Yesterday we received the message that our friend Miloš Poljanšek passed away at the age of 97 in Ljubljana.

Born in Slovenija in 1923 he was part of the resistance movement against the German occupants since 1941. 1943 he was imprisoned in Capodistria and deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp from there. As one of his aunts had personal connections to the social environment of Heinrich Himmler, Miloš was released in August 1944 and went back to Ljubljana. He became a teacher after the war and worked amongst others as state secretary of culture. Since 1993 he got involved in the Slovenian survivors organization.

Milos was a warm and intelligent man and became a good friend of the staff of the memorial. He travelled to Hamburg on many occasions such as commemorations or congresses, and played an active role 2010 in the conference “Survivors Talk to Their Children” with his daughter Tadeja.

In her message yesterday, Tadeja wrote that Miloš thought about Neuengamme constantly during his last weeks. But he did not only think about his time as a prisoner but of his present friends here. He was sad that he was not able to travel to Hamburg anymore to see us. This moved us very much.

We are sad and we will miss Miloš very much. Our thoughts are with his family.