The Polzer Family Share Their Experiences and Memories

In 1909, in the town of Jabuka, (Yabuka), meaning “apple” Yugoslavia, (then known as the Austrian-Hungarian Empire), in the province of Banat, Josef Polzer, our Father, was born to Anton and Franziska Polzer.

Jabuka is a village in the District of South Banat, about 30 km north-east of Belgrade, the capital city of former Yugoslavia, now called Serbia.  Jabuka is located on a flat and fertile plain with the River Tamis (Tamish) about two kilometers west of it which runs into the Danube River just past the city of Pancevo (Panchevo) about 30 km South of Jabuka.   At the time our Father Josef was born, Jabuka had a population of about 3,000 which were mostly Ethnic Germans, (Volksdeutsche) also known as Donauschwaben, with a few Romanians.

In the year 2011 Jabuka had 6181 inhabitants, with the highest percentage being ethnic Macedonians.  It is now unofficially known as a settlement in Serbia. History tells us that the German colonization of Jabuka and several other towns and villages in Yugoslavia was carried out in the middle of the 18^th century by Maria Theresa, Arch Duchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary.  The Germans in Yugoslavia developed their own distinct culture and dialect.

When our Father Josef was 2 years old, his mother got sick and shortly afterwards died.  Grandfather Anton had a big farm and a 2-year-old son to take care of, so little Josef spent a lot of time at his aunt’s house, his Father’s sister, until his Father remarried.  The step-mother Barbara was a 17-year-old girl from across the street.  Barbara was very hard on the little boy while he was growing up.  Barbara and Anton had a little girl, but she died soon after her birth.

Anton and Barbara were of the Roman Catholic faith and so when Josef was old enough he became an altar boy for a time.

Anton had a lot of land and work was hard in those days—done by hand and horse. Those were still the “horse and buggy days” in Banat. When Josef was old enough to work, he and his Father got up every morning at 4:00 a.m. and got ready to go to work by horse and wagon to their land outside of their village.

Then the time came when Josef began to drink on the weekends with his friends at the pub and sometimes he would stay out most of the night, but that did not make any difference to his Father.  On Monday morning it was still time to get up very early and get ready for work.

When Josef was about to turn 19 years old, his father said, “Josef, in one year you will have to go to the army for 2 years, and I think you should look for a wife so we have someone to work in your place, while you are gone.”

Now in their town lived a lady named Theresia Janko and her three children.  She had lost her first husband, Michael Dittrich, at the Russian Front in the First World War.  Mrs. Janko was left with her two daughters and one son—Helen, Theresia and Wendel.  Theresia was the youngest.  Mrs. Janko had remarried a man named Johan Janko.  He had vineyards and sold grapes and wine. Mrs. Janko was the seamstress of the town.  As the children grew older, they had to work in the city of Belgrade.  The girls would come home on weekends, but Helen soon married, and her brother Wendel was busy learning the profession of furniture making.

Josef had had his eyes on Theresia for a while. Soon he decided to go see Theresia’s mother, Mrs. Janko, and ask for Theresia’s hand in marriage.  Mrs. Janko told Josef that it was out of the question since she knew that he drank too much on weekends and she would not allow her daughter to marry him.  Josef asked, “If I promise to quit, may I come back?”  Her response was, “I need to see that first.”  Josef then and there decided to give up drinking because he was in love with Theresia.  Theresia stayed in Belgrade as a nanny with a nice family and worked to earn some money for herself. She was 16 years old when Josef came to ask for her hand again.  This time he got the OK.  They were married when Theresia was 17 and Josef 20 years old.  They then moved in with Josef’s parents, since he was the only son, and in those days the custom was to live in the family home.

When the time came for Josef to go to the army, Theresia was pregnant with their first child.  She continued to live with her in-laws, helping in the fields, and after the baby was born, she, of course, also took care of their little baby girl Franziska, named after the baby’s grandmother, Josef’s birth mother.  Josef was in the army for two years. When he returned, he was not happy to hear from his wife how she had had such a hard time taking his place, working in the fields all day and caring for their baby as well.  They then decided to leave Jabuka and move to Belgrade, about 30 km south-west of Jabuka, where Josef found work in a textile factory making fabric and Theresia worked as a nanny. During that time, the baby girl, little Franziska got very sick with pneumonia and died.

In 1932, they had another baby named Maria (nicknamed Rici).  Since their first baby had died in the city, Josef and Theresia decided not to keep their little Maria with them in Belgrade but spoke with Josef’s aunt in the village, and she offered to take care of their daughter for them in Jabuka. This aunt was Josef’s father’s sister, the one who had cared for Josef when he was little.  So they took Maria to the village, and went to see her every weekend at her great aunt’s.

One winter day, Josef went home to Jabuka to see their little girl.  It was December and pig slaughtering time.  Many in the village were busy in their yard with this work with big fires and iron kettles.  Little Rici was also outside, but did not have warm shoes or boots on; her feet were cold, red and blue.  When she saw her father, she began crying.  He asked his aunt why Rici was out in the cold and she replied that she had just been out a few minutes and she would be OK.  Rici had a runny nose and a cough.  Josef took her into the house to warm her up.  Josef stayed in Jabuka the rest of the weekend and then travelled back to Belgrade.  Two weeks later, they received a message to come back.  Rici was very sick.  They returned to the village, but little Rici had pneumonia and died.

Rici’s death was a very big blow to Theresia and Josef.  Josef’s father was always begging them to come home. It was not acceptable in the community that a farmer like Anton Polzer, who had an only son did not have his son live with him in his home.  Anton always said, “You are my only son, and all I have is yours.” So after a while, Josef and Theresia packed up to go home.  Now again Josef and his father were out in the field at 4:00 a.m. together with 10 to 12 hired help while Theresia and her mother-in-law Barbara prepared breakfast and lunch and took the meals to the field for the men.  After a time, living together did not work out, so Josef and Theresia decided to move back to Belgrade.  By now, Josef knew the only way he was going to make it as a farmer was to have his own money and buy land for himself.  This was in the mid-1930s.

Theresia became very sick with scarlet fever which people died from in those days.  She was in the hospital, and they did not know whether she would recover.  During this time, Josef took a trip to Jabuka.  This took one hour by ferry, crossing the Danube River, and one hour walking.  He was sitting on the ferry with his head down on the table, very discouraged, when someone touched him on the shoulder and said, “Friend, you look like you have the world on your shoulders.”  Josef said, “I have lost two children and my wife is sick.  She probably is not going to make it.  God does not hear my prayers.  I have nothing to live for.”  That man was Elder Schleicher, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  The two talked for the one hour on the ferry ride.  Elder Schleicher gave Josef his address and suggested that he read the Bible.  Josef was Roman Catholic, and in those days Roman Catholics believed that it was a sin to read the Bible, so he did not own a Bible.

Theresia did recover and one day a colporteur came to the door where she worked as a nanny and housekeeper.  The colporteur was Saveta, Br. Branko Cholich’s sister.  She was selling books and Theresia said, “I don’t read religious books, but my husband started to read the Bible.”  So, Theresia got him the book, Steps to Christ, and that was the beginning of Bible studies.  Josef became very interested in the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Church, but Theresia was going to “live a Catholic and die a Catholic.” (Josef never looked up Pastor Schleicher and had no contact with him until 1956 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada).

In 1937 Josef and Theresia had a baby girl and named her Theresa. By the time she was two years old, both Father and Mother were baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Reform Church.  Having all this new light and truth, Father was ready to go home and witness to his family.  Well, he was in for a surprise.  Grandfather Anton told him because he had a new religion, he would not inherit from him, but only what his mother had left him.  Anton said he no longer had a son.  Father’s aunt was kind though.  He could read from the Bible, and she listened to him.  Every year, at Christmas time he had the chance to read to her the Christmas story and prophecies from the Old Testament that pointed to Christ’s first and second coming.

As time went by, Father and Mother bought a house and some land. They did a lot of small gardening and took the produce to the market to sell.  By this time, it was 1940.  At that time the Reform Church was looking for someone to take care of their house, garden and vineyard in Belgrade, on the other side of the Danube River.  Father, wanting to help the church, took the job and so he and our Mother moved into the mission house where Br. Ziva Janac who was the leader at that time lived with his wife and three daughters, Nada, Vera, Melanie, and their German Shepherd Pluto. While working in Belgrade, our Mother went to Jabuka for a visit and while there, she gave birth to another baby girl calling her Barbara.

World War II was in progress at that time. In the spring of 1941 Germany began the invasion of Yugoslavia by launching a massive air assault on Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia.  The primary aim of their air attack was to cripple the government, morale, air force, and anti-aircraft defenses.  Yugoslavia had very little hope of resisting the air attacks mainly because most of the countries bordering Yugoslavia had formed an alliance with Germany and several of these countries also launched attacks on Yugoslavia.  This invasion took less than two weeks, but it was not the end yet.

The German army had invaded the country and all men had to go to the army.  Our Father was also called, but he, of course, did not want to carry a gun or wear the uniform.  Because of this, he was many times called to hearings and interrogations.  The Germans always thought that he was a Jehovah’s Witness, whom Hitler had ordered all killed. Our Father told us, “These are troublesome times and we need to pray three times a day.” So, we had worship three times daily. Yugoslavia was occupied by the Germans until they lost the War in 1945.

In 1943 Mother had another baby girl, naming her Franziska.

One day when Theresa, our oldest sister, was about 5 or 6 years old, our Father had to go to a place about 13 km away.  Theresa sat on the front bar of his bicycle and away they went. Suddenly Father saw some papers on the road.  He stopped and said, “Theresa, run back and bring me that roll of paper.”  Theresa got the items for him and when he looked it over; he found some IDs—false passports. One was French, one was English and the third was Yugoslavian (Serbian).  The name in the passports was Peter Cosic—pronounced (Chosich).

On the way back home, Father stopped at Toma Buneta’s house and asked if he knew this Mr. Cosic, but he said he did not.  But Father left the passports with Toma anyway, and asked him to give them to Peter, should he see him. Toma Buneta then asked Father who he was and Father replied, “I am Josef Polzer, the Sabbath-keeper.”  Toma said, “You know, if someone else had found these documents, Peter would be shot tomorrow.”

Time passed and one day Father had to cross the River Tamis (Tamish) which was about 5 km east of Jabuka. The ferry was on the other side, but there was a canoe with a man in it getting ready to cross the river.  Father asked the man, “Can you take me with you?”  Then he recognized the man—it was Peter Cosic.  They had a long talk, and Peter was so glad to meet Father.  Peter was a spy for the Partisans (Rebels).

The German army was already losing the war in Russia. There were several villages and towns for several miles towards the city of Zrenjanin about 65 km north of Jabuka, where Jewish families lived.  The German army went to collect these people; old, young, women and children and brought them to a certain fenced-in area where they executed them. The machine guns could be heard in Jabuka.  Bombing was going on every day. The English and U.S. bombers flew over on the way to Romania to bomb the oil fields; they also bombed the bridges and Belgrade.

One day, Mother and Father went to the market in Pancevo, early in the morning, about 12 to 15 km away, to sell their produce, and left us three children alone at home.  Then suddenly we woke up when the planes flew over our house.  The windows and everything were rattling; we were so afraid.   We jumped out of bed, and ran into an underground shelter in the garden.  This shelter was large enough so that all the family could fit in.  We were terrified and stayed there for hours while the planes came and went overhead.  The German planes were flying low to see what damage the bombers had done.  When Mother and Father returned home, they found their girls’ clothes in the house, but the girls were missing.  The neighbour had not seen us that morning.  Finally, we heard our parent’s calls and came out from our hiding place.  Needless to say, everyone was so happy and relieved, but it had been very scary for all of us.

Most of the men from our village had to serve as SS in Bosnia in the forests and mountains which were full of Partisans who got support from the English.  The English dropped supplies out of their planes, so the communists had a lot of ammunition.  Most of the men which served in the SS died in Bosnia including our Uncle Karl and Uncle Wendel and some of our Father’s cousins.

During the later stages of World War II many Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia fled into Austria or Germany. As the Russians came closer, they loaded their wagons and took their families out of Yugoslavia. Aunt Helen, our Mother’s sister came to our Father and begged him to load his wagon so that she and her 16-year old daughter Barbel and our Mother, Father and us children could go to Germany. Father did not want to leave everything behind; so we stayed.  Not sure when, but our aunt Helen,  Barbel and our Grandma Polzer  (our Father’s Step-mother)  did leave Yugoslavia before the war ended and found a home in Austria.

The fighting came closer and closer; grenades were flying over the village, hitting houses and killing people every day.  At night our feather comforters were put in the windows to make it dark and all lights had to be out all the time.

Then one Sabbath afternoon, the Russian tanks arrived in our village.  They drove their jeeps and trucks into the yard and demanded food.  They commanded our Mother and Father to get their pigs, kill them and prepare them dinner.  Our parents explained to the officer that they were vegetarians and Sabbath-keepers and had no animals to kill nor did they have wine.  Since most people in the village did not speak the Yugoslavian language they had a hard time communicating with the army.  Mother and Father however did speak Serbian because they had lived and worked in Belgrade.  The officer then looked over the house and saw the Ten Commandments in a frame written in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet, and he could read them.  So, after some time, he said to his soldiers, “Let’s go to another house,” and they left.

On other days, we had a house full of soldiers, but they did not take our beds.  Instead, they put straw on the kitchen floor and slept there.  One day an officer said to Theresa,” I have a girl like you at home.”  Father asked him when he would see his child again.  He replied that he did not know because they were on their way to Berlin.

After some time, the Communists took over the government.  Now all the older men who had not joined the German army during the war, including our Father with his horses and wagon, were gathered and taken out of town to work for the Yugoslavian army.  So every Friday Father had trouble to get off to go home for the Sabbath.  If anyone had seen him coming home, the police would come on Sabbath to get him because they needed his wagon to transport goods to another village or town.  But God was good, and Father somehow got out of it because someone always came and said, “Let him off today, he can do it on Sunday.”  The good Lord was looking after him.

One morning, in 1945, when the war was over, the soldiers went through our town and arrested many German men; among them was our grandfather Anton (our Dad’s Father).  The officer told them that they were needed at the railroad station to unload some railcars.  None of them were seen again. Villages were wiped out in retribution for the atrocities of the Nazi regime.  As justification for their actions to eliminate the German minority in Yugoslavia, the Partisans applied the principle of collective guilt to the German Ethnic group.

The Yugoslavian government decided to put all of the German people of Yugoslavia into concentration camps.  Soon one day at 4:00 a.m. the army knocked on our door and said, “We will give you 10 minutes to take what you can.  Leave the rest.” Mother and Father had us three little girls to dress.  Mother asked, “Are we coming back?” to which the soldiers replied, “No.” Mother told Father to pack as much of the girls’ clothes as he could.  She took some bread and milk, and then time was up.  We were put in a wagon pulled by horses.  They closed half of our village Jabuka off with barbed wire, put a gate, and placed a guard there; that is where everyone was brought to live.  No one could get in or out.  Most of the people were elderly or mothers with children.  All the younger ones and those who were able to work were taken to a different location to work for the government.  As soon as we left the house, a seal was put on our door that said, “Government Property.”

Compiled by Franziska Pedersen

TO BE CONTINUED