Marko Pilepić

„Your 13th birthday in 1953“ „Yes.“ „You were saying about four boys, young men who were...“ „Yes, it was Skorija with ???, father worked he was a fatim, the who wears, very nice family. He was, his sister, and one more, this Skorija, who is now (?) I heard he is a coach, or he was a coach, he lives...I think he lives in Borikini.“ „In Raveki polji.“ „Yes, there I heard, I was questioning around. His brother was killed at sea. Škorija, Apat from the barracks, there were three (?), one was without a leg, the other was murdered, at sea, and then Pino, who lived in Ribarska, his brother, Pino's brother was killed, he was ill, he had leukemia, he was killed i, what was his name...Kalčić! Kalčić..plenty of brothers. His brother, who is alive, they still habe brothers here, he said that there were six of them and I knew for four of them, and he said there were six..and I dont know who were those two.“ „How did they escaped?“ „With a boat.“ „From where?“ „From Stoja. That's why I was paddled for them. They invited me to steal the paddles because I was little they managed to push me through a small window, I passed them paddles through it.I was supposed to go with them but they tricked me. One morning...the day after, I heard a soldier talking to other soldier how they've killed some people. I didn't know back then what was it all about but later it came out. This man, this soldier, took our ID's, put them in a boat and unleashed his machine gun on them.“ „Where was that?“ „Out in the sea.“ „Nobody know where it was?“ „From Stoja, probably couple of miles away.“ „Couple of miles outside...“ „Yes...couple of miles outside. Everybody knows that, I was talking with some soldiers who are now retired and I tried to get some information. He said they were shot while drinking coffee (?), no no, they were killed at sea. Nobody ever found them. There were more cases like this.“ „Where did you hear that?“ „Here, in Ribarska street.“ „In the porter ouse or outside.“ „No no, on the road two men were talking. There were pomikaki. You know what is pomikaki?“ „Yes, yes, yes.“ „I was at the pomikaki tree, eating, they couldn't see me, and I could hear them talking about it. Pino was standing right there, whos brother was killed. They even knew names of those killed people. I've heard two names, Apat, nobody liked Apat, a king of the barracks, they were Magyars. They've been living here for generations. It was him and the other one, Kalčić. For those two.“ „That was on your birthday, on the 6th...? „That happened on October 6th 1953.“

„Your escapes, how many timed have you tried?“ „Two times.“ „Can you tell us about the first and seconf escape'“ „First time I was very young. Actually it was three times. First time I was caught at Monte Grando.“ „At Monte Grando?“ „Yes. There was a group of us wanting to escape to Italy, and we arrived at Monte Grando, later two of them went to buy bread and ham, we were supposed to go forward later..When we have arrived at Monte Grando, agents of UDBA were waiting for us.“ „Where at Monte Grando?“ „At the gas station.“ „There were a gas station in those times?“ „No, no it was all deserted. Only a porterhouse little to the left.“ „What was it's name?“ „I can't remember. I know that porterhouse exists today, but modernized.“ „A yes it's Turković, actually „At Sonja's“ porterhouse.“ „That's right.“ „Yes, yes.“ „There UDBA was waiting for us, they were taken into car, a I was taken into the forrest by this cop, this UDBA agent. He put a gun on my back pushing me deep into the forrest, I saw my mom and dad..no dad, but whole my family flashed through my eyes. I thought he is going to kill me, that it's all over. He pushed me with his gun. He said: „Where did you tried to go?“ I was scared...I said across the border. „Mother of yours, go home!“ I was so happy that he didn't killed me.“ „When did that happened?“ „That was...how old was I?! I was probably 11 years old, something like that.“ „So in 1951.“ „That's right.“ „And if you came in 1952 from Rovinj to Pula?“ „In 1952, I arrived from Rovinj to Pula so that was later in 1952 or 1952.“ „So in 1953...you were a complete crew?“ „There were several of us, at least four or five of us...young, all kids. That was the first time. The second tme I was with a Montenegrin, we aboarded a train and arrive in Divača, and in Divača we were discovered so we escaped into the woods I came near Škufija, a village, where we were captured.“ „Škofije? You've said Sežana a little earlier.“ „Škofije, Škofije.“ „Škofije. Why did you hid in a train?“ „Yes, we hid in a cargo wagon, there was one of that kind.“ „Aha.“ „So we entered.“ „How have you met this Montenegrin?Has he lived here?“ „He lived near the citadel, his family arrived from Monenegro, there were a lot of children, a she was accompanied by an Italian who was, I think, a prisoner of war during Italian administration. They've all escaped, the whole family. The were succesfull. I have never seen them anymore.“ „And the third time?“ „The third time I was succesfull.“ „Can you tell us about that?“ „My friend and I...he didn't want to go in the army. He asked me how about we try to escape..I wasn't feeling here...I returned from the army so I wasn't able to find a job, a lot of paperwork, a lot of a** kissing, I was very bored with that so I said: „I am going across the border.“ He said. „Let's go.“ „I'm sorry, but when have you returned from the military?What year?“ „In 1963.“ „1963, so you were 23 years old.“ „Yes.“ „Were you stationed at Kornati?“ „No, no. I was in Banja Luka.“ „In Banja Luka...“ „Yes...“ „That's where the tank drivers were?“ „I was in artillery.“ „Artillery..you have returned and decided to run away?“ „Yes...“ „Can you tell us what season was it, how did you planned it...? „It was this time of the season. It was this season when I met his friend and got the call for the military. I was supposed to go to the military...I said that we have to go across the border. I was going by bus from here to Kopar.“ „What kind of bus?“ „A regular bus.“ „Name of the firm'“ „I can't remember.“ „You were going from the old bus station?“ „Yes, from the old bus station.“ „We arrived in Kopar, came down and continued on foot. We were going, I could orientate myself easily beacuse I was in the military Inknw how to do that, and we were going at night, so we were watching the sunset. We arrived in Škofije, again, there on the cemetery we waited for the whole day and night.“ „Athe cemetery in Škofije?“ „Yes.“ „Maybe you were suspects?“ „Nobody saw us. There was nobody at the cemetery. When someone would come we would hide, we would wait on a hill. Whole of Škofije were under the hill. We waited for night to come and as it come so did the big rainy clouds right from Italy. I said to my friend that it's best to go when the clouds come near the coast. So we made our move, it was raining hard, we couldn't see anything. We arrived right in the middle of tana. I took a look and could see houses and a soldier running. I said: „My God where have we arrived!?“ We were lucky, I could see it when we crossed the border. It was clear, a big place, it was clear, no trees no bushes. That's we managed to escape. „You escaped to Trieste.“ „Trieste, yes.“