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Viktor Brenko Traces his Roots to Istria  Viktor
Brenko, who has been living in the Russian city of Novgorod near Sankt
Petersburg, has at the age of 73 managed to trace close relatives in Istria
and the birthplace of his father. His now deceased father Mate had
left the Pazin area at the start of WW I and no one had ever heard anything
about him since. He was not allowed to return home and had died in Russia,
but his son has finally managed to fulfil the promise he made to his father.
His father was a prisoner between 1915 and 1978. A total of 58
years in captivity! First as a POW and then a Russian detainee, as he could not
leave Russia. He was not provided with the necessary documents. However in 1940
all the documents were secured and the family could set off, but then WW II
began. We remained in Russia's Smoljen region near until 1946. Father filed for
documents once again. We sold our last cow to pay for the trip to Moscow. But
then the discussion between Tito and Stalin took place. Stalin tried to force
Tito to build Yugoslavia in the image of the Soviet Union a dictate Tito
disobeyed. Stalin told his father not to show his face again.
Mate Brenko died in 1973 at the age of 80 and was buried in
the Smoljen region. Viktor's father while he was alive told him to go visit the
place where he was born. Viktor had found the Croatian Embassy in Moscow some 10
years ago and asked of the officials to help him trace his father's homeland.
Together with the officials Brenko searched the map and found Pazin and the area
some 100 kilometres from Trieste where his father told him was the place he
originated from. Some 10 days later the Croatian Embassy officials phoned him
with the address of his relatives. Viktor found them all, a total of four first
cousins and an older sister who remembers their father. This was crucial! The
next day I phoned Croatia and I got through, says Brenko.
This is Brenko's second visit to Croatia. A year ago he
arrived for a short stay, but a month ago he came over at the invitation of his
cousin Stanko. We shot this report just a night before Viktor was to head off
for Russia by train. Viktor had only praise for the way he had been treated at
his cousins' homes: he stayed with Jolanda, Dita and also met with Rikardo, then
Lidija's son etc. We need to have feelings in our soul, says Viktor, and
sometimes we forget about our roots, our blood. Viktor says he is even ready to
remain in Croatia and to be buried there, this being his wish, since his father
could not have it granted. Brenko had a wife and two sons in Russia. He says he
will come back for a visit as soon as he can. He is happy that he had fulfilled
the promise he had given to his father and traced his relatives and in a way
symbolically closed a circle of life.
Reprinted from:
- Croatian RadioTelevisions / Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT Web), Croats
around the World / Hrvati u svijetu - Viktor Brenko (English
& Hrvatski).
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