PEOPLE With Big Heart : (friendship without borders - Dr. Miodrag ...

I couldn’t stay in the house. I went outside, to see the
neighbors who began gathering around the house of Branko
Petrovich. Seeing the crowd, he opened his windows
and brought his radio outside, so everyone could hear it.
Every couple of minutes the announcer was reporting about
the bombing of Belgrade. Someone commented that
Belgrade was being bombed for so long because of its reputation
as an open, liberal city. People around the window
and on the street were restless and clearly worried.
Jewish friends among us, mostly young men, kept going
in and out of their compound in the mill. People were quiet,
grave, and somber. Some time around noon, the
crowds started dispersing. Soon, there was not a living
soul on the streets. Around dusk, almost all those people,
entire families, started leaving the city seeking the safety
with friends and relatives in the rural surroundings of the
town. I was surprised to see some men from the mill leave
as well. Asked where they were going, they answered
that they decided to join our Royal Army, and share their
faith, whatever befell them. My father, also, insisted that
my mother and I leave, and we did so.
Later on, mother and I agreed that we would regularly
return to check the house. We decided that I should complete
that task first. I’ll never forget my first return visit on
April 13 th , 1941. As soon as I entered the city limits, I could
see the Germans on their motorcycles, green uniforms
and helmets, swarming around. I was petrified even to look
at them; I just kept walking, looking down into my feet,
aiming straight for the center of the city. There was not
one single person I knew on the street. The noise German
motorcycles made deafened me. The store windows of the
old shoe store “Minyon”, right next to the “Paris” tavern
were smashed into bits. I was scared out of my wits. “This
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