Franjo Kozar (1902 - 1981)

In the cultural history of the Municipality of Veržej, some teachers and priests played an important role. Among the teaching names is the school administrator Franjo Kozar, who actively became involved in cultural and social life in Veržej and was also his chronicler, as he has carefully recorded important social events in the place for decades and wrote social chronicles.

Franjo Kozar was born on 7 March 1902 in Veržej in the Gelar family of Ivan Kozar and Liza Gajsar, who numbered eight children. After six grades of elementary school and four grades of high school, he enrolled in a teacher's school in Maribor, where he completed his graduation in 1921 and in 1924 a professional exam. He performed in 1921 at St. Spirit on Stara Gora, later taught in Vučja vas and silence. In 1925 he was installed as a school administrator in Veržej.

Franjo Kozar, as a student and since 1921, as a teacher on Stara Gora, led the Choir of the Veržej Reading Society. Among his major acts is undoubtedly the establishment of the Advanced Sokol Society, which caused him to ban the Germans of 1941 to pursue a teaching profession and every cultural activity. In order to survive his family during the war, he got a job as a transporter at the Ljutomer railway. In the auspices of illegal, he began working for the Liberation Front where he collected medical supplies and weapons for the partisans.

The creative work of Franjo Kozar was involved in the development of Veržej and its surroundings, especially after 1945, when immediately after the liberation, he founded an Educational Society, a beekeeping family, actively participated in the fire brigade, the Tourist Association and more. >

After the liberation in 1945, he again performed the duty of the manager of the elementary school in Veržej, until his retirement1965 years.

As a lover of music and an expert, he has led the choirs of the Reading Society-more and more educational society since 1922. He led the village youth choir, a mixed and male choir. He was also a director and leader of acting groups and the head of tamburitza orchestras in different compositions and at different time periods. From 1923 to 1958 he was the president of his reading or. Educational Society. He was active in cultural and social life until his death.

Franjo Kozar died in 1981. The post -cemetery is in the Veržej cemetery. In the period from 1920 to 1980, it was the driving force of social, social and cultural life in Veržej and its surroundings. He has received numerous awards for his rich contribution. Undoubtedly was the important and central personality of this period.