FROM THE NATIONAL HOLOCAUST MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, D.C.Z
Dejan Dusan Popovic
born March 1, 1897
Dejan was one of nine children born to well-to-do Serbian Orthodox parents in a town in the Croatian part of Yugoslavia. In 1916 he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army, but he deserted and joined the Serbian army. Dejan graduated from medical school in 1923 and opened a practice in Belgrade. In 1926 he married a wealthy Serb woman from Jasenovac. The couple had no children.
1933-39: Dejan had a successful obstetrics-gynecology practice in Belgrade. He and his wife were prosperous and had an active social life. Dejan traveled frequently, often to Paris and Switzerland. He loved trout fishing and his favorite streams were in the rugged highlands of Bosnia. When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, Yugoslavia declared itself neutral.
1940-42: Ten days after Yugoslavia's pro-German leaders were overthrown by Serbian army officers, German planes bombed Belgrade. On April 6, 1941, Germany invaded Yugoslavia. Dejan fled to the remote Bosnian region of Govza, familiar to him from his fishing trips. He sought safety with the Muslim inhabitants, but was turned over to a unit of the thirteenth Waffen SS "Handschar" Division composed predominantly of Muslim Yugoslavs. Dejan's legs and hands were broken, his eyes gouged, and he was skinned alive.
On August 2, 1943, Dejan, barely alive, was hanged in Govza by Muslim soldiers from the SS "Handschar" division. Dejan was 46 years old.
Cedomir Milan Sorak
Born Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
July 20, 1920
Cedomir was the oldest of five children born to Serbian Orthodox parents. The Soraks lived in the multi-ethnic city of Sarajevo, the capital of the region of Bosnia. Cedomir's father, Milan, was an engineer employed by the Yugoslav state railways, and his Hungarian-born mother, Andjelija, was a housewife.
1933-39: The Sorak family moved to Zagreb after Cedomir's father was promoted to the position of assistant director of the rail system in the region of Croatia. He graduated from secondary school in 1938 and enrolled in the University of Zagreb's veterinary school. Cedomir liked the big city and had a Croatian girlfriend.
1940-41: On April 6, 1941, when the Germans invaded Yugoslavia, Cedomir volunteered for the Yugoslav army. Four days later the Germans entered Zagreb. Croatian fascists came to power and began a campaign against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. On April 27, as Cedomir was returning home from his girlfriend's house, he was rounded up by the Croatian police and incarcerated in the Petrinjska Street prison. He was sent to Koprivnica, Gospic and Jadovno, Croatian-run concentration camps in the south.
In Jadovno, Cedomir was in a large group of prisoners who were chained together, brought to a deep pit outside the camp, bashed with sledge hammers, and then pushed into the pit.
Born Vrbovsko, Yugoslavia
September 16, 1886
The oldest of five children, Nikola was born in a small village in the Croatian part of Yugoslavia. Like his parents, Nikola was baptized in the Serbian Orthodox faith. After receiving his medical degree from Prague University, he married, and in 1912 moved with his wife to Serbia. During World War I he served in the Serbian army, and then settled in Novi Sad where he co-owned a medical clinic.
1933-39: Nikola and his wife raised three children in Novi Sad. Then difficult times brought on by the 1930s economic depression forced Nikola to close his medical clinic. The Mrvos family moved to the Croatian city of Zagreb, where Nikola found employment as the director of medical services for Yugoslavia's newly established health insurance administration.
1940-41: The Germans invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. Four days later, they entered Zagreb and Croatian fascists came to power. Because of anti-Serb discrimination, Nikola was arrested by Croatian fascists on April 12 and imprisoned in Kerestinec Castle outside Zagreb. During the night of July 13, some communist prisoners escaped. As a result, the police closed the prison down and transferred the prisoners to a Croatian concentration camp in the south in Gospic. Shortly after, they were transferred to a camp at Jadovno.
In August 1941 in Jadovno, Croatian fascists killed Nikola and threw his body into a limestone cave along with those of hundreds of murdered Serbs, Jews and communists.