Mira Bedenk Bajc

An Entire Family against the Occupier

Mira Bedenk grew up in Ljubljana. Her parents were affiliated with the workers’ movement. After the war began in April 1941, the entire family joined the Liberation Front. Mira Bedenk collected and distributed underground writings that called for resistance against the occupation. One of her brothers fought with the partisans, while another was already interned at the Dachau concentration camp.

On January 7, 1944, Mira Bedenk was also arrested. She was transported to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück in late January. Two months later she was transferred to the Neurohlau subcamp. There, the twenty-two-year-old first worked in forced labor for the SS-owned Bohemia porcelain company. Later she worked manufacturing aircraft parts for the Messerschmitt armaments company. She endured the inhuman conditions by maintaining hope for an early end to the war and the resumption of her life at home.

Mira Bedenk returned to Slovenia after her liberation. She resumed her teacher training and began to study acting, dance, and singing. She ultimately decided to pursue a career as an actress. In 1951, she married the lawyer Stojan Bajc. Until her retirement from the stage, she acted in theaters in Maribor and Ljubljana.