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 ŠTEFAN KOVAČ-MARKO (1910-1941)

Stefan Kovač Markoko

According to the testimonies of his wife Mima, his relatives and the written records of the writer Miško Kranjc, one of his friends and adherents, Štefan Kovač was a strong personality already as a young man, resolute, cheerful, a good speaker and popular among his fellow people. Being a young intellectual in the years between 1935 and 1941, common ideas connected him to other progressively orientated inhabitants of Eastern Slovenia – Prekmurje – related to the improvement of social and economic conditions and the idea for a stronger relatedness of Prekmurje with the home country of Slovenia. His professional life as a trainee lawyer gave him the opportunity for a lot of contacts with his fellow people and the insight in the social and political occurrences of the time. He was a true people's tribune for spreading the progressive ideas. Due to his propaganda of the left wing and the criticism of the authorities he was supervised and prosecuted.

Štefan Kovač - Marko Curriculum vitae

  • 28 August 1910 - born in Nedelica to his father Franc Kovač, a farmer and miller, and his mother Veronika Kovač, born Čeh, who dies shortly after his birth. He is looked after by his foster-mother Veronika Kovač, born Duh.
  • 1930 - graduated at the Secondary school in Murska Sobota.
    1934 - finished his studies at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana.
  • 1935 - second state examination.
  • 1935-1936 - basic military service (second lieutenant).
  • 1936-1941 - works as a trainee lawyer in Maribor at the law office for Dr. Kukovec and in Murska Sobota at Dr. Valy’s.
  • 1937-1940 - secretary of the left-wing Farm boys and girls' Society of Prekmurje.
  • 1939 - becomes Secretary of the Communist Party for Prekmurje.
  • 1939 - gets married to Mima Zupančič, a teacher from Radmožanci.
  • 1940 - detained in Bileča together with other activists and intellectuals from Prekmurje.
  • 1941 - after the Hungarian occupation of Prekmurje, he starts as a member of the underground movement with the organised uprising against the fascist occupation.
  • 24 July 1941 - his son Štefan is born.
  • 18 October 1941 falls at Gančani under the shots of the Hungarian gendarmes.
  • 20 December 1951 - awarded the National Hero Decoration of the Federal National Republic of Yugoslavia.