Bonka Davico’s husband Jasa Davico with his family

Bonka Davico’s husband Jasa Davico with his family

This is my husband’s family. From left to right are: the maid Zuza (sitting),his mother Rasela, his father Nisim Davico, and standing behind them are my husband Jasa and his brother Oskar.

The photo was taken in Belgrade in 1924.

My husband Jasha Davico comes from one of the oldest (Sephardi) families in Serbia; there is only one family with that last name.

One of their 19th century ancestors was called Hajim David, family storie tells that prince Milos Obrenovic liked him very much and changed his surname to Davidce, that’s where Davico comes from.

(It is a very old family with many famous members. One of them is Benko Davico, a colonel in the Serbian army who died during the Balkan war and whose wife was Streja Davico.

They had three children; one of the sons was Lui Davico, after whom the ballet school in Belgrade got its name. Many Davicos are famous: two writers, statesmen... All were left-oriented.

My husband had two brothers: Oskar and Mirko. When my husband was 14 his mother died. My father-in-law Jasa was horribly miserable when his wife died.

He was the poorest of all brothers and he didn’t know what to do with the children. My husband’s mother Rachel had four sisters, Nuca, Saruca-Sarah, Rhea, Sophia,. The aunts took the sons into her house.

My husband lived with Luisa, who was Nisim’s brother’s wife.

Oscar lived with Aunt Rhea, and Mirko with Aunt Sarah. (Today) Oskar is one of the most celebrated Serbian poets. Mirko was a famous student and the organizer of student protests in the Faculty of Law.

He was killed in Jasenovac. I had the last cart he sent to my mother, because he was afraid to write to the Davicos.

The card arrived from Jasenovac and it says that he’s not so bad and that he doesn’t know how long he’ll be there. After that he was killed.

Jasha, my husband, was a journalist, he finished Law School. Later he became a legal consultant in a large factory in Pancevo.

I met Nisim, my father-in-law, when my husband and I were already engaged, but in October 1940, Nisim died.

The wedding was already arranged, so we postponed it for a month and were married on the December 1st instead of November.

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