From Jugoslavia to America

When it was rumored that the communist partisans planned to destroy Sremska Mitrovica, Jugoslavia as the German Military retreated, the father persuaded the mother to leave the city for a short time, taking the five children and her mother to a safe place until the fighting was over. They boarded the over-crowded last train going west, away from the terror that was imminent. They had no idea where they were going nor how long they would have to be away from home. The father could not leave the city; he was drafted into a "home guard" and charged with protecting the city. The family never returned to Sremska Mitrovica. Separated during the war, miraculously all family members, except for one son, were reunited in the American Sector of Austria. The second oldest son had been living and working near Berlin, Germany as a foreign worker. "Liberated" by the Russians he was sent "home" to Jugoslavia, which was by then behind the iron curtain leaving him with no chance of joining his family in the west. They endured fear, discrimination and persecution during the post-war years in a country of which they did not even speak the language. The family lived in deplorable conditions in a makeshift "Displaced Person's camp", commonly known as a "D.P.camp". The family survived hunger, displacement and many other hardships with patience and courage while relying on their faith.