European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

They said that I was mobilized into the German army. I even said so myself.

But I wondered how these strangers could know.

One of the soldiers said to me, actually he was a civilian, to show my bombaska.

How is one to know? …foreign people, strangers …

So I pulled it out of the pocket of my German uniform, up here on the left side we had a pocket,

and I took the paper out and handed it over.

The leader said votja, charasho, meaning thank you that I gave him the paper.

They took my horses there, when I was surrounded;

and I was made to taste some food, to test whether it was really edible.

I don’t know if later they ate that food or not.

They chased me three or four kilometers away.

But even before I was taken prisoner, the watch was taken off my hand.

I remember thinking how it made no difference.

When they caught me, they took me to the village called Balakleja and they locked me up in a hen coop.

Perhaps it was two by two meters, or one by one.

I just know that I was locked up for an eternity, at least it seemed that way.

I don’t know whether it was afternoon or the next day, but two soldiers came in and asked me if I’m German or not.

No, I’m not, I’m Yugoslavian.

They knew nothing of any Yugoslavians.

They tied me up with some wire and shoved me to some headquarters.