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Nick Hancock
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102-003
14 October 2015
Diving Deep into Holocaust Testimonials
Josip Papo was born in 1923 in a small city off of the coast of Croatia called Makarska.
In the city of Makarska, 90 percent of the citizens had anti-fascists beliefs, meaning that they
opposed the idea of totalitarian ruling. Josip Papo went to a school that divided the students by
their financial status. Papo was placed in the working-class classroom, and one of his teachers
was Vito Marinovic. Mr. Marinovic was a part of the Ustashe, which was an extremist Croatian
movement that held fascist beliefs, thus associated with the acts of genocide against Jewish
people. Mr. Marinovic first humiliated Josip, and when he resisted, Mr. Marinovic caused him to
fail the grade. It was then decided by the school board that Josip was to be thrown out of school.
Later on, when Josip was 19 years old, the city ordered the Papo family to hand over the keys, as
they were confiscating all Jewish property. In 1942, Josip Papo was faced with a dangerous
situation when his previous employer and two carabineers followed him to the beach. Josip had
to swim underwater to avoid being pursued by them. Various dangerous incidents occurred
following this event. After the war, Josip Papo began working for the Croatian government and
started a family. He also enrolled in law school, eventually passing the bar exam and becoming a
lawyer.
As I read this autobiography, I learned a lot of new vocabulary. I learned that a
carabineer is an armed soldier. Anti-fascists oppose the dictatorship-style ruling that aims to
weed out certain weaker groups of people. The Ustashe was a movement throughout Croatia

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that supported fascism and took part in the acts of genocide. I learned that at a young age, these
Jewish people were publically humiliated. I was not aware that the government allowed such
acts. I was also unaware that the government was able to confiscate all Jewish property. I learned
that anybody considered to be suspicious was captured, regardless of whether or not they were
Jewish. Until reading this, I did not fully understand the dangerous and life-threatening situations
that the Jewish people encountered throughout this time. A statement Josip made contained a
concept that was very new to me when he said, It is necessary to have a lot of luck; those that
remained alive are those that had it. What my father told me is true: One must always be ready to
get up and move on. Only those who had a sense of fleeing survived the war. This was quite
shocking to me as it revealed how they had to live life on the move and never could become
comfortable.
This autobiography gave me a different perspective on my inquiry topic. It allowed me to
see how the Jewish people were impacted by the events that occurred before, during, and after
the Holocaust. Although the negative impact during the Holocaust was tremendous, the impacts
before and after played a huge role in shaping the lives of the victims. For example, before the
events of the Holocaust, Josips life was negatively impacted by Mr. Marinovics humiliation of
him in the classroom. This caused Josip to be kicked out of school, further influencing his
educational career. This article made my knowledge on the subject much more well rounded. It
did this by adding different views to my knowledge of the Holocaust through testimonies. My
knowledge was also better rounded by giving me more examples of how the lives of these Jewish
people were modified through the various horrific events and actions, which took place before,
during and after the Holocaust.

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If Josip Papo were in front of me today I would ask: What event impacted you the most,
and why? I would also ask: In what ways did the horrific experiences you had as a result of the
Holocaust, impact the way in which you raised your children? Finally I would ask: Why did no
Jewish people stand up against such an excruciating crime?

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Works Cited
Papo, Josip. "Josip Papo." Josip Papo. Centropa, 2001. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.