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
Nakarada, Danilo, guard
Date and place of birth
08. 06. 1910 - Lićko Petrovo Selo / Croatia
Ward
B
Time of operation
2. 1. 1944–5. 5. 1945
Nestran, Franc, driver
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Medical Supplies Department PBF
Time of operation
?
Obid, Dušan, manager of wards D and A, political commissar in C
Date and place of birth
01. 08. 1917 - Idrija
Ward
A, C, D
Time of operation
30. 3. 1944–5. 5. 1945
Obid, Olga, cook
Date and place of birth
20. 07. 1921 - Dravlje
Ward
D
Time of operation
?
Perc, Mira, nurse
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Š Stol II
Time of operation
?
Peternelj, Janez, Farmer, activistRead story
Date and place of birth
25. 03. 1900 - Dolenji Novaki (Cerkno)
Ward
Javka v Podnjivču
Time of operation
1943–1945
Peternelj, Vencelj, Farmer, activistRead story
Date and place of birth
17. 07. 1909 - Dolenji Novaki (Cerkno)
Ward
Javka pri Cmilku
Time of operation
1943–1947
Petkovšek, Vinko, guard, cook
Date and place of birth
03. 09. 1926 - Ravnik (Hotedršica)
Ward
B
Time of operation
January 1944–5. 5. 1945
Petrovčič, Alfred, driver
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
B, Medical Supplies Department PBF
Time of operation
1944–5. 5. 1945
Pirman, Jože, guard and member of auxiliary staff
Date and place of birth
11. 02. 1923 - Bečaje (Cerknica)
Ward
B
Time of operation
Marec 1944–5. 5. 1945
Plesničar, Alojz – Gigi, assistant nurse, occasionally cook, manager in A
Date and place of birth
12. 05. 1912 - Sv. Andrej (Gorica)
Ward
A, B
Time of operation
November 1943–5. 5.1945
Podkoritnik, Dr. Franc – Očka, manager and doctor
Date and place of birth
16. 7. 1893 - Liboje (Celje)
Ward
B
Time of operation
26. 7. 1944–3. 10. 1944
Pogačnik, Tone, stretcher bearer
Date and place of birth
25. 09. 1916 - Kališe (Železniki)
Ward
C
Time of operation
1944
Pohar, Dr. Edvard, doctor – surgeon
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
B, Pokljuka
Time of operation
Occasionally
Porovne, Pavel, carpenter, guard
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
B, Pokljuka (Š. Stol), Pokljuka 10
Time of operation
?–6. 6. 1944
Posega, Ivan – Brico, barber, guard
Date and place of birth
08. 12. 1914 - Velika Brda (Postojna)
Ward
B, D
Time of operation
March 1944–5. 5 1945
Potočnik, Franc, staff member
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
C
Time of operation
?
Pretnar, Jakob, cook
Date and place of birth
?
Ward
Š Stol II
Time of operation
?
Prezelj, Franc, courier
Date and place of birth
16. 04. 1924 - Davča
Ward
C
Time of operation
January 1944–at least to 20. 9. 1944
Prijon, Karlo, guard
Date and place of birth
30. 08. 1922 - Solkan
Ward
B
Time of operation
26. 10. 1944–5. 5. 1945
“The name of Janez Peternelj should be written with gold letters in the chronicles of the Franja Hospital.”
(Dr Viktor Volčjak)
Janez Peternelj was born in Dolenji Novaki to a peasant family. After marriage he moved to his wife’s farm in Trebenče; three years later the family returned to Podnjivč where he bought a farm which had belonged to his grandfather Franc Mlakar. Soon after the death of his first wife Terezija, he married Roza with whom he had eight children. Janez was a member of the first troika of the Liberation Front in Novaki, which started operating in June 1942; it carried out various intelligence tasks and maintained a liaison with the activists. His activities drew the attention of the Italian authorities. Despite being interrogated he did not give up. He was also a member of the village national liberation committee. After the bombing of Cerkno on 31 October 1943, the partisans began searching for a safe haven for their wounded. Janez offered them his home in Podnjivč, where they stayed until the November offensive, when the partisan units, together with their wounded, withdrew to Gorenjska. Upon their return, Janez proposed to doctor Viktor Volčjak that the nearby Pasice gorge was a possible location for the construction of a hospital. This would also make it safer for his family and the patients. The hospital was soon finished and Janez’s house became the main communication point for the hospital materials, patients and staff. Until the German offensive in April 1944, his house also hosted a mobile hospital. Part of his homestead was a mill which served the needs of the nearby partisan posts. In the house, food and sanitary materials were stored and, for the first few months, bread was baked. Under the barn, there was an emergency bunker – a pit originally intended for the threshing machine. Partisan couriers and other units walked past the house. Because of all this, the family lived in constant danger. On the Palm Sunday, 25 March 1945, the German soldiers retaliated by burning the house down and leaving the family homeless.
A few days after Franja ceased to operate and everyone had left the gorge, Janez received a letter from the hospital management. He was asked to take care of the hospital and ensure that everything remained intact. He was even given a rifle and ordered to check daily the situation in the gorge. He accompanied all the visitors who came. In July, when Nikola Radojčić, a former staff member, was appointed as the hospital’s caretaker, Janez was relieved of his duty.
A few years before the war, Vencelj became owner of the farm Cmilk in Dolenji Novaki, which lies on the slopes of Škofje opposite the Pasice gorge. Through his mother he was related with the Podnjivč family. Vencelj and his wife Frančiška gave birth to a large family. In the summer of 1942, invited by cousin Metod Mlakar, Vencelj started working for the Liberation Front. He helped collecting funds and materials for the partisans, as well as distributing mail and propaganda leaflets. In his barn he built a hideout for partisan reconnaissance patrols, which often passed by before the capitulation of Italy. After the first bombing of Cerkno in Autumn 1943, his house was used as a mobile hospital. In it, between three and twelve wounded were treated at a time until March 1944, except for a short interruption. From March until the end of the war, the house served as a communication point for the Franja Partisan Hospital. All the wounded and sick who were to be hospitalised in Franja were first brought to the house where they were blindfolded. In September 1944, a wooden cabin was built about five minutes south of the house, as an emergency shelter for the wounded in case of danger. It was also intended for patients who did not need hospitalisation. It was used until the end of the war.
