Another Family Day

Yesterday I took the bus from Ljubljana to Logatec to meet Helena, Elka and Katja for a day of exploring family connections. They met me at the bus station and we piled into Katja's minivan and headed to Helena's little house for refreshments and to meet Helena's sons Rok and Luka. They are gorgeous young men and speak great English so we had a nice conversation. Katja's two daughters, Ana and Meta were there, son Martin, and their father, Matej also joined us for a few minutes on his way to help a friend build a house. How are these people related to us? Louise (Lojska) had a sister named Jožefa that remained in Slovenia. Jožefa's son Jakob was Elka and Helena's father. So we are all cousins. One of the things we discussed was that several of us have music in common. Ana and Meta love to sing and Ana plays the piano. Luka plays clarinet and bass and Rok plays guitar. We think the music gene came through Louise's family.

We sat outside on Helena's terrace since it was already very hot by 11:30am. Fortunately there was a stiff breeze to give us a little relief. After some šnaps, cookies, coffee and juice, we cleared the table and piled back in the car and set off to visit another relative in Logatec, Mojca Tomazin. Mojca and her family are relatives on the Urbas side, so while they are related to me, they are not related to Elka and Helena. Fortunately, Elka and Helena are enjoying this discovery of our family heritage as much as I am and are generously helping me turn over as many stones as possible!

We arrived at Mojca's place, a kind of suburban farm setting, on the edge of town. I had been there three years ago and it seemed the same. A large house and two barns creating a central courtyard for parking cars and other outdoor tasks. Inside, we met Mojca and her husband Jože, son Gregor, daughters Mateja and Andreja, and Andreja's husband Kristjan. Kristjan spoke great English, so he gave Katja a break and acted as my translator. Katja has had a bad bronchitis over the past week, and all this driving, talking, translating and mothering of Ana and Meta is really taxing her energy. Anyway, Kristjan helped me understand the discussion that ensued in Mojca's kitchen over the photos of my 1970 visit to Slovenia plus the genealogy notes that Mojca took when her aunt Anica (Andy's niece) died in the mid 90s. As you can imagine, there were more coffee, snacks, wine and šnaps to enjoy with these nice people, too!

Eventually we said our goodbyes and pressed on to the cemetery at Liplje, the village next to Planina. Village is probably too grand a word for Liplje. Louise and her siblings were born in a house there, but the house has been demolished and another one built in its place. Her father Jože was called "the landlord of Liplje" and owned a significant amount of land in the area. Her mother Helena had come from another village nearby, where her father had also been a wealthy landowner, so I think it was a condition of his social class to create a personal empire.

At the cemetery we found the graves of Jožefa, Elka and Helena's grandmother, and Jakob, Elka and Helena's father (and Jožefa's son). We also found the grave of Jožefa and Louise's parents Jože and Helena Milavec, where it identified Jože as "posestnik" (landlord) of Liplje. Finally, we also identified the family plot of the Urbas family. One other thing I learned was that each house commonly had a name at the time our families lived. The Milavec house was called "Andrejčk" and the Urbas house was called "Vičji".

After leaving the cemetery we drove across the valley to the neighboring town of Laze where Elka had been born in a house on the edge of town. This is the house in which Olga and Louise stayed when they visited in the spring of 1971. Elka and Helena both remember Olga and Louise furiously swatting mosquitos during that visit!

I asked Elka and Helena if they recalled Olga and Louise being upset during their visit and at first they said no, they remembered having a joyful reunion. But then I asked if there was any tension over the forest and they recalled that there was some uncomfortable discussion between Olga and Louise and Andrej Kermavner (Jožefa's step-son) over the logging he had done without permission and over possession of the deed to the land. Elka and Helena recalled that this was the point at which Olga and Louise transferred the caretaking of the forest over to Anica Urbas.

Next door to the house that Olga and Louise stayed in, Elka's birth house, is another house/farm built in 1883 that Katja has recently purchased to renovate into a residence and inn. It is situated on a hillside and consists of a house, a barn and a large hayshed, with various little outbuildings such as a pigpen and other farm sheds. The view from the top of the hill is gorgeous and her plans sound very exciting!

We had a picnic lunch in the hayshed at the top of the hill. The breeze was nice and we enjoyed cevapčiči, chicken kebaps, pork cutlets, tomato onion and bell pepper salad, cherries, bread and an incredible potica made with herbs and cream cheese.

After lunch we toured the old house and tried to visit the family house next door, but the owners were not in.

The final event of the day was to drive to Ljubljana and visit Elka and Helena's old auntie, Angela, who is the daughter of one of Jožefa and Louise's other siblings, so Olga's cousin. Angela is now 87 years old but doesn't look a day over 65. She has a beautiful smile and tons of energy. We warned her when we arrived that we had just eaten a big picnic lunch, but that didn't deter her. She proceeded to put out a huge spread of snacks: cold cuts, cheese, bread, olives, beer, wine, homemade šnaps, etc. Her house was as neat as a pin and she clearly had spent time embroidering, knitting and crocheting many of the things in her apartment. Her hands also looked as if she had spent many years gardening. When we asked, she told us about her life as an army wife, traveling all around the former Yugoslavia, raising sons and grandchildren, life as a widow, and - surprise - her 22 months in a Nazi prison camp in the 40s.

In 1942, as a 20 year old single woman, she was taken by the Nazis when it was rumored that she was sympathizing with the resistance. At that time, she was in Grčarevec helping her pregnant sister, and while they didn't take the sister, they took Angela to Ravensbrück. After nearly two years, she was released and went home to her mother, who didn't recognize her due to the malnutrition and starvation, but did recognize her voice. Angela said the Nazis would humiliate and beat the women and many of them were also gassed just before the liberation. Fortunately, Angela made it home and reunited with her family.

So as you can imagine, it was quite a day of stories and memories. I said goodbye to Elka, Helena and Katja, but we agreed that we should visit together more often. I guess that means I will have to come back to Slovenia soon!