Vilim Štefan – Drenovčan who indebted Drenova

Vilim Štefan was born on Drenova in 1920 and died in 2010. He is certainly on the list of our fellow citizens who are important for our Drenova, so we will remember him with the help of our archive and the conversation that was conducted with William a year before he left us, and was published in our Drenovski list.

The interview was conducted by Christian Grailach and was originally published in the Drenovski list no.16, from April 2009.

Writing in our journal about Drenova’s past, I often cited the book as a source of information “Drenova – education and historical development“ (Rijeka, 1987), which was published on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the Drenovska school and in which Vilim Štefan, my current interlocutor, wrote several articles.

Mr. Štefan, who welcomed me in his house on Gornja Drenova, was introduced by Alberto Mihich, who also, in his own way of painting, preserves Drenova's past, so I had the great pleasure of being in company and talking to two, as I would call it, chroniclers of Drenova.

Mr. Štefan, for a start, tell me something about yourself, introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born on May 12, 1920, in this same house. I spent my childhood not so hard, and I can't even say it was easy. In fact, life was hard at the time, and my family was just like everyone else.

I started elementary school at Donja Drenova, which, as we know, in 1924 by the Treaty of Rome, together with Rijeka, belonged to Italy. When the Tunić school in Gornja Drenova was built in 1930, I continued my primary education in the Croatian language in our new Croatian school. From that time I gladly remember teacher Ribarić who, as well-read, cultured and extremely musically wrestled, passed on knowledge to us young Drenovci. After elementary school, I attended and completed 4 grades of Gymnasium in Sušak.

The political and cultural life of Drenova at that time was marked by the work of the Public Reading Room Drenova, in whose work I myself became involved, so at the end of the thirties I was also the secretary of the Reading Room.

I remember from that time Ivan Matetić Ronjgov who came to our house since we are a distant family and who wrote folk songs on the field. This is how he came to listen to Ivan Petrović - Rapinić, a well-known Drenov musician on sopele.

The previously mentioned violent division of Drenova greatly affected life. Many residents of Gornja Drenova were employed in Rijeka's companies, such as in the Tobacco Factory (Palt). As Rijeka was in the then Italian state, these employees were put before the decision to, if they want to keep their jobs and livelihoods, opt for

Italian affiliation (so-called citadinanza) or for the loss of a job that was difficult to find even at that time. Even today, I vividly remember my barba Stanko, who also worked in Rijeka and who was pressed by the decision to opt for Italian citizenship or lose his job crying, saying: ‘Hrvatska mat me j’ gave birth, and moran da san Italian’. And the nona said: "Enroll Stanko, ter you will remain vavek what you are vavek bil - Croat".

And then an even harder time came – the Second World War started!

That's right, war was the hardest and also the most active part of my life. I can say a little good about the war in which I ignored one ear when we were lying in the snow in Lika for fifteen days. The war took my brother Milivoj who died at the age of 18. I was not a hero, but I did not run away from the obligations and difficulties of war and I am proud of my contribution to freedom. After the war, I worked on Brioni as a manager and met Tito often. When I lost my job at Brioni, I got a job at Cleanliness in Rijeka as a worker and gradually progressed to the post of director of Parks and Plantations.

In the book “Drenova – Education and Historical Development”, you participated with your several contributions, which make up almost half of the book. How did you get so much data from Drenova's past?

Even as a student and later as a young man, I often sat next to the elderly, grandparents, father, mother and listened to their memories of the past. Some things I wrote down, some things I remembered. As I was interested in the past of our region, the initiative to publish the aforementioned book was very welcome. It was a unique opportunity to publish my writings and memories and thus enable younger people to get acquainted with the customs and turbulent days of the history of Drenova.

How familiar are you with today's events on Drenova?

Given my age, I'm not as interested as I used to be. I must say that Drenova has always been neglected and somewhat forgotten by both the media and politicians. In recent years, I have heard and I see that a lot has been started on which I have to congratulate.

Do you read Drenovski list? What do you think of him?

I read it regularly and I like it. I like the fact that there is no politics and that it is focused on life topics. I would especially like to commend the fact that the list can find out what is being launched and what is planned for Drenova's progress. I'm also happy to read stories from Drenova's past. All praise to the initiative to launch the newspaper and the people who are working on its realization.