Hi Segeij,
Quite a lot found out recently. Mr Krylic has warmed a little and said that although he had only been 15 yrs when he met grandad in Germany(he had fought at the age of 12yrs) he does recall grandad being a senior person in the displacement camps and was highly respected by the chetnik refugees both in Germany and the UK. He does also recall grandad telling him that Croation troops led the Germans to the village in search of him and the village was destroyed. This ties in with what I have read about the wooden church being burnt in 1941/42

Ok so what you need to do now is check with city hall and the Croatian district archives if they still have data from that place.

[pre]
Hi sorry to directly email but I have been trying to attach a file but keeps failing. It is the back of a photograph and I believe it could say - To my brother Maksim from his brother Milan Ivancevic - Is this correct. Noone in the family recognises the man in the photo not any mention of a brother ever being in this country.
Thanks.
[/pre]

That is correct. It is normal though for good friends to call each other brothers.

Hi there - Please would it be possible to translate from English into Serbian the following to post in blog.com forum to introduce my blog.

Hi there - New blog being constructed about the search for Serbian family history. Please visit http://culumovic.blogspot.com

Thanks again

I checked the Blog, do you want me to translate that whole piece?

No Sergej - Just a line explaining that I am researching the family name Culumovic from the region of Sipovo, Bosnia
Thanks

It does not matter now - I have had this done so do not bother translating what i requested 2 weeks ago about blog forum - thanktouy -Andy

Hi Segej - I am due to visit central bosnia very soon. I understand that tensions are still extremely high - If I had known this I would not be going. I will go simply as a tourist, not asking any questions but will "stumble" on the village. What advice, if any, can you give?
Andy

Andy,

From what I know tensions were always like that in Bosnia
Ok a couple not do to things:

1. Non Serbs don't like Chetniks, so when talking to people wait untill you know who they are and don't mention Mihajlovic because his reputation isnt too good in that corner.
2. The Serbian 3 finger symbol is offensive to non-Serbs,
3. Stay out of politics,

Some todo things:

1. See if there is a church there and talk with the priest, they can know a lot,
2. Check out the cemetary and see if there are stones with formiliar names,
3. Take pictures of anything interesting you never know,
4. Try the local Cevapi and Pljeskavica they are really nice
5. Use your gut feeling, works always with me

Thanks Sergej - sound information and appreciated - Let you know I get on when I return - Andy

Just some additional info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

and their discussion page to show you what I meant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

Good luck

Hi Sergej - Days now before the visit - Will graves bear headstones from the first half of this century for the "working" classes or would they, like in this country have been buried with wooden respects?
If churches had been destroyed during ww2 would there be any other records lets say at a central registrar or would they have perished with the church?

All people got headstones,wood was only used during war or in extreme poverty.
No central registrars, the only thing left from WWII is the Jasenovac registrar.

Hi Segej - Just got back from my visit - It appears that my research into the village went off in the wrong direction. I explored the area around Sipovo and found nothing. The area is very rugged with mountains - not qiute flat like my parents recall. I have since learnt that although the village can be wrote as Brdjani the other spelling would be Brdan (d would have a line in it). There is a place by this name near to Brcko and looking at google maps this is quite flat land. I will carry on with my research and hope to visit in the spring - Andy

Andy,

Good to hear you are back. The d with the line in it is pronounced as dj, this is normal in Serbo-Croatian Latin script. Did you check out the cemetaries?