Aleksandar Necak’s mother Suzana Hacker in her grandmother Sirina Bergel’s arms

Aleksandar Necak’s mother Suzana Hacker in her grandmother Sirina Bergel’s arms

This is my mother Suzana Hacker with her grandmother Sirina Bergel [nee Stajnfeld]. The photo was taken in my mother’s home in Senta in 1916 when she was one year old. 

Sirina was married to Moric Bergel, a wheat trader and owner of a bakery in Senta. Sirina was born in Slavonia and at some point moved to Senta. She was much more observant than her husband. Sirina and Moric Bergel had two children, Tereza, my grandmother and Andras. 

My mother was born in Senta on February 25, 1915 and raised there. She studied at the secular gymnasium in Subotica. In 1932, at the age of 17, she married Dusan Necak, a Serbian officer in the Royal Yugoslav Army who was stationed in Subotica. They were married in Prilep [Macedonia] in a Serbian Orthodox church. At the time of the marriage my mother changed her name to Dusanka Necak. She was not religious and did not observe any Jewish holidays or practices nor did she observe the Serbian Orthodox practices. They had two children, my sister Marina and me. As father was an officer in the army we moved around a lot during the pre-war years but regardless of where we were most of our friends were people from the Jewish community in that town. When I was born we were living in Novi Sad, and by the time the war started father was already permanently stationed and working in Belgrade. 

During the war we were living in hiding with two families in Belgrade. While we were living with these two Djordjevic families we were able to walk on the street and do many daily tasks because we had Serbian last names and had distanced ourselves from the family and friends.

After the war we remained in Belgrade where mother worked as a financial clerk. My mother currently resides in the Jewish old age home in Belgrade.

 
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