This picture of me was taken in Banja Luka in 1939.
At the time this picture was taken I was a student in the fourth grade of the gymnasium. The Numerus Klauza law was already in effect and it limited schooling for Jews. The law was especially rigorous towards those students who wanted to enroll in the higher grades of the gymnasium. The director of my gymnasium, at the teacher's board meeting, tried to have me thrown out of the school. But the psychics professor Mrs. Kosovka, the literature professor Mr. Djurovic and the geography professor were all against his decision. Their argument was: If we must throw someone out, better it be someone from the lower grades, a younger student who has time, so let's say he can transfer to a trade rather than me who is already near the end. Thanks to them they did not throw me out of the gymnasium.
Unfortunately, not all the professors were friendly. The history professor Miskovic especially maltreated me. Despite the fact that I knew history well, he would say that I was a Jew and I was unable to know the history of other peoples. During the classes one of the students rejoiced when the professor harassed me, but there were also those who protested.
I would cry after a class when I was humiliated, but then my school friends Sava Popovic, Joca Stefanovic and Makivic Milan consoled me while saying: 'Don't give in to him, hold your head up high, proudly, high, you are not going to let one fascist make you suffer.'
