Dr. Slavko Komar Zagreb, November 28, 2001 About Nenad (translation by Vidica Penezic) I will share a few memories, nothing that would not be already known. My relationship with the Belic family goes back to the end of July 1941, when Braco Belic (brother of Zivan, Nenad's father) brought our resistance group to the family apartment on Hercegovacka Street. [It was WW2 and Zagreb was occupied by the Nazis. Braco Belic was a member of the underground resistance movement. He did not survive the war.] On that occasion I met his mother, a beautiful lady, Dada. At that time I did not notice that in the apartment also lived a little boy, a year or two old [Nenad]. During the war, at the end of 1942, I met (Braco's and Zivan's sister) Zina and between 1943 and 1947 the two of us were members of The Central Committee of SKOJ (United Communist Youth of Yugoslavia). The same year I met Zina, I also met her future husband Krcun (Penezic). Just before the liberation of Zagreb, on May 8, 1945, I traveled to Zagreb. I immediately visited Dada, because Zina had asked me to bring her to Belgrade. To my surprise, she was accompanied by a little boy -- Nenad -- about four or five years old. In those days, traveling by car from Zagreb to Belgrade was full of uncertainty -- at some places you had to leave the car because the bridges had been destroyed and the crossing had been improvised, so, for safety reasons, the passengers walked across a narrow wooden crossing on foot. Another danger were the leftover German mines. For safety, [in some areas] passengers would walk behind the car. At all those unsafe places I carried little Nenad in my arms. He was very lively. He was awake during the whole trip and he entertained us. I used to see him in Belgrade, at Zina's house, until he left to join his father in Rijeka or Zagreb. I am not sure where. When (my family and I) returned to Zagreb, in 1971, I often saw Zivan who remained my good friend until his death. At the time, Nenad was a medical student. He was of medium height, dark haired, as if a twin brother to his uncle Braco -- the same posture, looks, liveliness. Nenad was very charming and very dear to me, my wife and my daughters. My wife Nada and I went to see their apartment which Nenad decorated according to his own taste. The rooms were extravagantly painted black. For years we talked to Zivan and Nenad about the style of their apartment and furniture. When I read this to my wife Nada she asked me to add that Nenad was a very charming, unconventional, some might say, bohemian man; a little, as they say, eccentric. Only after the arrival of Toncica [Zivan's new wife], did Zivan's apartment begin to resemble a nice, normal, well furnished home. Nenad went to the U.S. to further specialize in medicine. Upon his return, he looked for a job in Yugoslavia. When he did not succeed (in finding a job in Yugoslavia), Nenad decided to look for a job somewhere in Europe. A close friend of mine was at the time a high ranking official at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. We didn't succeed, so Nenad went back to the US. I used to see him in Zagreb and on Rab, during his visits to his homeland. Once (about 10 years ago) he wrote me a letter asking me to secure a rowing boat on Rab, since he wanted to row around the island. His goal was to beat Zivan’s time, since Zivan had done the same before the (Second World) War. Indeed, Nenad did make a somewhat better time than Zivan. Four years ago I had the last, unsuccessful, connection with Nenad. My son-in-law's uncle lives in the same same city in which Nenad lived. That old gentleman found Nenad's address, gave him my greetings and messages, but Nenad never called him. All I knew about him I heard from Mrs. Toncica. Unfortunately, the last news was tragic. Dear Nenad, rest in peace somewhere in the Atlantic! I will remember you! Dr. Slavko Komar