Jakov Rojnić

* 1925

  • „I remember, I think on two occasions, we were trying to get to, and the Germans also, the pilots who parachuted. One time, I got the assignment, with another fighet, to find those pilots and pick up the paracutes. Because those parachutes could be used for...We entered the village of Bateli where we found the pilots but the villagers have already taken, a family has already taken the parachutes. I think there were more of that family, I've been told several times... The I said to them, I was very strickt, that I am going to kill them if they don't give them to me..that could have happened. I said. „You must give it to me, or else...“ Tehy had a lot of children and it was useful to them but still they gave us the parachutes and we barely managed to bring the to the command. I think it was the next night when we escorted the pilots, I believe there were four of them, to Šubi in Kaval near Peruški. There was an English station, a radio station or some kind of headquarters. This is were their submarines or ships arrived to pick them up. So we escorted the pilots there. What happened to them, I don't know. One time we were also there, when German ships arrived so a battle occured between those ships...German ship was sunk, and the English were probably saved, the pilots were taken away.“

  • „Until Italian capitulation there were no strong or large organizations..only one case when an action was taken and some telephone poles were sawn of and they received jail time, I don't know how many...but there were no pressures. But when Italy capitulated, then it was something unspeakable. Joy, happiness. Old and young exited their homes, started to joy and honoring..Then the movement started. „Let's go and liberate Barban, let's liberate Savičenta, let's liberate everything, everything..Unarmed mass was coming..we had no weapons..It was unseen. I was working in a bauxite research, with those ('), those were two or three meters long sticks, we drilled the ground and trying to find..I remember when we heard about the capitulation, all those tools were thrown away and we ran away to our homes, we didn't ask for our salary or anything, we just wanted to fight, to engage etc. Very quickly the carabinieri were disarmed, who where in Barban, and the people took the power. Older people quickly formed the authorities so they could function normally. Then, I think, there were very little, or almost nobody from the outside, from Croatia who might establish an organization. The people themselves established their own organization as best as they could and knew.“

  • „And in Rovinj we were capturing the fugitive Germans. The Germans were trying to escape by boat but were failing and then...One time, on a boat, a small boat, they ran against an island. They abbandoned the boat and started to swim back...That's where we were capturing them. We got an assignment to go on a boat onto the island to capture anyone who is there. Between Rovinj and ...that island...can't remember it's name, we met on a..I think it was a torpedo boat. A little torpedo boat tktktktktkt, it was still running, functioning. Away from it was a German, he probably had a..I think he was dead, he had that thing, I don't know it's name?“ „A life vest.“ „Life vest, for swimming.“ „Yes, yes, yes.“ „To keep him floating. I somebody: „Come on, take it!“ The fishermen started to shout to draw the torpedo boat next to our own ship. Somebody among them..I guess he was the smarter, he said: „Watch it, it could be full of mines.“ It was probably a torpedo boat. Only one sailor could have been inside. So we let it go and continued, and sometime later, near the coast, this..(boat) boat arrived and exploded. Had we decided to pull it near us, we would have been blown away.“

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    Pula, 08.08.2015

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...we didn‘t ask for our salary or anything, we just wanted to fight, to engage...

German surrender at Muzil
German surrender at Muzil
zdroj: Povijesni i pomorski muzej Istre

Jakov Rojnić was born in 1925 in a small village of Kovačići. His father Paškvalin and mother Foška (maiden name Draguzet) had twelwe children of whom ten survived. His family was poor so his mother was sewing neighbours‘ clothes to feed her family. His father was a veteran of the First World War. During Italian administration in Istria his surname was changed into Roini. He finished Italian primary school in Petehi. He disliked school and enjoyed more by helping his family in agriculture. In his homeplace, people have heard about the partisans from the stories told in Raša mines where he worked on bauxite research. After Italian capitulation they went to their homes and joined the partisans. Jakov was starting to organize partisan units. His group arrived in Žminj and witnessed heavy bombing. They needed to hide, but there were no severe casualties. Then was the first time he took a gun into his hands. During the war he passed through almost whole of Istria, was wounded in the leg and three of his brothers died in the war. He performed difficult tasks during the war, setting up ambushes, rescuing Allied pilots and his fellow fighters. He witnessed the end of the war in Rovinj whereupon he got the assignment of guarding German prisoners. His group transported the Germans from Pula to Rijeka. He joined the police force working as a police commissar in Motovun. Soon after that he finished a police course and started to work on Yugoslav - Italian border with task of stopping the smuggling. He worked in Pula as a director of several  enterprises.