The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

Pre-war Vishegrad

Vishegrad, my hometown, lies on the Bosnia-Serbia border, where the Drina River serves partly as a natural boundary between the two counties. The name of the river was given to him because its depth, since the word 'drin' in Turkish means 'deep'. The town became famous thanks to Ivo (Ivan) Andrich, the writer who wrote the book "The Bridge on the River Drina" and was awarded the Nobel Prize. Over the years, the bridge, which was built in the Ottoman period, knew flooding and demolition and rebuilding, and through the bridge's story Andrich documented 350 years Yugoslav history, the instinct of destruction and the wonderful ability of restoration of human beings.

The Bridge on the River Drina (taken in 2016)

Andrich and my father, Aaron Altarac, were both born in 1892, and already during elementary school, brave friendships were formed. Their paths did break up as Ivo continued after graduation to high school and earned a degree in literature, while my father, who was an orphan from his father, he had to support his family. But every year on January 14, my father's birthday and the New Year's Eve, Ivo used to come to our home to wish my father a happy birthday and a happy new year. This custom ceased at the outbreak of World War II. My father had a brother named Leon who lived with my grandmother Justina in Vishegrad and a sister named Hannah who lived in Sarajevo, while my mother had three sisters - Bukica, Rebecca and Flora and three brothers - Jakov, Samuel and Salomon. Flora and Jakov were married and lived in Sarajevo. Salomon lived in Sarajevo with my second grandmother Zipporah. Bukica lived in Bijelina, Rebecca lived in Zagreb and Samuel lived in Smederevo. Another brother, Izidor, died before I was born.

As for me, I was called Gizela, )means doe(, but I was never light-footed. I came into the world on June 20, 1927 when I was suffering from rickets disease which damaged my

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