Dušan Bordon, Semedela

The bronze statue of the publicist and partisan Dušan Bordon stands on
a square stone pedestal with an engraved and black-painted inscription. Around
the monument is a smaller garden. The sculptor is the sculptor Jože Pohlen. The monument
was unveiled on 23 May 1975.

EŠD: 17080

Jakopič, Albert, ur. Vodnik po partizanskih poteh. Ljubljana: Borec, 1978, str.
396.

Dušan Bordon Wikipedia

Primorski slovenski biografski leksikon. 3. snopič: Bor-Čopič. Gorica: Goriška
Mohorjeva družba, 1976, str. 105-106.

«Student, revolutionary, partisan and victim of fascist violence Dušan Bordon
was born on 16 December 1920 in Trieste. His father Dragotin, originally from Kavaličev near St. Anton – Koper, and his mother Ana Turk from Marezig, moved to Trieste, where they tried to arrange a better life, but due to fascist violence, they soon moved to Ptuj, from where they went to Ljubljana, where Dušan attended a people's school and gymnasium. He studied Romance philology at the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1938 he began publishing the magazine Slovenska mladina, which he edited and wrote articles for under various pseudonyms. He also attracted Karl Destovnik - Kajuha. He joined the student brigade on Croatia, but soon returned to Ljubljana, where he established party cells in the illegal manner and organized the collection of weapons.

On 2 July 1941 Dušan visited his parents. Due to his betrayal, he was arrested with his brother Radom, imprisoned in Ljubljana, and then both brothers were deported to an Italian internment camp. Since they tried to escape from every camp, they were transferred in 1943 to the internment camp Renicci in Tuscany. A few days before Italy's surrender, they escaped with a group of Slovenes and, following the advice of their host, stayed in nearby woods and connected with the partisans. Dušan participated in the establishment of the 24th Garibaldi Brigade Pio Borri, and was its first political commissar.

On the fateful 13 April 1944, Dušan attacked the Salojske fascists near Samprocin close to the village of Caprese Michelangelo with a group of partisans. They split into two groups and intended to encircle the partisans. The escape was led by the Russian Pjotr, but since his rifle jammed, Dušan also remained and both fell, among the escaping partisans only one was wounded. His brother Rado took care the next day that both were buried in the woods. Immediately after the war, they were transferred to a nearby cemetery and in 1973 to the Yugoslav ossuary in Sansepolcro.

Dušan is still remembered in Sansepolcro today, not only for his language, but also for his freedom of thought, resistance, respect for people, and above all for his heroism, when he sacrificed his life to save his comrades – fighters.

In his honour, the Primary School in Semedel in Koper was named in 1972. Generations of «Bordonovci» know the life of the student, revolutionary and fighter for rights, which Dušan also deserves on the 100th anniversary of his birth. His brother Rado, a partisan, poet, who lived in Ljubljana after the war, wrote a poem upon his brother's death:

POKOP

Never again will my kind eyes shine
nor will my mouth speak to me
which often comforted me
when in me strength was already failing.

Never again will my kind hands give

a friendly hand in hard times.

Nothing more will be the stubborn fist

on the roads that led to freedom.

A word for ever from life I take.

And though his mouth is pale, lifeless
a smile lights it, as if he were sleeping.

The pickaxe echoes in the dark forest
and heavy hearts of foreign land

rest on my heart and – brother.Vojko Vodopivec, Revolutionary and victim of military violence /On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dušan Bordón/, Svobodna beseda, Year 7, No. 63, January 2021, p. 5
Electronic source:
Svobodna beseda, January 2021, 5 (Accessed: 29. 6. 2024).