The following text is not a historical study. It is a retelling of the witness’s life story based on the memories recorded in the interview. The story was processed by external collaborators of the Memory of Nations. In some cases, the short biography draws on documents made available by the Security Forces Archives, State District Archives, National Archives, or other institutions. These are used merely to complement the witness’s testimony. The referenced pages of such files are saved in the Documents section.

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Marija Šimić (* 1942)

• Marija Šimić was born in Prezid, on March 28, 1942.

• Marija’s family house is set on fire by Fascist soldiers, her family taken to Gonars

• In 1943, Marija and her mother reach Zagreb, where they are helped by a local lady

• Marija’s father dies

• Marija finishes her studies and becomes a teacher of Croatian

FAMILY, THE BIRTH OF MARIJA

Marija Šimić was born in Prezid, on March 28, 1942. Her mother was a farmer and a housewife, while his father was a miner and worked in construction sites all over Yugoslavia. Because of his work, he was close to Prezid, in the village of Kranjci, where he met Marija’s mother. They fell in love and she moved to the region of Lika, where her father was from. While pregnant, Marija’s mother went to visit her parents in Prezid. While she was there, so much snow fell that it became impossible for her to go back. When Marija was born, her mother decided to return to the city of Perušić, in Lika. However, before she could leave, the Italian troops occupied Prezid, and nobody could leave anymore.

THE ITALIAN OCCUPATION

Around the time when Marija was 6 months old, the Fascist soldiers began to persecute the local population more systematically, burning their houses and bringing them to the concentration camps. Marija’s uncle, who was a baker and sent bread to the forest, to help the partisans, was arrested, together with his wife Zora, as they were betrayed by somebody close to them. They were taken to the prison in Čabar, then to Rijeka. Marija’s uncle died on the way to Rijeka and his body was exposed, for people to see what could happen to them if they opposed the Italians.

Also the house of Marija’s grandparents was set on fire. Together with her mother and grandparents, she was taken to the center of the town and then loaded on trucks. They didn’t know where they were going or why.

JOURNEY TO GONARS

Marija and her family were supposed to be taken to Rab, location of the concentration camp Kampor. However, on the way, the column of trucks was stopped and they were told that there was no space in Rab for new internees. For this reason, they were taken to Gonars. In Gonars, despite the harshness of life, the conditions were better then in Rab. From her mother stories’, Marija remember that they lived in wooden barracks and slept on bare planks for bed.

AFTER 1943

With the capitulation of Italy in 1943, all the internees in the camp in Gonars were taken to Rijeka. Marija’s mother continued her journey to Zagreb, as she though it would be easier to go from Zagreb to Perušić, where her father was waiting for them. They were sheltered by the Red Cross at the Zagreb train station. While they were there, a former schoolmate of her mother recognized her, and offered to help them, by accommodating them in her house. The woman, named Dorica, called a doctor to have Marija examined and the doctor told them they could not travel, as the she would not survive the journey. Her recovery took eight months, during which Dorica kept them as members of her family. Unfortunately, during this time, Marija’s father was killed. He had become a partisan guard, and was killed during the liberation of the city of Gospić.

EDUCATION AND WORK

Because of economic difficulties, Marija went to live with her aunt Zora in Prezid, then finished sixth grade of school in Perušić, where her mother lived. After finishing primary school, Marija enrolled in the school for teachers, in Rijeka. As a teacher, Marija was assigned a school in Lika, in a smaller town named Donje Pazarište. Marija taught Croatian language in the seventh and eighth grades. In Donje Pazarište, she also met his husband.

A MESSAGE TO YOUNG PEOPLE

Marija says that her message to young people would be to “ believe in love. I am not ashamed to say, that I was in love and that all forty-three years of marriage I loved my husband very much and he loved me. And that gave me strength and I still live from the beautiful memories of my husband and late son”.