Sister Marija Gracija Mileković
Sr. Marija Gracija Mileković
She was born on December 7, 1877 in Pakasin near Gradec. As a young girl she joined the Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. As a nun, she graduated from the teacher’s school “preparandija”, as it was called then, and spent her entire religious life as a teacher at the public school in Daruvar. Before that she was a teacher in Marija Bistrica. She was killed on October 2, 1943, during the train ride from Zagreb to Daruvar. After the Partisans stopped the train by laying a mine on the tracks, the plane mowed down Sister Marija Gracija Mileković with machine gun fire.
The Catholic Church in the Croatian nation developed a great activity in the field of education at the beginning of the 20th century, just as in the 19th century. In almost every major town, even in small ones, schools were established, run by our nuns. Numerous Croatian children received their first knowledge, education and upbringing from our good, self-sacrificing and zealous religious sisters. Thus, Sister Gracija performed her service as a nun mainly as a teacher at the public school in Daruvar.
The Croatian state railroad’s Register of Accidents in 1943 lists all the actions of Communists and Partisans under the title “Diversions and attacks by Partisans on the railroad in northwestern Croatia in September and October 1943.” Thus, under number 20 it reads:
October, 2. Severin Bulinac. At the 16th km between Severin and Bulinac, train 1530 hit a mine, which was followed by an attack – 4 killed, 3 wounded.
Killed:
1) Franjo Haraček
2) Adolf Kratiš
3) religious sister Marija Gracija Mileković from Daruvar
4) a German soldier
Wounded: Andrilo Čuk, Ustasha sub lieutenant from Veliki Zdenci.
Damage: loc. 51 – 027 – HRK 130.
From the letter of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent, we learn that Sister M. Gracija went from Daruvar to Zagreb on business. She spent a few days there and would be returning on October 2, 1943. The train was attacked by enemy planes. Sister Gracija was hit and killed instantly. Several passengers were killed with her. Her dead body was taken by train to Daruvar by the Sisters from Grubišno Polje. There they buried her, together with the Superior Sr. Magna, in the presence of her students. Her funeral is beautifully described. Thus, Sr. M. Gracija, at the age of 56, was the first bloody victim of the Sisters of Charity. The Partisans carried out terrorist attacks on the trains, and Allied planes with Yugoslav pilots bombed them. It was not by chance that the pilot aimed the bullet at Sister Gracija. At that time the planes were much slower and we can assume that the pilot targeted precisely her. The passengers scattered from the train, the pilot saw the nun and fired. It is interesting that after her tragic death, Sr. Gracija Mileković was replaced by a young and enthusiastic teacher, Sr. Aurelija Kukolja, who also died as a nun in Daruvar on December 7, 1944, but it is not known how she died.
Source: Don Anto Baković, Hrvatski martirologij XX. stoljeća, Zagreb, 2007.
Editorial/crimesofcommunism.net
