Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-07-01

The aged parents of Joseph F.
Habrich, but a week arrived in the
United States from Jugo-Slavia,
can tell the American people just
what it means to live in war-ridden
Europe. They came here last week
and will stay with their son who is
resident of Eagle River for the
past dozen or so years and is one Of
Villas county's biggest realtors.
Mr.. Habrich, in telling the writer
of the conditions in Jugo-Slavia
and other provinces of Europe,
gave such a gripping story Of what
the people there are going through
that he was induced to write the
following little history for the ben
eft of those in America who can
not realize just what is going on in
foreign lands and in that matter
in our own country. The story is
interesting:
Joseph and Maria Habrich came
from Jugo-Slavia near Fiume,
where the Italian poet, D'Annunzo
was terrorizing during the World
War. They tell pitiful stories about
the Great War and some things
the American people cannot believe
to have been possible. The home
Of my parents was on the Island
Of Veglia, which has about one
hundred square miles and a popu-
lation of about twenty-five thous-
and. During the war this island
was cut off entirely from the in
terror, and no steamboats, or ships
of any kind were travelling between
the shore and this island.
My parents had only two sons,
younger brother Peter and my
self. Being the fact that in our
country it costs a great deal of
money 10 educate a man or woman,
my parents could not spend any
money for the education of my
brother, SO for four years | regu-
larly supported my brother and he
received the highest education pos
sible to be gotten in that country.
He was graduated from the acad-
envy, which is similar to our univer-
sity, sometime in July, 1915, and he
was called into service two weeks
after and was killed sometime in
September that year. 1t could very
plainly be seen that the Austrian
government was putting in the best
educated men to get rid of them
for some reason. 1t appears that
right now there is hardly any
own that has teachers qualified to
leach school. It was one of the
hardest things on my parents when
my brother was killed, and at the
same time they were worrying be-
cause they were not able to hear
from me for five years.
All men between the ages Of
eighteen and fifty years were called
to war; even the feeble-minded
were taken into the army and made
to peel potatoes or otherwise help
in the kitchens. The children, the
old folks, and the women only were
left at home. When the food sup
ply began to run out they would
exchange food with each other,
but later when everything had run
out, my parents say that every
woman and child would carry a
knife with them and pick every
thing that was green, making food
of it. For several years no mail or
food of any kind was received into
the country. Some Of the people
would go with small boats from
the island to the shore when the
guard was not watching and go as
far as thirty or forty miles into the
interior trying to find corn and
other kinds of food. They could
only bring home about three or
four pounds at the most at one
time. The Austrian government
was very desperate; they took all
thezyoung men, then all the money,
and finally even the cooking uten-
sils. In that country all the dishes
are made of copper and brass and
other metals and these were taken
and used for making bullets and
guns. Even the valuable clothing
was taken. My father told me
that in order to save the necessary
clothing he dug a large hole in the