Ignac Gregorač

Ignac Gregorač (Partisan name Vid; June 24, 1916 – May 7, 2016), was a Slovenian architect, author, and recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941.

Life and work His family moved to Tacen after Gabriele D'Annunzio's conquest of Rijeka in 1920 and later to Ljubljana in 1923. He finished classical gymnasium in 1935 and graduated from the Technical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana in 1940, under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Ivan Vurnik. During the studies he was active in progressive student associations. In 1941, he joined the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation (OF), where he and his brother France (Cene) made and used a printing and documentation hideout in their own house. On June 15, 1942, he joined the Partisans, where he worked as a technical assistant, organizer and political activist in the Central Technical Section (CT)

He worked in the Partisan printing-press Triglav on the Gotenica Snežnik mountain from 1943 to 1944. After enabling the printing of Partisan bonds and Italian liras, he was transferred to the CT leadership in Stara Žaga as a group leader's assistant for the Graphic Department, and later as the leader of the Central Distribution Department. In October 1944, he was transferred to the main headquarters of the People's Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia (NOV-POJ), to OZNA, where he awaited the end of the WW2 on May 9, 1945, as an acting director of the fourth section. During the war, he was a candidate for the Communist Party of Slovenia (KPS) since October 1941 and a member since October 1943. He reached the rank of major, and after the war he was transferred to the reserve forces. After two months, on January 31, 1946, he returned to his profession as a designer in the Federal Architectural Bureau (ZPZ), where he also assisted in the restoration of King Alexander's palace in Belgrade (Dedinje) and the agricultural laboratory in Zemun.

Ignac Gregorač was not just an architect, draftsman, and designer, but also a writer of articles and two books, and a designer of museum exhibitions. He was a supporter for an unpolluted environment, active in social and political affairs and one of the founders of the movement Slovenska pot (Slovenian Way). Exact, analytical, and logical in his work, he was also in favour of the People's Front and Labour movements. He remained a proponent of humane, democratic, and just social society even after the collapse of communism in 1991.

The Ljubljana City Assembly awarded the Zlata plaketa illegalca (Golden Plaque of the Member of Underground Movement) to the Gregorač family, which he accepted in 1984. He was buried in the Ljubljana Cemetery on Friday, May 13, 2016, with military honours.

Decorations, Medals, Plaques Orders by rank: Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 (1944) 15) Order of Labour with Red Banner (I rank) (February 7, 1977) 20) Order of Merits for the People with Silver Rays (II rank) 21) Order of Brotherhood and Unity with Silver Wreath (II rank) 29) Order of Partisan Star with Rifles (III rank) 30) Order of Merits for the People with Silver Star (III rank) 33) Order of Labour with Silver Wreath (III rank) "10 Years of Yugoslav Army" Medal "30th Anniversary of the Monetary Institute" Medal Family Gregorač – Golden Plaque of the Member of Underground Movement (May 8, 1984)