Silvio Lazarić

Getaway across the Adriatic sea -" It was April.. 21st, don´t remember the time, but it was surely the month of April. At home we had one small boat, which we found by the pier in Levanić, and I used it for a fishing. We also had a sailing boat, but I was thinking: “ If I take this boat, then my family won´t be able to go fishing”. I decided to take a small boat for escape. So I sailed away at the sunset. My friends and others saw me. I followed direction to Finance, a meeting point with my two friends for escape: Tilio Lorencin - Jano and Pere Čupić. It was getting dark, with the strong, cold wind blowing. We followed direction to the southern part of the coast for an easier escape. When we came to this area I have heard something like bum bum … it was the engine from the other boat, a police boat. The police was waiting for us. Luckily they didn´t see us. With the shining moonlight, it was very easy to notice us. Maybe, they were sleeping or just, allowed us to go away. After, we passed the Premantura cape with the lighthouse, we were free. During the night we noticed a lights approaching us, again. It was a big ship. We didn´t know where it was sailing to, would the people from this ship pick us up and arrest us or what… At some point we noticed that this ship will sail by us following direction of Trieste. Finally we were free. So, we spent the night on the sea. We were sailing the whole night, and in the morning we were able to see the coast – still ours. - From Trieste? - I was thinking we will come … to Italy in one night, but … we spent another whole day floating at the sea. Still didn´t see any coast. Luckily, the wind bura was blowing and then we knew which direction we have to take."

"It was getting dark and I saw lights on Italian coast. But, we were, still far away from Italy in a rowing boat. The wind was blowing in opposite direction. We were exhausted. Luckily, an Italian fishing boat came and saved us. Fishermen lifted us up, gave us food and place to sleep till next morning. When next morning came we were in Italy. The owner of the ship invited us to his home, he called the police and informed them about us. We spoke Italian with them. There we spent a day, took a bath and … shave and … they gave us a food. The next day fishermen took us to Bologna’s prison. I didn´t care about the prison as long as I was having food and was purely staying alive. In prison there were interesting people, most of them stole a bike so they have been punished for a week or two. We spent two weeks in Bologna prison. From Bologna prison we have been transferred to Fraschette, a small place close to Rome. There we found ustaše (profascist collaborator), četnike and Germans who have been in this camp since the war. During the night, the guards were at the gate watching, if someone wanted to go out to take a fresh air, but stuffed air, but we constantly had to be in closed area. And so the life has gone away."