NEDJELJA, 30.04.1944. - INTERVJU S DANICOM MALJAVAC
Events From 4/30/1944 - An Interview With Danica Maljavac
Po Vašem mišljenju, zašto je neprijatelj izabrao upravo Lipu?
Većina stanovnika Lipe sposobna za borbu priključila se partizanskim jedinicama. Cijelo je selo pomagalo NOB, za što je neprijatelj znao. Jesu li stanovnici Lipe znali što njemačke vojne snage smjeraju? Stanovnici Lipe su obaviješteni da će njemačke jedinice vršiti čišćenje teritorija (strelamento) i da će biti ubijeno svako lice koje se zatekne van kuće. Na taj način su zapravo natjerali stanovnike da ostanu u selu. Selo je bilo blokirano već u rano jutro 30. travnja 1944. g. Ispričajte nam ukratko tijek događaja. U nedjelju, 30. travnja osvanuo je lijep i sunčan dan. S obzirom da je strelamento bio najavljen, i da je bila nedjelja, većina mještana bila je unutar sela. Njemački i talijanski fašisti upali su u selo oko 15 sati. Vojnici su se razišli po mjestu, pretraživali i pljačkali sve do čega su došli. Oko 16 sati započeo je masakr stanovništva i paljenje kuća. Nacisti svoje zločine snimaju. Taj užas trajao je oko dva i pol sata. Naposljetku, većinu stanovnika neprijatelj je sakupio i poveo cestom uz objašnjenje kako će biti odvedeni u logore. Kod posljednje kuće u selu (broj 20), oduzeli su im zavežljaje koje su sobom ponijeli. Starce, žene i djecu strpali su u kuću i bacili paljive bombe. Spalili su sve osim crkve. Ubili su 269 osoba, od čega 121 dijete u dobi do 15 godina. Najmlađe dijete, Bosiljka Iskra, imala je tek šest mjeseci. Do neprepoznatljivosti su masakrirali 21 osobu. Lipa je prestala da živi toga dana. Sve do oslobođenja, selo je bilo temeljito spaljeno i opljačkano a sve što je vrijedilo odneseno je iz sela. Je li bilo preživjelih? Preživio je Josip Smajla kojeg su ranili u uho i glavu. Zalila ga je krv, pa su Nijemci mislili da je mrtav. Glavu je sačuvao tako što je preko sebe povukao suprugino mrtvo tijelo. Osim njega, preživjela je i supruga odbornika Jakova Smajle koja se skrivala ispod stepenica. Budući nije bilo očevidaca, kako se saznalo za počinjene strahote? Budući su nacisti snimali svoje zločine, koji su njima bili dokument da su uspješno izvršili zadatak u Lipi, dali su ih na razvijanje fotografskoj radnji Maroš u Ilirskoj Bistrici. Prilikom razvijanja filma, sestra vlasnika radnje napravila je duplikate fotografija i bacila ih u košaricu za smeće. Zahvaljujući tome, fotografije su spašene i sačuvane kao jedini dokument koji potvrđuje što se točno dogodilo te nedjelje u Lipi. Osim toga, poslužile su za utvrđivanje identiteta žrtava. Što se dogodilo nakon zločina? Nacisti i nakon počinjenog zločina dolaze i dalje u selo. Pale još kuće koje su donekle ostale cijele. Sakupljaju i pale žrtve koje su ostavili razbacane po selu te još potpaljuju ostatke žrtava u kući broj 20. Cilj im je bio da što manje ostane dokaza, da nekako skriju taj svoj zločin koji su napravili nad civilnim stanovništvom lipe. Je li Lipom bio kraj neprijateljskih strahota? Ne. Nekoliko dana kasnije na Štranjgi, u Rupi, fašisti su objesili predsjednika NOO-a, Franju Iskru i dvoje članova Lipe, Mariju Iskra i Franju Šlosara. Uhvaćeni su u Rupi i obješeni na električne stupove. Ostavljeni su tako nekoliko dana kao opomena ostalim mještanima i mještanima susjednih sela kako će proći ako budu pomagali partizanima. Što se s Lipom događa nakon oslobođenja? Nakon oslobođenja, Lipa ipak ne ostaje mrtva, ne ostaje selo duhova. Na zgarišta se vraćaju oni koji su preživjeli u partizanima, vraćaju se djeca koja su preživjela 30.04.1944. jer su bila sa stokom na ispaši. Vraćaju se žene koje su bile izvan sela te nedjelje poslijepodne. Na ruševinama počinje obnova iako im je zajednica ponudila da napuste selo, da selo ostane kao spomen selo, ali oni su ipak odlučili ostati i obnoviti svoje kuće i selo. Godine 1965. Osnovan je Fond za obnovu Lipe pri Savezu boraca Općine Opatija. Svaka kuća dobila je novčanu pomoć. U obnovu se uključuju i šumarija, vojska, županija, čak i SR Hrvatska. Obnovljene su ceste, napravljena je nova trafostanica, kao i vodovod. |
According to your opinion, why did the enemy chose Lipa in particular?
Majority of Lipa’s settlers who were fit for military service was already in partisan units. The whole village helped National-Liberation Army of which the enemy was aware. Did Lipa’s settlers know about the German forces’ intention? The inhabitants were informed that the German units would conduct the mopping-up operation called strelamento. And that they would kill every person who was found outside the houses. It was a way to force inhabitants to stay in the village. The village was blocked in early morning on 30th April 1944. Could you retell us the events of that day? It was a nice and sunny day on 30th of April. As inhabitants were informed about strelamento and as it was Sunday, the majority of people were in the village. German and Italian fascists came into the village around 3 pm. Soldiers were spread around the village searching and stealing everything they could find. Around 4 pm the massacre and burning down of the houses started. Nazis took photographs of their crimes. The horror lasted for two hours. Finally, the enemies gathered the majority of people and took them by the road explaining they would be taken to a concentration camp. In front of the last house in the village, the house number 20, the enemies took people’s bundles. Men, women and children were closed in the house on which the enemies threw incendiary bombs. Enemies burned down everything except the church. They killed 269 persons, of which were 121 children aged 15 or less. The youngest child, Bosiljka Iskra, was only six months old. They massacred 21 people beyond recognition. Lipa stopped living that day. Until liberation, the village was burned and robbed thoroughly. Were there any survivors? Josip Smajla, who was wounded in ear and head, survived. He was all covered in blood so Germans thought he was dead. He survived thanks to his dead wife’s body which he pulled over himself. Besides him, Jakov Smajla’s wife also survived because she managed to hide under the stairs. As if there were no eyewitnesses, how did people find out about the horror committed on that day? As nazis took photographs of their crimes to document successfully completed assignment, they also took it to photographic studio Maroš in Ilirska Bistrica in order to have them made. During the procedure, the owner’s sister made extra copies and threw them in the paper bin. Thanks to that, photographs were saved as the only document which shows what exactly happened on that Sunday in Lipa. Besides, they helped with victims’ identification. What happened after the crime? Nazis repeatedly came to the village, even after the crime. Houses were burnt down thoroughly. Victims, whose bodies were all around the village, were collected and burnt. Once again the house number 20 with the remains of the victims was set on fire. The aim was to leave the less proof as possible in order to hide their crime somehow. Was it the end of the horror? No it wasn’t. A few days later at Štranjga (railway station), in village Rupa, fascists hung the president of National-Liberation Committee Franjo Iskra and two of Lipa’s settlers Marija Iskra and Franjo Šlosar. They were caught in Rupa and hung on lamp-posts. They were left there as the warning for other settlers and settlers of the surrounding villages in case they wanted to help partisan units. What happened to Lipa after liberation? Lipa wasn’t dead; it wasn’t the village of ghosts after liberation. Those who survived in partisan units returned to charred remnants. The children who survived 4/30/1944 because they took cattle on pasture also returned together with women who were out of the village on that Sunday afternoon. People decided to stay and started rebuilding the village although the community offered them other land in order to keep the area as the memorial village. Opatija’s Veterans’ Organisation created the fund for Lipa’s rebuilding. Every house in Lipa got a certain financial help. Forestry office, army, the County and even SR Croatia were involved in Lipa’s revival. |
Galerija fotografija koje su dokumentirale ratni zločin počinjen u Lipi 30.04.1944.
Fotografije su vlasništvo njemačkog Državnog arhiva i Spomen muzeja u Lipi.
Photo gallery of war crime committed in Lipa on 4/30/1944.
Photographs belong to German Federal Archives and Museum in Lipa.
Fotografije su vlasništvo njemačkog Državnog arhiva i Spomen muzeja u Lipi.
Photo gallery of war crime committed in Lipa on 4/30/1944.
Photographs belong to German Federal Archives and Museum in Lipa.