11. Lacko memorial
The bronze statue of the national hero Jože Lacko is the work of the university-trained sculptor Jakob Savinšek (1922–1961). From 1956 to 1992, it stood on the Slovenski Square below the city theatre, near the Orpheus Monument. After the independence of Slovenia, the Department of Culture at the City Municipality of Ptuj had it transferred to the city cemetery.
Jože Lacko was active already in World War I, in which he served as an Austro-Hungarian soldier at the Isonzo Front. Even later, he was politically very active. In World War II, he joined the Slovenjegoriška troop and was one of the three combatants who managed to escape from the enemy's ring. Betrayed, he was caught by the Germans, imprisoned and brutally tortured until 12 August 1942, when he succumbed to the consequences of inhumane treatment. Jože Lacko was proclaimed a national hero on 21 December 1951. Streets in several Slovenian cities are named after him.
