Zdenko Bergl (M / Croatia, 1929-2016), Holocaust survivor

Zdenko "John" Bergl (M / Croatia, 1929-2016), Holocaust survivor.

• Friend of Henry Winkler, Henry Artz and Evelyn Artz (his future wife).

• KEYWORDS : <Croatia> <Refugees> <Slovenia> <Italy> <Hidden Children, Italy>

Biography

Zdenko Bergl was born August 29, 1929 at Sv. Ivan Zaban (near Zagreb), Croatia, to Nador Bergl and Jlonka Rechnitzer. During the war, the family moved to Slovenia and from there to Italy. They were sent to "confino libero" at Concordia sulla Secchia, KZ Modena where they stayed until September 8,1943 when Italy was occupied by the Nazis. The family was warned by the Questore (local police) that the Nazis were going to round them up and that they should leave immediately. The local priest in Concordia helped them. He had a connection in Florence who found them an apartment. In addition, the priest provided them with fake documents stating that they were from Benevento (which was already under Allied control). Zdenko was given the name Luigi Bianchi.

The family was liberated in Florence in August of 1944, and they were transferred to the DP camp in Cinecittà (Rome) where they stayed until 1947. In Cinecittà Zdenko met Henry Winkler and his future wife Evelyn Bergl. Zdenko came to the United States in 1949 with his parents. Zdenko and Evelyn married in 1954. Zdenko served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He worked as a serviceman with heating and cooling companies in the area of Kansas City.

He passed away on April 15, 2016 in Kansas City, MO.

Zdenko's Identity Card (USHMM)

Cover of a false identification card issued by local church authorities to the Croatian Jew, Zdenko Bergl, who was then living in "free-confinement" with the Mitrani-Andreoli family in Modena, Italy, under the name of Luigi Bianchi.

The identity card, which was issued after the armistice and the German occupation of Italy, registered his place of birth as Bari, a town in the part of Italy already under Allied control. Verification was therefore impossible.

The donor, Zdenko Bergl was born August, 1929 in St. Ivan Zabno in Croatia. He is the son of Nandor Bergl, a businessman, and Ilonka Bergl. Zdenko survived the war in hiding in Croatia and Italy. In August 1941 as a twelve year old boy, Zdenko left his hometown and went into hiding in Susak, Croatia. He remained there for six months before fleeing over the border to Modena, Italy. He succeeded in securing false papers from the local church authorities and lived in "free-confinement" with the Mitrani-Andreoli family in Modena until September 1943. From Modena Bergl continued on to Florence where he stayed with the family of Neila Fussi until the end of the war in August 1944. Afterwards he resided in the Cinecitta DP camp in Rome. When he completed high school in September 1947 he moved to Lake Como, Italy. In 1949 he succeeded in obtaining immigration papers for the U.S. Bergl sailed aboard the U.S. Army transport vessel, Marina Jumper, from Naples to New York in November 1949.