Robert Avsec

In memoriam

Brother Robert Avsec, was born Vincenzij (nickname: Vinko) Avsec on 1 February 1920 at Knežja Njiva no. 1, known locally as Gorenja, the som of Janez and Frančiška Avsec. The family had five sons and one daughter. After attending the seven-year primary school, he attended the classical secondary school in Ljubljana from 1933 to 1941. He lived in the Slomšek Center on Poljane Street (Poljanska Cesta), which was run by priests from Stična. After graduating on 28 June 1941 he requested entry into the monastic order at the Cistercian monastery in Stična. He began his novitiate, "living separate from the many dangers in the world to more easily serve God." He then began studying theology as a seminary student. In the summer of 1944 he was forced to interrupt his studies as a second-year student. Due to a mobilization decree from the German authorities he was required to join a German labor brigade, but together with his fellow seminarians did not want to. Instead, he joined the Home Guard and in May 1945 he retreated with them to Austrian Carinthia. He was forcibly returned from the POW camp in Viktring in May 1945 and was murdered somewhere in the Kočevje Rog forest. He was a gifted and quiet young man, and he provided information about the folk customs and religious customs of Knežja Njiva to the Cistercian Metod Turnšek [, who studied folk practices.] Sources: Presentation, Parish of Stari Trg pri Ložu ) (in Slovenian, loads slowly.) http://www.sistory.si/zrtve/zrtev/?id=811

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