The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

Escape to Montenegro

We stayed in Priboj, that was under the Italian rule, from December 1942 to May 1943. We lived in a building that we rented from the residents of the Muslim village, one room for each of the twenty families we were. When the Italians informed us that they were leaving, we left with them using the trucks they provided us towards south. When we arrived in Bar, the city officer refused to let us stay on the grounds there is no room for all of us, and so only the doctor, Dr. Ovadia, his wife and daughter stayed, while the rest of us crossed Lake Scudder the next day and arrived at Podgorica, where we stayed from May 1943 to February 1944. Officially, the Pope Pius XII gave a written permission, which allowed us to move to Italy together with the Italian army. This is a surprising fact, as the Christian church has been largely avoided denounce the persecution of the Jews or try to protect them in the course of the war. However, we could not take advantage of it because Italy had surrendered on September 8, 1943. At the same time, the German army withdrew from Greece through Albania to the north, and the Germans captured us together with the Italians soldiers. All the men, including the Italian prisoners, were forced to work in paving roads and other drudgery. During this time we continued to live in houses we rented. My father was obliged to attend twice a week and register with the German city officer, and the food was sparsely. Indeed, on February 12, 1944, we were imprisoned in a prison in Podgorica which was used to dangerous criminals such as murderers and robbers, and not for political offenders or opponents of a regime. The place was very crowded and was divided into a men's room and a women's room, both of which have latticework windows. Across the room was a plank, like a low table, that served us a bed without a mattress or sheet, and on this plank there laid - Cilla and me together, and my mother along with Dinah. We laid one blanket on top of the plank and with the other we covered. Occasionally we were taken out to the little yard so we could breathe a bit of air, but most of our time in the place had passed in inaction, so, I spent most of my day with my father in the men's room, where they played mostly cards to pass the time. In Podgorica we were all hungry. Our menu was based mostly about rice that the Italians left behind until we couldn't taste it anymore, and worse, to the rice added spice of fried onion that the Italians also left and which was full of worms, so over the diluted rice dish float worms. This was disgusting, but none of us thought of throwing it away. We would get rid of the worms and eat the repulsive rice that we received. That's how our days went by, and I vowed that if ever going away, I will never touch the rice again.

Podgorica was a favorite target of English bombing, because there were Chetnik Serbs and Germans who fled Albania and then entered to Montenegro. Luckily, the prison walls were

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