Polak Rudolf - Rudi

Lieutenant Commander Rudolf Polak – Rudi (Borovlje 1907 – Pula 1974)

 

Rudolf Polak was born on April 17, 1907, into a working-class - peasant family at Borovlje (Ferlach) in Carinthia. He was the second son of Franc Polak from Studenčice near Radovljica and Marija Šavs from Preddvor near Kranj. In that time, his father worked as a castle gardener at a mansion in the vicinity of Klagenfurt, hence Rudolf and his two-year-older brother Franc were both born in Carinthia, Austria; a few years later, the family moved to Preddvor. At the age of seventeen, Rudolf completed his tailor apprenticeship, but as a bright and ambitious young man he soon became aware that he would not get far with this particular profession in his life. Consequently he decided to enrol at the Non-commissioned Officer School run by the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Considering that he came from a simple family, training for an officer at the Naval Academy was beyond his reach. 

 

He completed his training at the Navy NCO School with honours. After his schooling there, he was called to serve on board the Yugoslav light cruiser Dalmacija. By 1939, he attained the rank of Senior Marine Sergeant III class and advanced in the disciplinary-administrative profession. On board this ship, he awaited the outbreak of the Second World War on April 6, 1941. After the capitulation of Yugoslavia, the Italians offered him the rank of lieutenant in the Italian Navy which, however, he flatly refused.

 

During the Italian occupation he was stationed on the island of Šolta near Split. Nevertheless, as he had a great desire to rebel against the occupiers and domestic traitors, he immediately after the capitulation of Italy in September 1943 joined the partisan movement and became a combatant in the ranks of the 4th Strike Brigade Split within the 9th Strike Division. He awaited liberation in Split at the Division’s Headquarters. As a fighter in the War of National Liberation, he was decorated several times. After the war, he was assigned to the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army and the Yugoslav Navy. Later on, he served in the Yugoslav Navy’s Transport Department as well as in the Navy’s Nutrition Department. Owing to the lack of official Navy Officer education, he was trained in the Quartermaster Officer School in Trebinje from March 1950 to March 1951, after which he was officially conferred the rank of Lieutenant. He was eventually transferred to the Quartermaster Warehouse and Navy Nutrition Department of the 5th Naval Military Sector in Pula. Finally he served, until 31 August, 1956, as the Head of the Port Quartermaster Department in Pula. On that day he was pensioned off, as an active officer in the Yugoslav Navy, with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. During his service in the Yugoslav Navy he was also a member of the Communist Party from which, however, he resigned immediately after retiring. He died on November 21, 1974, at the age of 68. He is buried at the Pula City Cemetery. 

 

Tim Šteferl