Book on the Righteous - Jevrejska opština Zemun

Righteous Among The Nations - Serbia
Stories About The Righteous
Stanko’s daughter or house maid, they let her be. Irrespective
of whatever the Gestapo might have thought
of her, she immediately packed and left Belgrade. She
went as far as the Ribarska Banja spa to stay with her
aunt Edita and her son. They had fled to the spa to avoid
being arrested by the Fascists.
When in February 1942 the Red Army dealt an irreparable
blow to the Axis Forces at Stalingrad, a victory
that anticipated the downfall of Nazi Germany, Vera celebrated
the event in the company of her aunt’s friends. A
fine young boy of seventeen was also among the party.
Love at first sight resulted in a stroll round Ribarska
Banja. Pointing to a church, the boy told her they would
be married there once the war was over. Suddenly, there
was a lump in Vera’s throat, but she kept quiet about her
Jewish origin and the fact that she could not get married
in an Orthodox church. Nevertheless, Vera went
back to Belgrade to the Jovanović household in high
spirits. She exchanged a few letters with the boy and
when in due course she went to Ribarska Banja to visit
her aunt again, she learned that her boyfriend had joined
the Partisans. Back in Belgrade she waited to hear from
him, but there were no more letters. Her sweetheart was
killed in a battle with the enemy.
From time to time Stanko Jovanović paid visits to Niška
Banja. He helped Eugenia to find employment again.
Eugenia was aware that his visits were connected with
helping Jews in hiding in Niš and its neighbourhood
although no name was ever mentioned in front of her.
Stanko knew that if apprehended, those who had information
about names and the whereabouts of hiding
places were a potential threat to all. Eugenia began to
work in a restaurant where she toiled from 6 a.m. to
midnight. It was hard for her to spend the whole day
on her feet and then have to pass by the graveyard on
her way home. She knew not whom she feared most:
the dead buried in the graveyard or the live guests who
frequented the restaurant, where someone unwelcome
could walk in any time and recognize her.
At the beginning of 1944, Stanko was arrested for the
last time and deported to the Banjica camp. When the
Allies bombarded Belgrade in April 1944, Stanko was
still in camp. A bomb fell in front of the Jovanović
house. Taking her children and Vera with her, Ljubinka
left their home and sought shelter in the villages surrounding
Belgrade. Vera did not want to be a burden to
Ljubinka and decided to go and join her mother in Niška
Banja.
It was a time when the Allies ceaselessly bombarded
military and strategic targets in Serbia. When in September
1944 Niš and its surroundings were targeted,
Eugenia and Vera had no place left to go and hide. Like
many others they fled into the open fields and hoped that
they would live through the assaults. Mother and daughter
succeeded. Niš was liberated on October 14 th , 1944.
Sometime round the end of 1944, after Belgrade was
liberated, Eugenia started off for home. With their
apartment demolished by bombs, it was an ill-fated
homecoming. Once again she was homeless. She went
to stay with a relative and when Vera returned to Belgrade,
Stanko and Ljubinka came to their rescue for the
hundredth time. They gave them a room in their house.
Soon the Jovanovićs began to take in other Jews who
were in the process of leaving for Israel. When the time
came for them to resettle into Israel in 1949, Eugenia
and Vera parted with the Jovanovićs as they would have
from their closest family.
Ljubinka and Stanko Jovanović
both awarded a Righteous among Nations
in 1967
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