A RALLYING call has gone out to Vale residents to come forward with information and help a devoted son learn more about his father’s time in the area.
Peter Andjelkovic got in touch with the Observer in a bid for information about his father Vladislav’s time working in Evesham and Pershore after escaping the former Yugoslavia following the Second World War.
Having recently retired, Peter is trying to trace his family history and, having made some progress in his father’s former homeland, he is now looking to piece together Vladislav’s time in the Vale.
His father is believed to have taken his first job working on a farm somewhere in the Vale along with a number of his compatriots in 1947 and worked in the local area from then until 1952 when he married Peter’s mother.
“I would like to know if there are any archives available which might help me start to track down his time in Worcestershire. For example are any reports of refugees working on farms at the time?” he said.
The former Yugoslavia saw three outbreaks of mass migration after 1939 and in the first people fled persecution during conflict alongside the involuntary internal migration and emigration of Yugoslavians in the immediate post-war period.
As part of his appeal, Peter has shared pictures from his father’s early days in the UK and in Worcestershire specifically.
“There are three group photographs which show the group he arrived with in Worcestershire, but I think the one with the wood-framed building in the background may include some British people too,” he said.
“The photograph of my father with a horse is one I think taken during his first job in the UK which I believe was as a farm worker again in the Pershore or Evesham area.”
Anyone who can help Peter can e-mail [email protected] and the Observer will pass on the information to Peter.
