Ruzica and Branislava Zoric, Sofija’s daughters

Photo of my daughters Ruzica and Branislava, taken in Belgrade (1942).

I had my first daughter, Radmila, when we lived at 14 Francuska Street, on 10 September 1935 - my husband's birthday. I gave birth at home. In those days, you could give birth at home because the midwives and doctors who took care of me were good. My second daughter, Ruzica, was born on 24 November 1937. The same midwife and doctor helped me. I did not go to the hospital because I was delicate, but I liked that they were around me and that they made it possible for me to give birth at home. The children were born healthy, they progressed, but in 1941 the war broke out.

We lived at 1 Zelena Venac in the Serbian Doctor's Society building, then we moved to Zahumska Street, I think number 37, when the war broke out. In 1942, I gave birth to my third daughter, Brankica, with an unknown midwife. A neighbor helped me by going to get her, she knew the woman. I gave birth very quickly, without complications, as if God himself knew that he needed to help me. The child was born healthy.