Actress Božidarka Frajt Discovers Wartime Mother’s Tragedy After 36 Years

Božidarka Frajt, born Božidarka Grublješić in 1940 in Velika Žuljevica, learned that her mother Vida had been shot by Ustaše during the Kozara offensive when she was a toddler. After the massacre, the four‑year‑old was deported to the Sisak children’s camp and later placed in a Red Cross shelter in Zagreb, where the Croatian couple Katarina and Stjepan Frajt adopted her and gave her their surname.

For decades she did not know her origins. In 2024, her aunt Dara Grublješić, a former wartime nurse, recognized Božidarka on a television broadcast and realized the actress was the missing niece. The revelation came 36 years after the war, prompting Božidarka to recount her early memories, saying, “Sećam se prve haljine i da nisam imala kosu.”

Božidarka now lives in Zagreb, is a mother of two, and continues her acting career, while reflecting on the profound impact of her family's wartime loss and subsequent adoption.