
Mislej, Ivan, assistant nurse
Date and place of birth
14. 05. 1920 - Kazle
Ward
A, B
Time of operation
26. 10. 1944–5.5. 1945
Mlakar, Metod, Innkeeper, hospital associateRead story
Date and place of birth
04. 06. 1909 - Dolenji Novaki (Cerkno)
Ward
Javka v Logu
Time of operation
1943–1946
Močnik, Alojzij, tailor
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
A
Time of operation
1944
Močnik, Ciril, guard
Date and place of birth
20. 03. 1926 - Dolenji Novaki (Cerkno)
Ward
B, Pokljuka 10
Time of operation
April 1944–5. 5. 1945
“She selflessly nursed the wounded since the capitulation of Italy. She also participated in all the cultural events at the post.” (from a proposal for praise and recognition, dated 1 February 1945)
Pavla was from Poljubinj near Tolmin. Because of her poor health, she had to abandon her studies and qualified as a seamstress. She was very fond of Slovenian literature and poetry. During the fascist regime, which deprived the Slovenians in Primorska of the right to use their mother tongue, she secretly distributed Slovenian books among the youth and taught them Slovenian. In the spring 1943, she joined the partisans. After being a member of a brigade, she was assigned to work in the hospital in the autumn. She treated four wounded who were recovering in an old abandoned mill in front of the Pasice gorge. Later, she moved with them to the farm in Podnjivč and finally to the Pasice gorge, where a hidden hospital had just opened. Throughout the war, she worked hard as a nurse: cleaning hospital rooms, dressing wounds, washing bandages, distributing meals and medication, answering night calls … When she saw how bravely the wounded endured suffering and pain, she forgot her own burdens and sadness. In the war she lost her boyfriend and her brother. The wounded loved her because she always had a warm word and a friendly smile for them. She often sang to them and played the accordion or guitar. She also led a female choir in the hospital. In her free time she wrote poems and stories, some of which were published in Franja’s bulletin, Bolniški list.
Around 1906, Janez Mlakar, who owned a farm in Podnjivč, opened an inn in Log along the road to Novaki. Janez died very young, when his son Metod was still a minor; the management of the inn was taken over by his widow Uršula. Just before the Second World War, Metod and his wife Katarina took over the inn, which flourished under their management. They restored the saw and installed alleys for skittles and bowling. As early as in 1942, Metod started working for the Liberation Front. He helped collecting materials and funds for the partisan army and for distributing mail. His inn served as a secret communication between people and the Franja Hospital. He donated large quantities of wood (cut at his sawmill) for the construction of hospital cabins. During the last offensive, German soldiers locked his family in the bowling alley and threatened to burn them for helping the partisans. Luckily, this did not happen because they could not find any evidence.
After the war, the former staff and patients of the Franja Hospital regularly met in Log. Their first meeting was in May 1946, for the occasion of the formal opening of the Franja Hospital. Many of the tens of thousands who visit Franja every year also stop at Log. Katrca and Metod managed the inn until the early 1970s, when this became too burdensome for them. The inn was rented out and subsequently sold.
