The brothers were born in a small, dark stone house, tucked away in a congested part of \u0160epurine. Their father, Frane, whose legendary strength has become village folklore, was known by his nickname, Kri\u0161ka<\/em>. Stories told how he was the strongest and fastest worker in the fields and how he could lift a barrel full of wine and drink from it.\u00a0 One story tells how early one morning a neighbour\u2019s mule refused to step onto the deck of a rocking boat. The boat\u2019s owner began to get angry as did his passengers who were keen to begin the day\u2019s work in their fields on the mainland, but the animal refused to move despite the owner\u2019s efforts. At that point,\u00a0 Kri\u0161ka<\/em> stepped in to assist by picking up the whimpering beast in his arms, as if it were a lamb, and carried it onto the boat himself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kri\u0161ka<\/em> married Matija Kale from the island of \u017dirje. They had four children: two sons – Filip and Petar (Pere) and two daughters – Barica (b 1870) and \u0160imaka (b 1884).[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 During the 1870s and 1880s – during Kumpa and Vara\u2019s childhoods – \u0160epurine was at its economic peak.[2]<\/sup><\/a> The quality and quantity of its wine production brought in revenue like never before. The benefits of success and sound reputation were evidential everywhere: more children survived making families larger, new houses were built or an extra floor was added, skilled workers from nearby towns moved their businesses and families to \u0160epurine, people bought more land, had boats custom-made, commercial fishing began, sons were sent to train as blacksmiths, builders, stone masons, coopers, caulkers or carpenters. In 1868, a group of 118 villagers cooperatively purchased the entire island of Tijat,[3]<\/sup><\/a> \u0160epurine\u2019s first public school opened in 1877 and the Skroza Ivi\u0107in<\/em>[4]<\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/a> family donated land on which a second, uncharacteristically large church was built in 1878.[5]<\/sup><\/a> During those prosperous decades, \u0160epurine was known as the Golden Threshold (Zlatni Prag)<\/em>.[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Wine Clause<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1891, a singe clause in a trade agreement between the royal governments of Austria-Hungary and Italy was the beginning of the decline of \u0160epurine\u2019s prosperity. The Vinska Klauzula <\/em>(Wine Clause) allowed the importation of almost tariff-free Italian wine into Austria-Hungary, flooding the Austro-Hungarian market with which Dalmatian wine-makers could not compete, not even on local markets. Village economies collapsed and many families were on the verge of economic ruin.[7]<\/sup><\/a> In 1892, the bimonthly Split periodical, Pu\u010dki List<\/em>, reported that the regular number of people migrating to America has turned into a never-before-witnessed rush.[8]<\/sup><\/a> Dalmatians left their hearths in their hundreds, settling permanently or looking for work in places such as America, Australia, New Zealand, Argentine, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa and German South West Africa.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1896, Kumpa married Matica Anti\u0107, one of four daughters of Ante and Matija Vlahov. In 1908, Vara married Matica\u2019s younger sister, Kri\u017eanka. The couple lived together in their small damp house where Kumpa and Matica lost a son and daughter. Life was undoubtedly difficult, and prospects were negligible. Their financial hardship worsened with the scourge of the phylloxera insect plague which had been devastating vineyards across western Europe since the 1860s.[10]<\/sup><\/a> Vines all over Dalmatia soon dried up causing more men to look for work abroad and more families to migrate. Kumpa looked to Africa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In April 1906, Kumpa left his wife, Matica, and daughters, Milka (8\u00bd)[11]<\/sup><\/a> and Tomica (1\u00bd)[12]<\/sup><\/a> and travelled to Hamburg with five others from \u0160epurine where they boarded the German steamship, Gertrud Woermann II<\/em>, disembarkin in L\u00fcderitz in the German colony of South West Africa.[13]<\/sup><\/a> It is uncertain what Kumpa and his co-travellers did in the German colony but it\u2019s likely they witnessed horrific scenes of suffering, starvation and death of the indigenous people. It is estimated that between 1904 and 1907 as many as 85 000 indigenous people died either in battle against Imperial German forces, through forced labour, starvation, or disease in enormous concentration camps such as the one known as Shark Island in L\u00fcderitz Bay.[14]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The men from \u0160epurine may have worked in the diamond or copper mines but considering they were registered as farm labourers, they may have worked in the farming industry which Germany was keen to advance in the colony.[15]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A New House<\/strong><\/p>\n By early 1909, Kumpa had returned to \u0160epurine. He may or may not have attended his brother\u2019s marriage to Kri\u017eanka Anti\u0107 in April, 1908 but he was there when his brother\u2019s first child, Valerija, was born in May 1909.[16]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 After Kumpa and Matica had another child, Andrija Pa\u0161ko, in November 1909, the brothers decided to build a new house on Vlahov family-owned land, near the new church. The two adjacent land parcels they decided on was large enough for a house, far more spacious than the old house, in addition to a large garden which they eventually surrounded by a dry-stone wall.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By the beginning of 1911, the lower level of the new house was finished consisting of one large open room for sleeping, a konoba<\/em> of equal size, a small kitchen for summer use and a hearth built in the roof space beneath a small roof window for winter cooking. The tiny window, known as a humar, <\/em>allowed smoke to escape and let in some light. Almost as soon as they moved into their new house, Matica gave birth to a son, Branko, in January 1911.[17]<\/sup><\/a> The bothers obtained permits from authorities and neighbours for an additional storey to accommodate an expanding family but for many reasons expansion was never realised.[18]<\/sup><\/a> By the time Kumpa\u2019s youngest son, Frane, was born in June 1914, he was working halfway across the globe.[19]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Western Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n It is likely that Kumpa and Vara ran out of money before the house could be finished and that financial hardship was why Kumpa made the journey to Western Australia where a substantial number of fellow villagers were working on the goldfields. Along with four others from \u0160epurine, he set out for Naples to board the SS Otranto<\/em>[20]<\/sup><\/a> and on the 3rd of February 1914, Kumpa disembarked at Fremantle Harbour.[21]<\/sup><\/a> With him was Petar Uki\u0107 Parin <\/em>who was returning to Fremantle and who, no doubt, led the way.[22]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kumpa\u2019s brother, Vara joined him in Western Australia by the end of 1914, leaving his young wife and daughter in the new house they shared with Kumpa\u2019s family. Arriving with little luggage, little money and no English, the brothers each made their way to Kalgoorlie where they met fellow Dalmatian Croatians and were employed on the woodlines at Lakewood and Kurrawang, felling timber which was used to reinforce the mine tunnels or to feed the gold industry\u2019s roasters.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n War and Internment<\/strong><\/p>\n In August 1914, Britain, and consequently Australia, declared war on Austria-Hungary and the brothers, probably having little idea what was happening in Europe became \u201cenemy aliens\u201d, a term used by the Australian Government. Citing the War Precautions Act of 1914, and their general dislike of working with foreigners, the mining unions persuaded the Australian Government to arrest Austrians as a way of ridding themselves of non-British labour.[23]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Together with hundreds of others, Kumpa and Vara were arrested in their camps on the woodlines and sent to Rottnest Island, 23 km off the coast of Fremantle where they were housed in crowded tents near the Bathurst Lighthouse, together with hundreds of Germans.[24]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n They slept on the bare ground all through the winter. Fresh water was scarce, and sanitation consisted of open pits near the tents.[25]<\/sup><\/a> By the end of 1915, there were 1104 men interned on the island: 426 Germans and German Austrians and 678 others, mostly Dalmatian Croatians, [26]<\/sup><\/a> among them thirty men from \u0160epurine, including Ivan Marinko Antulov who was only twelve years old.[27]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The photo was taken in 1917 or 1918 in Holsworthy Concentration Camp in New South Wales, Australia. The pictured men were all from Prvi\u0107 \u0160epurine. Filip Vlahov is seated third from left; Petar Vlahov is standing fourth from left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In November 1915, the Australian Government closed the Rottnest camp and transported its 1104 internees to the Holdsworthy Camp in Liverpool, NSW, known then as the German Concentration Camp.[28]<\/sup><\/a> The camp\u2019s harsh conditions were exacerbated by a lack of proper sanitation, while extortion and corruption were rife and, in what was essentially forced labour, the iternees built prison huts, guard towers, a railway to Liverpool and bridges in the local area.[29]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the end of the war, the government\u2019s policy was to deport most internees back to Europe; however between the end of the war and deportation the pneumonic influenza began to spread through the camp.[30]<\/sup><\/a> By that time, the camp\u2019s medical staff had returned to civilian life leaving only a few guards to watch over hundreds of sick internees.[31]<\/sup><\/a> Those still in camp were inoculated in May but by June the internees succumbed to the flu. Of the three ships repatriating the German internees in 1919, two boats were returned to Australia because so many were sick, and the prisoners were re-interned. By the time the third ship, the SS Kursk<\/em>, arrived in Durban, South Africa, 98% of passengers and crew were infected with at least twenty dead.[32]<\/sup><\/a> Over one hundred died during the summer and autumn of 1919, including at least 23 Dalmatians, among them Jakov Pa\u0161kov Turtin<\/em>[33]<\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/a> and Tome Vlahov Ivanov<\/em> from \u0160epurine.[34]<\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Deportation<\/strong><\/p>\n On the 18th of September 1919, Kumpa and Vara and hundreds of others were transferred to Sydney Harbour for deportation on the SS Frankfurt<\/em> bound for Marseille, France.[35]<\/sup><\/a> On board ship, Kumpa and possibly Vara and others, contracted the Spanish flu. The ship stopped at Durban, where the brothers were taken to a South African quarantine camp while the SS Frankfurt<\/em> continued its way to Europe. While convalescing, the brothers occupied themselves, each crafting a wooden box with a hinged lid, crafted from hand carved pieces of various southern African woods, decorated in floral and geometric patterns. Both boxes survived and have been passed down to family members.[36]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Eventually the brothers were picked up by another vessel and made their way back to Croatia. Kumpa\u2019s health had been damaged, and he never fully recovered. Vara, younger and healthier, set to work on the family\u2019s land while his wife gave birth to a daughter, Andjelka in 1920 and a son, Ivan in 1923.<\/p>\n When the Australian Government repealed the 1920 Enemy Aliens Act in 1925, both Kumpa and Vara returned to Western Australia.[37]<\/sup><\/a> Vara returned to Fremantle on the 24th July 1924, disembarking from the SS Moncalieri, and going to Fimiston near Kalgoorlie where he most likely stayed until his brother\u2019s return to Australia before moving to the Cowaramup, near the small town of Margaret River.[38]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kumpa returned to Western Australia in 1925 and in the same year made an application for his son, Andrija Pa\u0161ko, to be admitted into Australia.[39]<\/sup><\/a> Kumpa and Andrija spent four years in the southwest of Western Australia as sleeper cutters and machinery operators. By 1930, Kumpa\u2019s health was deteriorating so he decided to return home to \u0160epurine. In his later years, he suffered what was likely an arthritic condition which caused the fingers on both hands to be permanently curled.[40]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the mid-1930s, Vara applied for his own son, Ivan, to come to Australia. Vara may have had optimistic plans for his son and himself but, unfortunately, Ivan died of tuberculosis in 1942 and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery. He was only nineteen years of age.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n World War II<\/strong><\/p>\n Back in Croatia, Vara\u2019s only surviving child, Andjelka, married Stipe Mi\u0161urac Bijondov<\/em> and had a son, Ante, whom they named after the baby\u2019s paternal grandfather. During World War II, while her husband was fighting with the Partisans against the NAZI army\u2019s offensive, Andjelka and her son joined the steady flow of refugees, first to Italy and then to the British-Yugoslav displaced persons camp in El Shatt, near Suez, Egypt, where her four-year-old son died of cholera. She returned to Croatia a childless widow, never remarrying.[41]<\/sup><\/a> While Vara was still away in Western Australia, his wife Kri\u017eanka moved into her parents\u2019 house to look after her elderly mother. After the war, Andjelka moved in with her mother and worked in the sardine factory in Prvi\u0107 Luka.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After surviving the Italian occupation of \u0160epurine, then it\u2019s surrender, then the Usta\u0161a period, the impending NAZI occupation proved too much for Kumpa and thousands of others. He left \u0160epurine as a refugee with many others and was picked up by American patrols in the Adriatic and taken to the island of Vis, where there was a British base. From there, the refugees were transported to one of the camps set up by the allies on the Italian peninsula after Italy\u2019s surrender in September 1943. [42]<\/sup><\/a> As the camps became overcrowded, the Allies began moving large groups of refugees to El Shatt in Egypt. Kumpa was among the 39 647 who were transferred to El Shatt along with his eldest daughter, Milka Mijat, and with Vara\u2019s daughter, Andjelka. When Kumpa left \u0160epurine as a refugee, he left behind his wife, Matica, his son Branko and his family. He never saw his son again.<\/p>\n Branko was a handsome man, large dark eyes, wide shouldered, with a cheeky sense of humour. He married Milka Anti\u0107-Polu\u0161 whose parents were displeased with the union for several reasons, among them was that Milka was two years older than Branko. Also, her family considered themselves better off – her father had been the village leader, he was literate and Milka\u2019s younger brother, Slavko, was going into the priesthood which brought additional prestige to the family.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Branko and Milka had three children: Karmela (b 1932)[43]<\/sup><\/a>, Hedviga (b 1935) and Ante (b 1940).[44]<\/sup><\/a> Branko was a hospital orderly, working in \u0160ibenik Hospital with his sister, Tomica (Bijonda) <\/em>the nurse. When the NAZIs occupied \u0160ibenik, Branko was still working at the hospital and became an informant for the Partisans.[45]<\/sup><\/a> He was captured and sent to Dachau Concentration Camp just north of Munich, Germany. While out of the camp on forced labour, Branko and several others escaped. He stealthily walked some 550kms from Dachau, through Germany and German-held territory to Zagreb. He contracted typhoid along the way and died in a Zagreb hospital. Relatives, living in Zagreb during the war saw him and eventually relayed the story of his escape and his passing to his family. Branko died without seeing his wife, Milka, his children, or his parents again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Milka and her children, together with Kumpa\u2019s wife, Matica escaped the NAZI occupation of the central Dalmatian islands by fleeing \u0160epurine in a boat under the cover of darkness. The escape boat, filled with women and children, was picked up by American patrol boats and taken to the island of Bi\u0161evo where they were processed and assigned to the Santa Maria di Leuca UNRRA camp in southern Italy. By that time, Kumpa, had already been transported to El Shatt. Milka and her children and their Baba<\/em> Matica were in the last small group of refugees who remained in Italy until the war\u2019s end. They were repatriated in November 1944 on the SS Ljubljana embarking in Monopoli, Italy and transferring in Split to a smaller vessel that took them to \u0160ibenik.[46]<\/sup><\/a> It wasn\u2019t until May 1945, after Dachau Concentration Camp was liberated by the Americans and Marko Anti\u0107 \u0160imerin <\/em>returned to his home in \u0160epurine, <\/em>that Milka learned the fate of her husband. Marko Anti\u0107 \u0160imerin <\/em>had been in Dachau with Branko and had passed through Zagreb on his way home to \u0160epurine and learned what happened to him, when he died and that he had been buried in a communal grave in Zagreb\u2019s Mirogoj Cemetery.[47]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Death<\/strong><\/p>\n By the end of the war, Kumpa had deteriorated significantly. His family had lost a son, two grandsons and two members of Vara\u2019s family. They faced extreme poverty and starvation. His son, Andrew, would send supplies from Australia but often the packages were raided, confiscated, or simply disappeared. Branko\u2019s widow, Milka, made leather sandals from bull and cow hide which she would sell in the village. Often, the sale of sandals was their only source of income.[48]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Kumpa died on the 7th of March 1954. His wife, Matica passed away three months later on the 18th of July 1954.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1948, Vara returned to Croatia. He was getting old, but he and Kri\u017eanka worked their fields, made their wine and olive oil until they no longer could. Their daughter, Andjelka cared for them both until their deaths.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Filip Kumpa Vlahov\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Petar Vara Vlahov<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n In Australia, Kumpa\u2019s son, Andrew, and his wife Rose (nee Uki\u0107 Parin) had six children who survived into adulthood. In the mid-1950s, Andrew sponsored two of his brother\u2019s children who migrated and settled in Perth. Branko\u2019s son, Ante and Karmela\u2019s husband, Zdravko Frani\u0107 Kletov<\/em> arrived in Fremantle in January 1956. Ante was only 16 years old and stayed with his uncle and aunty for eleven years. When Karmela and her daughter, Lena (2) arrived in Fremantle in April 1957, the reunited Frani\u0107 family moved into a small fibro dwelling which they rented from Roko and Vera Antulov Fingerovi<\/em> in Osborne Park. Later, they rented an acre of land and an old house in Macdonald Street, Osborne Park, from Victor and Millie Vlahov \u010cu\u010dovi,<\/em> and began establishing a market garden. In May 1965, Hedviga\u2019s husband, Selmo Uki\u0107 Parinov <\/em>arrived in Western Australia, and lived with Karmela and Zdravko until Hedviga and their sons, Zoran (b 1955) and Edo (b1960) migrated to Perth in August 1966.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today, there are no living descendants of Vara and Kri\u017eanka Vlahov, but there are over one hundred living descendants of his brother, Kumpa and his wife Matica. Some of their descendants remained in Croatia, others move to Zemun, Serbia immediately after World War II, some now live in Queensland, Melbourne, New Zealand but the vast majority live in Western Australia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By:<\/p>\n Lino Franich<\/p>\n July, 2022<\/p>\n Perth, Western Australia<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/sup><\/a> The family was known by their father\u2019s nickname, Kri\u0161kini<\/em>, meaning,\u201cbelonging to Kri\u0161ka.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n [2]<\/sup><\/a> Ljubomir Anti\u0107 in Slavica Vlahov, ed (1998). \u0160epurinski Zbornik. \u0160ibenik: Matica Hrvatska \u0160ibenik, p.51<\/p>\n [3]<\/sup><\/a> The uninhabited, neighbouring island of Tijat had been leased to various noblemen or wealthy locals since the 1300s. In 1865, it was purchased by twelve \u0160epurine families. In 1868, another 106 families bought into the cooperative ownership. It was purchased from the \u0160ibenik nobleman, Frane Dragani\u0107-Vran\u010di\u0107 who inherited it via his mother, the Countess Margarita Vran\u010dic who died in 1766.\u00a0 Don Krsto Sto\u0161i\u0107 in Slavica Vlahov, ed (1998). \u0160epurinski Zbornik. \u0160ibenik, Matica Hrvatska \u0160ibenik, p.44<\/p>\n [4]<\/sup><\/a> \u0160epurine family nicknames have been included in italics. They were an important part of village life where many families had the same surname. Filip\u2019s individual nickname was Kumpa. His wife, children and grandchildren all carried the family nickname, Kumpini. <\/em>Pere\u2019s individual nickname was Vara,<\/em> therefore his family were known as the Varini.<\/em><\/p>\n [5]<\/sup><\/a> Ante Uki\u0107 (2005). Stanovni\u0161tvo i obitelji otoka Prvi\u0107a: Prvi\u0107 u prvoj polovici 19. stolje\u0107a. Zagreb: Vlast. Nakl., p.326<\/p>\n [6]<\/sup><\/a> Ante Uki\u0107 in Slavica Vlahov, ed (1998). \u0160epurinski Zbornik. \u0160ibenik: Matica Hrvatska \u0160ibenik, p.102<\/p>\n [7]<\/sup><\/a> Ljubomir Anti\u0107 (2004). \u0160epurina u dalmatinskom tisku 1876. – 1914. Zagreb: Selbstveri, p.35<\/p>\n [8]<\/sup><\/a> Pu\u010dki List, 18 November 1892, <\/em>Split in Ljubomir Anti\u0107 (2004). \u0160epurina u dalmatinskom tisku 1876. – 1914. Zagreb: Selbstveri, p.34<\/p>\n [9]<\/sup><\/a> German South West Africa (Deutsch-S\u00fcdwestafika)<\/em> was a colony of the German Empire from 1884-1915. Today, it is the independent state of Namibia.<\/p>\n [10]<\/sup><\/a> The aphid-like grape phylloxera devastated vineyards all over Europe from about 1860 to 1910 by feeding on the roots and gradually starving the vine of nutrients and water. Locally, it was known as the \u017eilo\u017edera<\/em> – the root devourer.<\/p>\n [11]<\/sup><\/a> Milka Vlahov (1896-1874) moved to Srima when she married Luka Mijat in 1919. She had five children and became a widow in 1931, when her youngest child, Frane, was four. Two sons were killed during World War II: Ante was a Partisan fighter who was executed by an Italian firing squad and Roko, who was killed in combat as a member of Usta\u0161a army.<\/p>\n Frane Mijat (1998). Kronika Mjesta Srima, <\/em>self-published, p. 38<\/p>\n [12]<\/sup><\/a> Tomica Vlahov was known as Bijonda <\/em>(Blondie) her entire life. She married Petar Kursar Kir\u010dev <\/em>from \u0160epurine. After she became a widow in her 20s, she moved to \u0160ibenik and became a nurse working in \u0160ibenik Hospital for over thirty years until her retirement. After she retired, she moved back to \u0160epurine and lived in the house her father and uncle built.<\/p>\n [13]<\/sup><\/a> Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; <\/em>Volume 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 177; Page: 1053; Microfilm No: K_1794.<\/p>\n Travelling with Kumpa were Tome Kursar Grgi\u0107in <\/em>(b 1865), Lovre Pa\u0161kov Turtin<\/em> (b 1864), Mate Bile <\/em>Skroza Ivi\u0107in<\/em> (b 1880), Mate Vlahov (b 1875) and Zore Vlahov Batalo <\/em>(b 1876)<\/p>\n [14]<\/sup><\/a> Norimitsu Onishi & Melissa Eddy. (2021, May 29) A forgotten genocide: what Germany did in Namibia, and what it\u2019s saying now, The New York Times, <\/em>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/28\/world\/europe\/germany-namibia-genocide.html<\/p>\n [15]<\/sup><\/a> Onboard the SS Gertrud Woermann II <\/em>were 209 sheep destined for the colony. Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; <\/em>Volume 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 177; Page: 1053; Microfilm No: K_1794.<\/p>\n [16]<\/sup><\/a> Marija Valerija Vlahov, born 1909, passed away as a child, possibly while Vara was in Western Australia during World War One. She was buried in the communal section of the \u0160epurine Cemetery beneath slab No 8.<\/p>\n [17]<\/sup><\/a> Ante Branko Vlahov, (1911 – 1944), the author\u2019s grandfather.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0008-300x213.jpg\")
\u00a0 Left: Kumpa’s wife Matica with her youngest sons Frane (left) and Branko; Right: Vara’s wife, Kri\u017eanka with her son Ivan and daughter Andjelka circa 1926<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0004-300x220.jpg\")
\u00a0 SS Gertud Woermann<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0005-300x247.jpg\")
\u00a0 The Vlahov brothers’ house cpmleted in 1911 is now falling into disrepair. The current owners of the house are three of Kumpa’s grandchildren and one great-grandson<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0001-300x178.jpg\")
\u00a0 SS Otranto<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0006-300x167.jpg\")
\u00a0 Filip Vlahov Kumpa and Pere Vlahov Vara in Holsworthy Concentration Camp in 1915 holding their\u00a0 photo identification number<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Hols-koncentracijski-logor-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/kutija-300x221.jpg\")
\u00a0 Vara’s box made in Africa in 1919 now in the possession of his granddaughter Hedviga Ukich<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0009-300x229.jpg\")
\u00a0 Vara and his nephew Andrija Pa\u0161ko Vlahov Kumpin, feeling timber in the South – west of Western Australia, circa 1930s<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Ivan-Vlahov-Varin-182x300.jpg\")
\u00a0 Vara’s son Ivan Vlahov Varin<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0010-300x193.jpg\")
\u00a0 Vara’s daughter Andjelka Mi\u0161urac nee Vlahov Varina, Kumpa’s daughter Tomica Bijonda Kursar Kumpina nee Vlahov with a young patient<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0011-300x176.jpg\")
\u00a0 L – R: Kumpa’s son Branko Vlahov Kumpin, Branko’s wife, Milka Vlahov Kumpina nee Anti\u0107 – Poli\u0107 with her granddaughter, Lena. (Author’s maternal grandparents and sister)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0012-300x135.jpg\")
\u00a0 Karmela, Hedviga and Ante<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-Story-of-Two-Brothers-2_page-0013-300x218.jpg\")
\u00a0 Filip Kumpa Vlahov’s funeral, March 1954 in \u0160epurina. The second pall – bearer on the right is Selmo Uki\u0107 Parinov, who married Kumpa’s granddaughter Hedviga. Behind him is Zdravko Frani\u0107 Kletov, the author’s father, who married Karmela<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Filip-Kumpa-Vlahov-226x300.jpg\")
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualnimuzej.aspira.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Petar-Vara-Vlahov-245x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n