The story about the Rajičić brothers, respectable merchants from Gornji Milanovac, would probably have never been told if three enthusiastic researchers – Fabian Vendrig, Tanja Vendrig, and John M. Stienen – hadn’t found an article in the Dutch newspapers Tubantia published on 24 January 1919, while they were looking for the data on the Serbian soldiers who died in the Netherlands during the First World War. The article was about four Serbian soldiers who died from the consequences of the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919 and were buried with full military honours in a cemetery in the city of Enschede in the Netherlands. The article mentions the names of the buried soldiers (Sreten Rajičić, Božidar Radovanović, Miloš Obradović, and Stojan Đorđević), as well as the data that a family member of one deceased soldier was present at the funeral… Those were Sreten and Drago Rajičić from Gornji Milanovac. During captivity, the two of them were together for a while in a concentration camp Soltau in Germany. When the war was over, they were transferred to the neutral Netherlands to recover and return to their homeland. Unfortunately, Sreten died from the consequences of the Spanish flu – an epidemic that appeared among soldiers – in the Netherlands, whereas Drago survived and returned successfully to Gornji Milanovac.

Dragomir Drago Rajičić was most probably born in 1891/92 in Gornji Milanovac. During the Great War, he was a medical technician in Serbian military medical service. As a war prisoner, he came first to the Austro-Hungarian camp Heinrichgrün in the northwest of Bohemia, and then he was moved to the German camp Soltau on 21 May 1916. It was unbelievable that his older brother Sreten was also a prisoner at the same time in the camp Soltau. Sreten Rajičić was born in 1889 in Gornji Milanovac. He was an officer in the second company of the second battalion of the Tenth Infantry Regiment with the headquarters in Čačak. Sreten became a war prisoner in Kuršumlija on 3 November 1915. He was then taken to Austro-Hungarian camp Braunau in the northeast Bohemia (present-day the Czech Republic). Sreten Rajičić was in the first group of 1,200 Serbian soldiers who were taken from the camp Braunau to the German camp Soltau on 23 January 1916. This transfer of soldiers was a part of the agreement between Austro-Hungarians and Germans. Austro-Hungarians got wheat from their German allies, and in return Serbian soldiers became cheap labour.

Sreten most probably worked outside the camp, in agriculture, industry or mining industry. Drago worked inside the camp because of his medical knowledge. Thus, there was a slim chance that the two of them spent time together in the camp, but it is assumed that they knew about each other’s whereabouts.

In the book written by a PhD Milan Radovanović, “The Dutch “Mercy” and Serbs in the Great War”, a card was published. Drago sent that card from the Soltau camp (which can be concluded based on the camp stamp on it) on 12 April 1918 to his family, that is to his – as he himself stated on the card – “To my dear and sweet sisters Ljubinka and Milica”. The card was addressed to Karađorđeva Street. On the front side of the card, there was a picture of war prisoners titled “Romanian prisoners in 1916/1917”. Indeed, Romanian war prisoners arrived in German concentration camps in the period between October 1916 and January 1917. However, there weren’t many Romanians in the Soltau camp. We assume that the soldiers from the picture were actually Serbian soldiers, judging by the traditional cap “šajkača” that soldiers wore on their heads.

After the truce came into force on 11 November 1918, Serbian prisoners were returned to their homeland. Serbs from the Soltau camp were sent to the Netherlands. That way, Drago first came to Nijmegen on 13 January 1919, and the very next day he was transferred to Nieuw-Milligen to a transit camp. Exhausted and hungry soldiers started showing symptoms of “the Spanish flu” on a large scale. Within a week, the epidemic spread and became a serious problem. As a medical technician, Drago was immediately assigned to treat patients, that is soldiers from Serbia and France. A photo, which was taken by H.A. Autgarten on 5 February 1919 in a hospital in Rotterdam (a private property) and which shows Drago Rajičič in a uniform among the sick people and the medical staff, is preserved. Drago’s name is written at the back of the photo as “Serge(ant)Raitchich”. This photo helped reconstruct his movement in the Netherlands: Nijmegen – Nieuw-Milligen – his brother Sreten’s funeral in Enschede – his return to Rotterdam at the end of January, then going to France at the beginning of February, and finally his return to his homeland and his hometown Gornji Milanovac. Furthermore, a letter which Drago Rajičić sent to Lepa Vukosavljević – the wife of his friend from captivity Đorđe Vukosavljević (the letter is the property of Đorđe Vukosavljević’s great-granddaughter Zorica Jelača) – is kept. Drago sent this letter on 9 August 1919. In this letter, he informed Lepa Vukosavljević about the death of her husband in a camp in Nieuw-Milligen in the Netherlands, and he also expressed his regret for not informing her earlier about it. Namely, it took him half a year to arrive from the Netherlands to Serbia. In addition to that, he informed her in the letter that he had known her husband since 1917, and that Sreten was also in a camp with them.

Sreten was likewise transferred to Enschede in the Netherlands, where he came down with “the Spanish flu”. That was why he was admitted to a general hospital Ziekenzorg (Veenstraat district). He died on 22 January 1919, 30 minutes past midnight. He was buried with full military honours on 24 January. Dutch soldiers led by sergeant Lesman stood at the corner of the street leading to the main cemetery that morning to pay respects to Serbian soldiers on their last journey – Miloš Obradović, Stojan Đorđević, Božidar Radovanović (from Belo Polje), and Sreten Rajičić. Muffled drum sounds were present during the procession till the graves. Gun salutes were fired as a farewell during the procession and the burial itself. Four floral tributes were placed on graves. The Dutch newspaper Tubantia wrote about this event, as it has already been mentioned. In it, we found out that a family member of one deceased soldier (Drago Rajičić) was present at the funeral and that he was allowed to drop a lump of soil on his brother’s grave.

There is a monument in Enschede that was placed at the beginning of 1921 to commemorate 32,690 French, 26,960 British, 6,930 Belgian, 6,650 Italian, 1,660 Serbian, 50 Russian, and 15 Japanese soldiers who went through this city between 20 November 1918 and 20 January 1919. In total, 16 Serbs were buried in Enschede. Sreten’s remains together with other Serbian soldiers’ remains who died in the Netherlands were exhumed on 11 May 1938 by the team from Nieuw-Milligen, led by a Yugoslav inspector Dobrosav Popović. Sreten’s remains were laid in a box with number 26 on it. They were first sent to Nieuw-Milligen from Enschede, and from there to a mausoleum in Jindřichovice where they are kept even today.

Together with last soldiers who recovered from the Spanish flu, Drago returned to his homeland from Rotterdam with a stopover in France in February 1919. Following his return from the war, Drago continued running his family business, which he inherited from his father Vladimir, that is business related to the bookshop – he printed postcards with motifs from Gornji Milanovac and its surroundings. Later on, he opened a shop that sold radios, Singer sewing machines, and bicycles. Before the First World War, his father Vladimir Rajičić (1854-1912) had a bookshop in Karađorđeva Street in Gornji Milanovac, which sold printed postcards with motifs of the town and its surroundings besides other goods. He was a respected merchant. During 1895, Vladimir was the president of the Supervising Board in the savings bank in Milanovac (the savings bank was founded in 1888), and the Board members included Maksim L. Sretenović, Milić M. Đorđević, Đoka Talović, and Toma M. Popović. He was also one of the founders of Rudnik shareholders’ union. Following the authorisation and signing of the rulebook of Rudnik shareholders’ union on 16 July 1902 by the National economics minister, union’s founders chose their first Management and Supervising Board in “Evropa” on 22 February 1903. In Vladimir’s, and then in Drago’s printing shop, some of the local newspapers were printed.

Vladimir was married to Jelisaveta, and the two of them had – besides Drago and Sreten – three more sons, Radomir (1892-1961), Tihomir (1900-1961), and Ranimir (1903-1963), and two daughters, Ljubinka (no data) and Milica (before 1900-1970). There is a preserved family Rajičić tomb on the town cemetery in Gornji Milanovac. Tihomir Tića Rajičić, Drago and Sreten’s brother, played football for “Takovo” football club. Football club “Takovo” was founded in 1911 by grammar school students during the summer holiday, at the time when Dušan Borisavljević and Petar Trifunović brought the first football ball from Belgrade. Tihomir Tića-Rajičić played on the first team as right wing since the club was founded.

On one of the kept postcards, which was printed in Drago’s shop, one can see their family shop. Radoslav Rade Bogosavljević (who remembered Drago as a boy), said that Drago was an honest and respected citizen of Gornji Milanovac. In addition to that, mister Rade remembers that on the day of the 25^th anniversary of Rudnik Offensive on 3 December 1939, when there was a big celebration organised in the town, Drago placed a speaker in front of his shop in Karađorđeva Street, so that all the citizens who gathered in a great number in front of his shop could listen to a live broadcast of the festivity that was organised in the assembly room of the grammar school. First class quality technical goods were sold at Drago’s shop, which could rarely be found elsewhere in the town. Drago was married to Kosara Koka Rajičić, but they didn’t have children.

An important event for the townspeople of Gornji Milanovac was the introduction of electric lights in 1921. Drago Rajičić, Dragoslav Majdanac, Mile Maćić, and other shareholders used joint funds to start power supply production. A steam machine set a direct current generator of 220 volts to motion. It was placed in Sima Majdanac’s mill, which was located at the corner of Karađorđeva and Mutapova Street. The Rajičić family has remained memorised as a benefactor of the church in Gornji Milanovac, which newspaper “Rudnički glasnik” wrote about on 6 January 1935. They gave to church in Gornji Milanovac as a present one big felt cover with an estimated value of the then 500 dinars, so that father Vladimir and mother Jelisaveta may rest their souls in peace.

Drago Rajičić died at the beginning of February 1941 in Gornji Milanovac. He was buried in a family tomb in the cemetery in Gornji Milanovac. Photos used in the text belong to the collection of the Museum of Rudnik and Takovo Region, as well as to the private archive of Fabiano Vendrig and Milan Radovanović.