My childhood in Croatia (Bosnia) was wonderful from 1933 until 1940 when at the age of 7 years old, we had to leave our home. My father was taken by the local fascists to a concentration camp at Jasenovac (Croatia) and murdered in 1941. My mother, sister, neighbor and I fled to the Adriatic Coast under Italian occupation. A catholic lady, Denise Joris, helped our escape. But we were arrested and from 1941 to 43 we were in an Italian concentration camp on the Island of Rab in the Adriatic. From 1943 to 45 after Mussolini was captured and Italy liberated by the Allies, we joined the Yugoslav (Croatia) Partisan forces, facing death, starvation and constant flight from capture by the Germans. At the end of 1945 I left for Romania, my sister for England. My mother was captured by the Nazis and murdered in 1944.
P. Alexander Pollak
