Jewish refugee children interned in the prison at Pristina, circa April 1942. Gavra Mandil is seated on the right, and Irena Mandil is sitting in the front on the far left.
The Mandil family managed to escape from German-occupied Yugoslavia to the relative safety of Italian-occupied territories in present-day Kosovo. They lived freely for a short time among the Jewish community in the city of Pristina. However, Italian occupation forces soon interned the growing number of Jewish refugees in an empty school before relocating them to the city’s prison. The Mandils were confined there with more than a hundred others for several months. Gavra Mandil would later recall that he and his sister Irena spent much of their time at Pristina playing war in the prison courtyard with the other children.
The Italian guards treated the interned Jews decently. Mosa Mandil began to earn their respect and favor with his photography skills. He created portraits of the guards and officers and soon was on friendly terms with them. But German authorities were pressuring the Italians to turn over Jewish refugees to them. German forces took custody of dozens of the interned Jews at Pristina in late spring 1942 and killed them. In response, the Italian guards at Pristina prison found several trucks to transport the remaining Jews farther away from German influence. The Jewish refugees drove to Italian-occupied Albania. Each truck went to a different city or town. The Mandils and several other families went to the Albanian city of Kavaja.
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