John Jovan Lukich

This book was written by my late father, Dušan Lukich, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and published during 1991. For him, it was a massive project but one he felt compelled to complete, for as he states in the book, the truth about events in the Tromedja area of the former Yugoslavia, during WWII, needed to be told. As important, he wanted to ensure that the names of those who suffered, fought and died during that time, in that part of the country, would be remembered for their sacrifice. Therefore, the book is not a story about him as much as it a historical reference document.  The victor, it is said, gets to write history, and many have done exactly that with their selective and varnished versions…all the more reason for my  father to have written a book containing  truths from someone who witnessed, first hand, the actual events that took place during that point in time.  

The book was originally written in Serbian Cyrillic using a Cyrillic typewriter for each of its 335 pages. Since its original publishing, two things have occurred that allowed me to pursue the project of translating it into English for my father’s grandchildren: technology advanced enough to allow for the translation and conversion of the book into an electronic format, and I had the time to devote to it. It was time well spent!  

In translating it, I used the method of scanning each page to create an MSWord document; I then uploaded each page to Google Translate, downloaded the translated page, and then fixed up the translated page to ensure it stayed true to the original text. This process allowed me to do about five pages every 2-3 hrs. After each section of the book was translated, I put all the pages of a section together, reviewing it page by page. Once all the sections were translated, I combined everything, including pictures, into one large document. I did take the liberty of putting in place a map on the last page of the book to provide context around the journey made to Slovenia at the end of the war. 

After several complete re-reads of the book, I readied it for conversion to an e-book. 

This is not a word-for-word translation as there were a number of words Google Translate nor I recognized -- but what Google Translate could not figure out, I did so by carefully reading the original sentences to understand the meaning, allowing me to paraphrase what wasn’t fully captured. I recognize this would not be considered an official translation by the literary world. And no doubt those whose mother tongue is Serbian will see nuances in the original text that were not captured in the translation. I am confident, however, that the English version is an accurate representation of the original book. 

I thank my late father Dušan (January 3, 1917 – November 27, 2006) for writing this book and I hope that those of you who read it will further appreciate the sacrifices of the Serbian people who lived through the horrors of the Ustasha and Communists. As well, I hope that you will have even greater respect for the Četnik fighters of Draža Mihailović - who bravely fought against all odds not for territorial gain or power, but rather so that the Serbian people – their nation, religion and customs - would not be wiped off the map in the Tromedja area of Lika. 

John Jovan Lukich – Translator 

Oakville, Ontario Canada 

May 2012