Franz Avbel (Slovenian. Franc Avbelj; October 27, 1914, Trnava near Domzale – December 24, 1991, Vir near Domzale) – Yugoslavian Slovenian military leader, participant in the People’s Liberation War of Yugoslavia, later a public figure and party worker of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. People’s Hero of Yugoslavia.
Biography
He graduated from school in the village of Krasnya, then studied in Ljubljana as a builder. In 1938-1939. served in Belgrade, then returned to Slovenia and worked as a builder.
Member of the People’s Liberation War since 1941, fought in the Shertseriev battalion. Member of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia since 1942. In May 1942, he fought alone with the Italian forces, armed with a machine gun, for one day and one night, covering the retreat of the soldiers of his unit. Later he was a political commissar and commander in the Kamnisky and Savinja battalions, the battalion commander in the Gubtsevskaya brigade and the Notrany detachment, the commander of the Notrany detachment and, since 1943, the commander of the Gubtsevskaya brigade, with which he carried out one of the sabotages at the Mirna railway station.
From the end of 1943 to the end of 1944, he remained with his detachment in Nizhnaya Krain and operated in the area of the cities of Trebelno, Zuzhemberk, Trebna, as well as in the southern part of Styria. At the end of 1944 he was seriously wounded in the head, as a result of which he remained disabled until the end of his life. After the liberation of Yugoslavia in 1946 he was demobilized from the Yugoslav army as a war veteran and held various social and political positions in the cities of Kranj and Novo Mesto, in 1954-1957. was the chairman of the local people’s council Domzale. He was awarded the 1941 Partisan Medal and other Yugoslavian awards. The title of People’s Hero was awarded to him on December 25, 1952.
Bibliography
- "Narodni kheroi Јugoslavie". Beograd: Mladost. 1975.
- Enciklopedija Slovenije; knjiga 1, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, 1987.