Selected text
At the end
of 1941, my younger sister, Sida, and I participated in the uprising, and
we received permission from the anti-fascist organization to join the
partisans. We made this request much earlier but were denied because our
house was a shelter for messengers traveling from Sarajevo to Zagreb.
Before leaving, we went to our parents and simply said we were joining the
partisans. We asked a relative who had escaped from Sarajevo to Mostar to
send someone with documents to take our parents to Mostar. We left into the
pitch-dark night. I remember there was a curfew until 7 a.m., and my
sister and I left at 6 a.m. The streets were empty except for the mounds of
snow that squeaked under our feet. A three-man Ustashe patrol passed us. I
hugged my sister so they would think that we were lovers, and not be
suspicious. We reached an illegal apartment in Krek and waited there for
four days. However, our messenger never arrived. On the fourth day, a
comrade came to tell us that we could not go to the partisans, but would
not say why. We returned home and only later learned the reason: On
Majevica, a mountain above Tuzla where the partisan movement had a
presence, Chetniks attacked the partisan headquarters. There were many
dead, including the messenger who was supposed to come for us. They
slaughtered him. We were in Tuzla a few more days. One day, as I was
finishing lunch, two Ustashe came. They had knives on their bayonets. They
took me to the prison; there were already a lot of Jews there, including my
father. This was the first round, and they only took Jewish adult males. We
were all sentenced to Jasenovac. There was no trial; we only received the
sentence stating that we had been condemned to Jasenovac. The 130 of us
were taken to the camp. Of these 130, I am the only one who survived that
dreadful Golgotha known as Jasenovac.
of 1941, my younger sister, Sida, and I participated in the uprising, and
we received permission from the anti-fascist organization to join the
partisans. We made this request much earlier but were denied because our
house was a shelter for messengers traveling from Sarajevo to Zagreb.
Before leaving, we went to our parents and simply said we were joining the
partisans. We asked a relative who had escaped from Sarajevo to Mostar to
send someone with documents to take our parents to Mostar. We left into the
pitch-dark night. I remember there was a curfew until 7 a.m., and my
sister and I left at 6 a.m. The streets were empty except for the mounds of
snow that squeaked under our feet. A three-man Ustashe patrol passed us. I
hugged my sister so they would think that we were lovers, and not be
suspicious. We reached an illegal apartment in Krek and waited there for
four days. However, our messenger never arrived. On the fourth day, a
comrade came to tell us that we could not go to the partisans, but would
not say why. We returned home and only later learned the reason: On
Majevica, a mountain above Tuzla where the partisan movement had a
presence, Chetniks attacked the partisan headquarters. There were many
dead, including the messenger who was supposed to come for us. They
slaughtered him. We were in Tuzla a few more days. One day, as I was
finishing lunch, two Ustashe came. They had knives on their bayonets. They
took me to the prison; there were already a lot of Jews there, including my
father. This was the first round, and they only took Jewish adult males. We
were all sentenced to Jasenovac. There was no trial; we only received the
sentence stating that we had been condemned to Jasenovac. The 130 of us
were taken to the camp. Of these 130, I am the only one who survived that
dreadful Golgotha known as Jasenovac.
Period
Location
Tuzla
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Interview
Cadik Danon