European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

I said listen, listen …

But they pulled out a revolver and aimed at me. My mother began to cry. They would have shot me if it hadn’t been for her.

They claimed that I had killed a Partisan, dressed in the Partisan uniform and thrown away the German one. It wasn’t true.

I joined the Partisans in 1943, I had all my documents, and I could prove it. In the end we made it home.

It was the morning or maybe afternoon of May 16th when I arrived here at Kropa.

That’s just how things were at Kropa after the war; people were gone.

I went back to Celje too; with the bicycle. Our brigade had already left.

Mesic had said to me that he had heard we would be moving out of Celje.

I said that if they move before I return, for them to leave a message at this woman’s house.

There was an old woman, perhaps she was in her 60s or 70s.

Upon my return with that bicycle, I got the message and it wrote Mali –

that was my Partisan name – we went to Zagreb, to Maksimir.

Coming to Slovenia with the brigade

Our brigade stepped onto Slovenian soil at Sedlarjevo without a fight.

The Germans were retreating and we went right on in.

Then we came down to Podcetrtek.

There were people standing along the road in Podcetrtek.

We passed by, I was riding my horse – because now I was already a commanding officer of the ‘rear support unit’ –

so I was riding my horse and someone calls out Ivo!

I felt a shudder of fear. Who could possibly know me here? I had never been to Podcetrtek or anywhere hereabouts.