Although a joyful place, the Šalek Valley cannot escape a few bitter moments from its past. Karel Destovnik Kajuh was a 21-year-old Slovenian poet and a member of the partisan unit XIV. division which crossed the valley on their way to Styria in February 1944. He was killed in a firefight at the Žlebnik homestead which is now a memorial building devoted to his literary legacy and testimonies from the Second World War. Karel Destovnik Kajuh is the only Slovenian cultural figure who was proclaimed a national hero.