Teodor Kovac with his friends

On this photo are my friends and me. We were on summer holiday at the sea side and I am the third in the middle row from the right. The photo was taken in the 1940s.

I was born on 24th April 1923, in Novi Knezevac, which is a fairly small place in Banat. Before the war I attended the school in my birth-place, there were only four grades in elementary school. The 8-year high school I attended here, in Novi Sad. Novi Knezevac is 130 kilometers away from Novi Sad, so it was impossible to travel daily. I lived in Novi Sad at my maternal grandparents'. When the war broke out in Novi Sad [April 1941] I was a graduate; we graduated during the occupation. 

I remember Hitler's rise to power very well, especially the beginning of World War II. I even remember the Spanish Civil War, the Japanese invasion of China and the Anschluss. During the Holocaust I spent a full three years and two months in many camps along with my brother Karlo. Apart from short periods of time we were mainly together. We were arrested together, and released together.