BMO / Online campaign - Brigita Knežević

Brigita Knežević is recorded as having been born on 25th of April, 1940, in Zagreb. She was in fact born in the village of Mirkovac, Kozarska Dubica and given a different name at birth. She is one of the 'children from Kozara'. In 1942 she was separated from her mother and taken to the Stara Gradiška camp. Her mother was assigned various jobs in the village, as labour. Her father, together with his three brothers, was taken to the camp in Staro Sajmište, where he was executed by firing squad. She never saw her mother and father again. Thanks to the actions of Diana Budisavljević, she was saved from the camp and taken to the Institute for Deaf-mute Children. Childless families were adopting children from there, and so Brigita Knežević was adopted by the Fistrić family from Zagreb. That was when she was named Brigita, and given the last name of her adopted family, Fistrić. She found out the truth about her origins many years later. Following her marriage, she went to live in Belgrade with her husband. She participates in the gatherings of camp detainees from Stara Gradiška, and she gradually found out what happened to the members of her family. She also took part in the making of Joakim Marušić's film "Iza zida" [Behind the Wall], in which her reunion with her family is portrayed. She died aged 80 in Belgrade on 10 March 2021.

See the whole interview at: Brigita Knežević - video - osobnasjecanja.hr