European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

‘Kahsa’ is porridge; everything like mashed potatoes, solid foods.

We only got fish food there, which there was enough of, not much bread, but enough.

After a while, it was still winter, all the Slovenians and also Croatians

and other nationalities were all together according to the nationalities.

Maybe the Slovenians and Croatians were together …

First contact with the Soviet resistance

After some heavy fighting at Dnjepr Petrovski and at Orel in the hinterland of the German fighting line,

I came to the small village of Balakleja.

There I came to stay with a family. The parents had two daughters.

One was my age; the other was two years younger.

I collaborated well with these two. At the time I knew Slovene and a little Serbocroatian.

We had learned some in school. That’s how we communicated.

One morning the mother brought a picture, an icon of the Mother Mary.

I said mother in Russian to her – a little Russian, a little Slovene and a little Serbocroatian – and I asked her why she brings this picture.

I explained that we have such pictures hanging on our walls. She said that her girls and boys were communists.

I knew almost nothing about communism.

Basically because we never learned anything about it or about politics and political parties.

She said at the time you know, mine are komsomoljki. The word komsomolj was foreign to me.

That’s how well we communicated, we worked well together, and we gave food to these girls for their efforts.

Once, the younger girl said Ivo, listen, I have a bomaska for you.