Franc Rozman – Stane

Franc Rozman
A photo of Franc Rozman from 1943
Born	27 March 1911 Spodnje Pirniče, Carniola, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Died	7 November 1944 (aged 33) Lokve, Črnomelj, White Carniola
Allegiance	Royal Yugoslav Army International Brigades Slovene National Liberation Army
Years of service	1932–1939; 1941–1944
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Slovene Partisans
Awards	People's Hero of Yugoslavia

Franc Rozman, nom de guerre Stane (Slovene convention: Franc Rozman – Stane) or Stane Mlinar, 27 March 1911 – 7 November 1944), was a Slovene Partisan commander in World War II.

Franc Rozman was born in the Carniolan village of Spodnje Pirniče near Ljubljana, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (now in Slovenia) in a Slovene working-class family. His father Franc Rozman was a railway track-worker, while his mother Marjana (née Stare) was a housewife. He was the third of four children, with two elder sisters, Marjeta and Terezija, and a younger brother, Martin.

At the age of three, Rozman's father died on the Eastern Front, where he fought as a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Rozman had a poor and hard childhood. His sisters Marjeta and Terezija were sent to an orphanage, while Franc and his brother Martin remained in Pirniče. At the age of 15, he worked in a tavern and then trained as an apprentice baker.

As a young boy he had great enthusiasm for a military career, but his application to the military school was rejected. In spring 1932, he did his military service in the Royal Yugoslav army.

In 1935, after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, Rozman tried unsuccessfully to join the Ethiopian forces fighting the Italian invaders. Soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he decided to travel to Spain. Rozman was among the first Yugoslav volunteers in Spain, where he, on 1 October 1936 joined the International Brigades. In November 1936 he became a member of the Spanish Communist Party.

In Jarama he completed non commissioned officers' school, became a lieutenant and a commander of a company, then captain and commander of a battalion. His comrades in arms remembered him as an energetic and earnest person. After the Spanish Civil War, he was imprisoned in France. He became a member of the Yugoslav Communist Party in 1939. In April 1941 he was imprisoned and sentenced to forced labor in Germany. In July the same year he fled Germany and returned to Yugoslavia.