Bauer Čedomir

Manusov (Obradović), Olga Kalabić (Obradović), Ida Bauer, Čedomir Bauer, Branko The sisters, Ida and Olga Obradović lived in Zagreb with their elderly mother. Ida worked in the Unitas thread factory and it was there, before the war, that she met and became friends with the Jewish Ljerka Mikac. In 1935, Ljerka (née Goranic) had married Dragutin Mikac, a Croatian Catholic, but the marriage did not work out and they divorced three years later. However, she kept her husband’s family name. In May 1941, she was ordered to vacate her apartment, and turned to her friend Ida and asked to move in with them temporarily. The Obradovićes agreed to shelter her in their home despite the risk of denunciation. Ida (later Kalabić) and Olga (later Manusov) were not deterred from keeping the Jewish woman in their home, where they treated her with warmth and devotion. Ljerka did not want to endanger her friends and decided to seek shelter elsewhere. At first she moved from place to place, until the spring of 1943, when she rented a room in the home of Čedomir Bauer, a widower that lived with his son Branko, and earned an income by renting out rooms. At first she did not tell her landlord that she was Jewish, but one night while Ljerka was out, police entered Bauer’s home and arrested three other Jews living there. Ljerka then admitted to him that she was a Jew and told him that she was willing to leave his home if he so desired. Bauer decided to take the risk of keeping her in his home; his son, Branko, then a student, prepared an escape plan for Ljerka, in case it should be necessary for her to flee. In the fall of 1944, two policemen came to arrest Ljerka because someone had denounced her, and all her protestations that her husband was Catholic did not help her. Fortunately, Bauer entered the room at that moment and saw what was happening. He immediately phoned the police commander, a former classmate, explained that the denouncement was based on lies and that he could vouchfor her. The commander ordered the policemen to release Ljerka. After the war, Ljerka (later Cairn) moved to England. On April 12, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Ida Kalabic and her sister, Olga Manusov, and Čedomir Bauer and his son, Branko Bauer, as Righteous Among the Nations.