On December 27, 1936, a group of Fascists kidnapped Bratuž in Piedimonte del Calvario (now a suburb of Gorizia) immediately after the Mass, where he had been conducting a choir.

He was unable to recover from this poisoning, and he died a month and a half later in the Gorizia central hospital.

[1][2] A few days before his death, his supporters gathered beneath the hospital window, sang a Slovene song, and then fled before the authorities could arrest them.

Thus Lojze Bratuž soon became a symbol of Fascist persecution of Slovenes in the Julian March.

[1][2] Their daughter, Lojzka Bratuž,[2] was an author and activist in the organizations of the Slovene minority in Italy.