Tone Polda

{{Short description|Slovene writer and poet (1917–1945)}}

{{Infobox person

|name = Tone Polda

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|birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|6|4|mf=y}}

|birth_place = Krnica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1945|6|23|1917|6|4|mf=y}}

|death_place = Mount Mrzlica above Hrastnik

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|nationality = Slovene

|occupation = Writer and poet

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Tone Polda (a.k.a. Anton Polda, June 4, 1917 – June 23, 1945) was a Slovenian Roman Catholic priest, poet, and writer.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pibernik |first=France |title=Tone Polda |encyclopedia=Enciklopedija Slovenije |year=2002 |volume=16 |pages=162–163 |publisher=Mladinska knjiga |location=Ljubljana |author1-link=France Pibernik}}{{cite book |last1=Marjan |first1=Drnovšek |title=Slovenski izseljenci in Zahodna Evropa v obdobju prve Jugoslavije |date=2012 |publisher=Založba ZRC |location=Ljubljana |page=338}}

Polda was born in Krnica. After completing his studies in theology in Ljubljana, he was ordained a priest in 1943.{{cite book |last1=Griesser-Pečar |first1=Tamara |title=Cerkev na zatožni klopi: sodni procesi, administrativne kazni, posegi "ljudske oblasti" v Sloveniji od 1943 do 1960 |date=2005 |publisher=Družina |location=Ljubljana |page=76}} In September of the same year, he survived the Partisan siege at Turjak Castle and then became a curate for the Slovene Home Guard. Before the end of the war, he retreated to Carinthia, but he was returned from the camp at Viktring by British forces.{{cite book |last1=Kvaternik |first1=Peter |title=Brez časti, svobode in moči: vpliv komunizma na pastoralno delovanje Cerkve v ljubljanski nadškofiji 1945–2000 |date=2003 |publisher=Družina |location=Ljubljana |page=131}} He was then imprisoned in the Teharje camp, which he managed to escape from.{{cite book |last1=Švent |first1=Rozina |title=Slovenski begunci v Avstriji (1945–1950): Povratne migracije med politiko, prakso in teorijo |date=2007 |publisher=Založba ZRC |location=Ljubljana |page=61}} He was shot while on the run in the forest on Mount Mrzlica above Hrastnik.

Polda contributed poems and short prose to manuscript publications and the anthologies Jutranja zarja, Domače vaje, and Mlada setev, and he also published in the magazines Vrtec, Kres, and Naša zvezda.{{cite book |last1=Mauser |first1=Karel |title=Srce nikoli ne laže: povest |date=1990 |publisher=Mohorjeva založba |location=Klagenfurt |page=98}} In his material and expression, he drew from the writings of Fran Saleški Finžgar and Janez Jalen, which is why images from peasant life and stories with a contemporary Christian theme dominate among his sketches and novellas. His selected work was published in 1996 in the volume Moja Krnica.