My dad was born in Zemun in 1930. He was living in a neighborhood mixed with Serbians and Croatians. The majority of Donauschwaben lived in Franztal on the outskirts of Zemun. When he would go to Franztal to visit his Oma Harjung's house the little boys there used to say, "Da Shtettler kommt!" Which means "The city boy is coming!" From 1936 - 1941 when he is was ages 6-10, he went to The King Peter grammar school in Zemun. In school they were teaching the Serbo-Croatian languages. After 4 years in grammar school he went to the gymnasium school which was his 5th grade (I believe that would be high school by our standards) he finished the first year in gymnasium and then his family relocated to Brandenburg Germany. In Brandenburg he went to school from 1942 - 1945. He was in regular school part of the day and then his last two years he was also going to trade school in the graphic arts, Lithographischen trade school. So my dad had 8 years of schooling which included 2 years of trade school. He was never ashamed of his lack of schooling. But then again he was a city boy, not a village boy, like most of the other Donauschwaben. The Donauschwaben were not highly intellectual people, but they were no dummies either. They had lawyers, they had business people, they had doctors. They had a group of intellectuals, but the majority of Donauschwaben were farmers. They were basically agricultural people. And there was no need for them to go into the high schools or the colleges or whatever it is. That was a part of the culture of that particular time. But every Donauschwabe knew how to read and write in more than one languages. There is no reason for them to be ashamed. On the contrary, they should be very proud of themselves. they have accomplished things what many, many others, would never think could be accomplished.. Daniela Ivkovic Showley -----Original Message----- From: Eve <evebrown@gmail.com> To: Hans Kopp <hanskopp.anni@yahoo.com> Cc: DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES@rootsweb.com> Hans, You've hit on something I hadn't thought of - lack of schooling. I said my mom was not ashamed, but now when I think about it and your post - when it came to her education I do think she was ashamed, my father too. It was covered up with anger in regard to anything to do with education - that was a tough one for me growing up. My school work always came last after chores were done and sometimes my grades suffered because of it - but failing a subject was not allowed either. I have noticed that other families from mom's and dad's towns had just the opposite reaction where education came to the front. Funny how the same thing can effect others in different ways. I have to say that my parents education was not cut back because of the war though (IMHO), but because of lifestyle and being in a "newer" colony. Their village never had the pretty Trachten that I see connected with many other villages - they wore their Sunday best, but just not as fancy. Just my 2¢ worth (I'm in the US we still have our pennies - LOL) Eve ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message