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Post by Caslav Klonimirovic on Sept 25, 2009 10:37:15 GMT -5
Have any of you got WW1/WW2 stories that have been passed down from family? My grandparents were both German POW’s… My baba got taken from western Ukraine in 1943 by the Germans as they were retreating back west. She said her last goodbyes to her family as she was rounded up for a train to Germany and that was the last she ever saw of her homeland. In Germany she worked during the war (and a bit beyond) in a restaurant in Munich & she really does not have bad memories of the Germans or Germany. Her life in a Ukrainian village was tough enough as it was & she only had a stepmother there so she has never spoken bad of her time in Germany… My deda was a soldier in the royal Serbian army which later became known as the Cetniks. Both my grandparents stories are vague since neither of them ever wanted to talk about it & my deda is actually now dead so few specific details remain. My baba admits that she does not remember a lot of details and I'm guessing this is probably on purpose. We know that my deda was actually always thankful to the Germans surprisingly since he was actually captured by the Croat Ustase. Whilst under capture by the Ustase at a location we're not certain of (he wasn't a Krajisnik) the Germans came in and took him to Germany as a POW. Whether in hindsight or not, for this he was forever thankful that the Germans rescued him from the Croat Ustase. My grandparents met in Germany after the war and were married there. By then the Iron curtain had well fallen & as a royalist Serb my deda did not want to go back to Yugoslavia where the communist Partizans had gained victory. My baba also had little reason to go back since she did not have close family ties & so they both came to Australia… On the other side I have my other grandparents from Bosnia who both pretty much survived the war as seljaci.
...tell us the stories you've heard.
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Post by vinjak on Sept 25, 2009 18:23:12 GMT -5
My grandmothers Story,
My grandmother's family lived in Bihac at the start of WWII one evening there was a knock on the door and a bunch of Ustasa were collecting all males and telling them they were going on work duty, to pack only a small bag as everything would be provided for them at the work camp. All the men had no choice but to go, that night my grandmother and her mother and sisters got no sleep as there was howling and screaming coming from a distance the next afternoon a Ustasa priest came with a few Ustasa and burst into there house and began telling them that have to convert to Catholicism or they would be killed, they were given the hail mary to learn and the priest warned he would be back in 2 days to make sure they learned it. That evening a bunch of drunk Ustasa came and rounded up the girls and each gave them a hessian sack and ordered them to follow them they arrived at a spot which had a few trees and were ordered to scoop up with there hands the gore that they left behind (pieces of the male family members) My grandmother explained to me how the tree she saw on the hill had deep scratch marks and finger nails still embeded in the bark. The girls ended up filling the sacks and were made to walk home with them on there backs and then the filth sat watching as the girls were made to dig ditches to bury the remains. The bastards left when it was done but not before threatening to come back in the Morning. My Grans mother packed a little food and a few clothes and grabbed the girls and went to there Muslim neighbour asking for help, this bastard told them to hide in the corn field wait for morning and then he would help them get away, he sent his son to alert the Ustasa that they were hiding in the field. The bastards arrived later in the evening and went hunting for them my grandmothers mother ordered the two eldest girls to run and to keep running, the youngest sister and my grans mum gave themselves up to give the 2 oldest a chance to get away and they were led away never to be heard of again. My grandmother and her eldest sister ran and stumbled on a Cetnik unit who saved them, a young cetnik courier who would later become an officer fell in love with one of the girls, (my Grandmother) and years later my mother was born.
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Post by vinjak on Sept 25, 2009 18:37:24 GMT -5
At the end of the War my grandfather fled with his men to Rome where he was arrested and interrogated he was given a choice either join the foreign legion or get sent back home, he chose to be sent back home at which time he was handed to the Partisans who arrested him and threw him in jail. During the trial a few Partisan officers testified that my grandfathers unit saved a number of them from the Nazis and that they collaborated together, and this saved his life he was sentenced to 5 years for being on the wrong side, he only served 3 of the 5 and was released. Many years later (in the 70's) my grandparents left Yu and arrived in Australia.
No records survived (all were destroyed in the Luftwaffer bombings) Birth certificates etc so to this day my grandmother is not 100% on her exact birthday.
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Post by srbobran on Sept 25, 2009 18:47:22 GMT -5
Well, my family is an old one, in fact, we still have one of my ancestors old rifle that he used in the Serbo-Turkish War of 1876-1878 as well as his yatagan. Numerous people on both sides of my family fought in the Balkan Wars and in WWI (we still have a medal that belonged to my great grandfather that he earned in 1912 for fighting the Turks) and one of my uncles died on the Macedonian front. My knowledge of them is somewhat hazy but I'm definitely going to talk to my father in these few days about it.
My grandfather (father's side) was a Chetnik and eventually rose up to become a commander of a local unit and served with utmost distinction. He fought in the area of Kosovo and northern Vardarska (his native area). Eventually, the Chetnik movement fell apart and most Chetniks defected to the partizans, as did my grandfather. An interesting story about him, while he was fighting in northern Macedonia his unit got overwhelmed and he was captured by Bulgarian troops. My grandfather quickly befriended a Bulgarian guard and the Bulgarian let him go. Later on in the war when the Axis were losing ground in Vardarska, my grandfather and his unit fought and captured a group of Bulgarians. That same Bulgarian who let my grandfather go was present among the captured and my grandfather in turn set him free. It really is a small world. My grandfather also led his troops against the Albanian guerrillas in 1946 in Kosovo.
I've actually got my family's militray medals from the Balkan Wars, WWI, and WWII in a case here in Canada. I might actually upload a picture in a few days.
BTW, Arsenije, is your grandmother Ukrainian? Good topic by the way.
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gavrilo
Amicus
Vi ste svi banane
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Post by gavrilo on Sept 25, 2009 18:52:39 GMT -5
My grandmother and her family moved from CG to Nova Varos when she was 5. She lived there until the war broke out, when she eventually was sent to Uzice to stay with her aunt, and styaed there for a number of years, eventually coming to meet her family in Vojvodina (where I was born). She told me how the italians occupied nova varos and how they were much much much better than the nazi's. However, she said that they ended up killing a bunch of people in the porta of the church.....she is a proud montenegrin because of her family, but is generally skeptical of serbs and likes muslims, becuase she says she had great life experiences with them...
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gavrilo
Amicus
Vi ste svi banane
Posts: 840
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Post by gavrilo on Sept 25, 2009 18:55:12 GMT -5
after reading arsenije's and vinjak's stories, i swear i feel like the luckeist dude alive. What our grandparents had to go through was crazy, and to think they all sacrificed everything for our people and we still cant unify and justify their sacrifices....its just sad man....
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gavrilo
Amicus
Vi ste svi banane
Posts: 840
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Post by gavrilo on Sept 25, 2009 19:43:22 GMT -5
and srbobrans lmao
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Trazi Vise
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Today's "church" has NOTHING to do with religion.
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Post by Trazi Vise on Sept 29, 2009 3:06:26 GMT -5
The stories are all the same, that's why I feel very lucky to be alive and to achieve what I can in a free country...otherwise this Ivanka would not be here today if they had been killed...or who know's I would have been lucky enough to be born as say "Ivanka Trump". Always wanted my name on a building...it still may come true one day!!
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Kralj Vatra
Amicus
Warning: Sometimes uses foul language & insults!!!
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Post by Kralj Vatra on Sept 29, 2009 4:22:31 GMT -5
Incredible stories, all of them.
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Post by todhrimencuri on Sept 29, 2009 9:27:25 GMT -5
Two great-uncles of mine was a communist and was captured during the Nazi regime. One ended up dead in a concentration camp (nobody missed his Commie ass) and another managed to confuse German officials through his immaculate French. He was able to speak it very fluently into convincing various Germans into rethinking his deportation from Albania... however, when he came back to Albania his papers were reaffirmed and he was once again sent back upwards. However, by the time he was getting ready to be killed, Russians came in and freed him... he then moved to France...
Other comic stories but short on time.
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