BACKI BRESTOVAC - ONE HISTORICAL FRAGMENT STORY OF ONE OLD PHOTO FRAME AND THE SECRET OF 73 YEARS THAT WAS HIDDEN IN IT

BACKI BRESTOVAC - ONE HISTORICAL FRAGMENT STORY OF ONE OLD PHOTO FRAME AND THE SECRET OF 73 YEARS THAT WAS HIDDEN IN IT

BACKI BRESTOVAC - ONE HISTORICAL FRAGMENT

STORY OF ONE OLD PHOTO FRAME AND THE SECRET OF 73 YEARS THAT WAS HIDDEN IN IT

By Zora Derikrava Bubalo

Everything started in the autumn of 1945 when a large number of ethnic Serbian families, who lived in Lika in Croatia, were moved to Backi Brestovac in Yugoslavia. Dragan Vujinovic and his brother Petar received house no. 12 on Ivo Lola Ribar Street (Germ. 12 Hutweid). But this was the house of some other people, they could not live in it, so they quickly returned to Lika to their village Siroka Kula near Gospic.

The State Government did not allow anyone who was colonized to return to his birth village and immediately returned them to Backi Brestovac. They returned to the same house, reluctant, but for them there was no other solution.

Dragan was a lone widower, unfortunately his wife and only son were killed in the war. While wandering around the home and looking how to arrange the house for his own needs, Dragan saw a big old frame and in that frame there was a photograph of the family who had lived there.

Although Dragan lost his entire family in the war, he did not destroy this photo. Probably he was sorry for this German family, he may have thought about whether or not they managed to escape. Maybe he thought that this family would come back with other German families to their homes. He knew it was possible as this was already whispered in Brestovac. So he put the photo behind the cardboard in the frame and hides it with another cardboard and tells no one about it.

Then in 1946 Marija Platisa (born Rajacic) arrived in Backi Brestovac. She came to visit her brother, Mile Rajacic. Maria lived in Lika and was a widow with one daughter (Savka Platisa). There she met Dragan and soon they were married. Marija gave birth to two children, son Petar and daughter Zora. Years passed and children grew up and finished school. Petar moved to Novi Sad (Vojvodina, Serbia) and Zora married and moved to Zadar (Croatia).

Suddenly and unexpectedly, approximately in 1968, someone came knocking on the door of the house of Marija and Dragan. It was a blond man who was about 46-48 years old. The guest presented himself, this was Josef Krebs, the son of Georg Krebs, the owner of the house.

Marija and Dragan received him kindly and welcomed him. Together they ate and spent the day with pleasant conversation and mood. Josef was physically a very beautiful man, in character he was calm and steady, his voice was mild and pleasant to listen to. The visit ended and they were greeted as friends. Dragan did not give him the photo from the old frame, maybe Dragan forgot about that photo or maybe he was not convinced that the photo belonged to the visitor, nobody knows today.

Then Dragan died and Marija moved to Futog (near Novi Sad) with her son Petar and daughter-in-law Milica (born Derikrava) and two grandchildren Zorica and Dragana. The house in Backi Brestovac was sold. They took some things but the empty frame remained in the attic.

Dragan's granddaughter, Zorica, at the end of February 2018, went back to the attic and searched for her old documents in boxes. Then she saw that old frame. This frame is really nice, she thought. She decided she would renovate it and take it to her apartment in Novi Sad. She had one artistic picture and this frame would be suitable. Then she pulled out an old cardboard and a surprise happened. Between two pieces of cardboard, she saw an old photo of an unknown family. Oh my God, who's in the picture, she wondered.

And so, after 73 years, the photo came out of darkness into the light.

Zorica quickly went home to ask her parents if they knew anything about this photo. Her parents were surprised, they did not know about the photo. Her father Petar told her everything about visiting in 1968. He told her that probably the photo was of the German family who lived in the same house where his father Dragan moved in 1945. However, he forgot the surname of the German family and could not say anything more about them.

Zorica did the same as her grandfather Dragan, she did not destroy the photo, but put it in a new frame and it now stands on the wall of the living room in her apartment in Novi Sad. She often looks at this photo, looking at the four girls who had the same dresses and three beautiful blue-eyed boys dressed in the same clothes. Zorica was thinking about the family from the photo and how these people felt when they realized that they were left without their photo, wondering if they were sad about it, whether they hoped this picture would be part of their life again.

And then a miracle happened, God's will was to solve this enigma. Because just then, Ms. Mary Ann Fischer from the US contacted the members of the Facebook group "Backi Brestovac". She wanted to have a photograph of her great-grandmother Magdalene Lerner Kapp's house, on Marko Oreskovića Street no. 30 (Germ. 30 Dampfmuhl Gasse). We went there and photographed the house.

At the same time, Zorica sent me the photo she found in the old frame. She asked me to help her find out the last name. She had the desire to return it to those to whom it belonged.

I was thinking how to help Zorica for a long time, and then I contacted Ms. Mary Ann. I sent her the photo and thus so we started a two-way search. Mary Ann had created a database "Germany to Backi Brestovac (Brestowatz)“ and I used the same database. The first solution was to find out who lived in the house.

The house is now number 8 on what was Hutweid Gasse at the edge of town. No 8 belonged to Franz Pintz but no one in his family fit the order of people in the photo. In 1970 the house numbers were changed. We knew it was the fourth house but the German map showed Peter Offenbecher there. With the help of the book "Licht und Schatten" we realized that the family of Georg Krebs was actually in the fourth house and Peter Offenbecher was in the fifth house. But Georg Krebs did not have eight children. The next solution was that it was the family Eva Kopschitz Krebs, Georg Krebs wife and Eva was one of 8 children.

Then I was thinking who else could bring this photo into the house, and I realized that it might be Krebs's daughter-in-law, Veronika Engert Krebs. I found all the information about Engert's family and fortunately, everything coincided. After a long wandering and various confusion, the enigma was solved by joint efforts.

In the end I can say that I am satisfied and calm in my soul. Maybe somebody will ask why I was so busy to get to this result when we were on opposite sides in the war years. I simply say: Dragan Vujinovic and his granddaughter Zorica (my niece), are my light. They touched my heart and they are an example of how people should relate to one another.

This photo will soon be returned to those to whom it belongs and I am happy about it. It has also been published on FamilySearch. My message to all people in the world is from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans 12:10. "Love one another with the charity of brotherhood, and take delight in honoring each other.“

PHOTO: Magdalena, Apollonia, Nikolaus Pauli, Anna, Veronika

Jakob, Magdalena Angebrandt, Paul, Josef, Josef