Hello Mylene,

Thank you for posting. I will go check things out and get back to you as soon as possible.

Regards,

Sergej

Mylène,

The post you mentioned has Yugaja posting, she is part of our staff.
Now the region your family comes from is indeed today in Croatia and has been part of the Krajina conflict in the early nineties last century and the WWII. The inhabitants of that region predominantly used to be Serbian. The last civil war did a lot of damage in that region and it, politically, still sensitive.

Now before we go on some thing. Spelling is crucial in Serbo-Croatian especially when it comes to places and names. So the correct spelling of the family name would be Bjeloš and Djuro for the first name. Serbo-Croatian knows some extra signs in Latin that are hard to differentiate if you are not formiliar with them.

The PDF lists some people with the same surname, I don't know if they would be relatives. It has them listed as being part of forces that fought against the Germans during the war. All of them are listed as being ethnic Serbs (Srbin).

Do you have any documents, birth records, letter addresses etc.? If so, please scan and attach them to this post. I can check out some thing.

Two things before we move on. It is posted very frequently in this forum with regard to Croatia and the Krajina area.

First, it has been hit two times very hard by war. WWII and the last civil war when Yugoslavia fell apart. A lot of churches were destroyed and a lot of people died and displaced. So take in mind that it will take time and persistance to find information.

Second, and this is the better part. Croatia has all their archives microfilmed. So once we get a good basis with information that is accurate you can do a targeted search. In contrary to e.g. Serbia that isn't that far.

Please let me know what you think and what you have.

Sergej, first of all, I want to thank you for your answer and your investment.

Unfortunately, I have only two French official documents: marriage certificate and death certificate.
I send these documents as attachments.
Both were most likely established upon verbal data: from my grandmother in particular for the marriage certificate, only from my grandfather for the death certificate. In this way, the data of the marriage certificate is certainly more accurate.
For example, my great-grandmother is called “Stana” on the death certificate and not “Petra” as written on the marriage certificate. That is certainly a mistake in the death certificate.
Moreover, note that on these documents, my grandmother is called Stana Bjelos.
Actually, she said she came to France under the assumed identity of her then deceased sister.
She said she leaved Yugoslavia because she was hunger.

If other document has ever existed, I don’t have it at this time. Neither my mother nor I have address or letter.
Are the data in the attached documents sufficient to start a search?
I’ll communicate any additional potential document or data if we find some in our search.

Indeed, my mother contacted the Departmental Archives of Doubs in Besançon because my grandmother would have worked as a day labourer in a farm near Morteau when she came to France. Such workers were very much sought after at that time. She also took care of the farmers’s childs.
The person of the Departmental Archives she talked with said records exist for Morteau, hospitals and camps for immigrants. We don’t know if she had been in a camp but we hope to find some data especially some documents to provide more evidence.
It is a complex search because of uncertainty about the date of her entry into France. According to my aunt, my grandmother would have been minor when she came to France. Consequently it might more certainly be before 1932, because of the Stana’s birthdate: 10th January 1911.
In France, the age of majority was 21 at that time. What was the legal age of majority in Yugoslavia at that time?
However my mother extends the period of investigations between 1930 and 1943. We don’t know how long she stayed in the farm near Morteau but the 1st July 1943 she gave birth to a boy in Le Perchay in Vexin. (The father of this child would have been the son of the farmer, who didn’t want to keep the child that’s why she leaved. My mother has found the birth and the death certificates of this child who lived less than 5 months.) So it is certain that she was already in France the 1st July 1943.

Sincerest Thanks,

Mylène

In Serbia it's common to use a nickname, so her name could be Petra. Stana is a comon nickname used instead of Stanija, Stanojka etc. So it would rule out the name difference.
The legal age from what I can recal was 18, but it was uncomon for a women to travel alone. Do you have any pictures, cards, correspondence in Serbian or texts? Icon's from a church etc.?

My mother has found the identity of my grandmother thanks to the Departmental Archives office of Doubs in Besançon. They have lists of residence permits and they found Milica Bjelos, borned 25th December 1913. She arrived in France in the early 1930s.
For the moment, I don’t know how she came and with whom.
So, what is certain is that she was called Milica Bjelos, borned 25th December 1913 in LASINJSKI SJENIČAK, department of Savska.
She had a sister named Stana Bjelos, borned 10th January 1911 and a brother, I don’t know his identity.
Is it possible to cross-check these informations and find the identity of her parents with these data, their births and deaths, marriage certificate as well as that of her sister and brother and more if possible?
The only three pictures my mother has of her mother have been taken in France. We have no cards, correspondence or texts. My mother remembers of letters exchanges with Yugoslavia when she lived in Amblainville between 1956 and 1960, but nothing subsist.

Ok FYI, the following villages are in the region: Sjeničak, Moravci, Kovečavec, Prkos, Lasinja, Crna Draga, Muljci i Selnica

Today there aren't that many people living there anymore due to the last war.

In the whole Karlovac region today the following people are still registered with the same surname:

BJELOŠ DRAŽENKA
Dr. Milana Nemičića 10
47000 Karlovac
095 5508624

BJELOŠ IVAN
Luka Pokupska 93A
47203 Luka Pokupska
047 713281

BJELOŠ JOVO
Bartola Kašića 6
47000 Karlovac
047 422641

BJELOŠ MILA
Stanka Vraza 42
47000 Karlovac
091 6201998

BJELOŠ MIRKO
Mahično 12A
47000 Karlovac
047 651107

BJELOŠ MIRKO
Mahično 12A
47000 Karlovac
098 1712789

BJELOŠ MIROSLAV
Domobranska ulica 20B
47000 Karlovac
047 654023

BJELOŠ ŽELJKO
Dr. Milana Nemičića 10
47000 Karlovac
047 634480

BJELOŠ-RKMAN DUŠANKA
Grge Tuškana 13A
47000 Karlovac
047 655723

Most likely their family was St. Peter or Paul, or St. Nikola.
If you find any icons or anything that might help.

You can check with the Serbian Orthodox Church:

jerej Slaviša Simaković
C. Medovića 11; 47 000 Karlovac,
Tel/Faks: 047/411 506; Mob: 098/188 26 48
E-mail: [email protected]

You can use the letter template and try to write the archives in Karlovac: http://www.da-ka.hr/
If they can find her they can find the rest as well.

Please keep looking and let me know if you need help with the template.

Thanks for your informations.

I wrote to the archives in Karlovac and to the Serbian Orthodox Church but the e-mail doesn't match : my message returned whith an error [email protected]

Sincerely

Try this: [email protected]