Gornja Krajina is not a place, that was a historical region in modern day Croatia.

Popovic is very often Serbian surname, so it will be very hard to find any information if you dont know place of origin of your ancenstors and slava. There was Popovic families in regions of Banija, Kordun, Lika, Gorski Kotar and Northern Dalmatia. All od them were Orthodox Serbs. Many of them was killed in World War II by Croatian nazis.

Origin of surname is from word Pop - meaning `orthodox priest`.  

Thank you for correcting me on Gornja Krajina.

I know it will be very hard to find information on Vaso Popovic without the region or slava.  That is not stopping me, if anything it is making me work harder.  I don't care if I have to look over thousands of listings of Popovic people, I will do what I need to do.    I truly appreciate all of the help I have received on this site.

Are the Croatian Nazis the same thing as the Ustasha?  Are there any other regions that would include the Popovic surname or should I focus on these?  I know Yugaya has suggested looking for records in the United States, however, I don't think Vaso stayed anywhere long enough to have a record of his presence.  I did make a request to the USCIS to search for alien registration but I haven't heard back.  I DO know that Vaso worked in Hibbing Minnesota in the iron mines.  He did not like the work and eventually moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin where he met my Great Grandmother and worked as maintenance staff at a hotel.  I understand now that he was quite a bit older than her so the record that bmistrevolic found from Raguse/Dubrovnik COULD be something worthwhile.

What I found in that record was Vaso was born in 1891.  He came from the military in the port of Raguse.  Ancestry.com indicated that he was originally from Rijeka (which I see now is in one of the regions you mentioned - Gorski Kotar).  This could mean nothing.  His destination once in the United States was Anaconda Montana which was another mining town....just like Hibbing where I do know that Vaso was.  I do believe this is something to look into but I don't know how to find the rest of the information.  I've been searching on Rodoslovlje for Popovic.  That is giving me more information but nothing specific like how to request the right documents.  How can you find the slava if you don't know the region?  How can you find the region if you don't know the slava?  I still have to finish looking at articles by Yugaya but I haven't yet found how to request military records as I would HOPE that would tell me the region he came from or his slava....something.  I was told Vaso's mother was German and father was Yugoslavian.  They were business people but I don't know what their business was.  Would Rijeka be a possible location for all of this to fit or am I looking at this all wrong?  Please help if you can.  I will do whatever unfortunate work needs to be done, I just need to be pointed in the right direction.

Hello to anyone that can help me,

I am still looking for information on Vaso Popovic.  It has been a while since my last attempt so I do need to review what I've done and what I've been told.  I know Yugaya said she found some information that could be related to my Great Grandfather, but I have been unable to get a hold of her as I know all of you are very busy with other things in addition to helping on this site.  She was also going to send me instructions on how to help index names but I haven't received that either.  I would like to help because I want to give something back to those that helped me as well as those that are searching like me.  Based on my post above, can anyone tell me how to request military records from Serbia or Croatia?  Or can you tell me where to find the instructions?

I would also like to help index names so if there's a way I can do that, please let me know.  Thank you.

Melanie White