All the information below were graciously provided to me by Mr. Zoran Pantelić, great-grandson of Ćamilo, from his second daughter Luna, who married a Serb, Ljubomir Pantelić.
Samuilo Almozlino, nicknamed Ćamilo, was born on the 23rd of September 1877., in the renowned and distinguished Sephardic Jewish family of Almozlino. His father was named Josif Avram, and his mother was Rahela, nee Cvi (Zvi). He got his nickname, Ćamilo, (pronounced Chamilo, the "ch" being spoken as in the words "chair", "Chocolate", albeit a bit softer), in early childhood, and was known by it throughout all the Belgrade Jewry, but also among the distinguished people of other ethnicities and faiths. Being extremely talented for acting, and posessing a most pleasing baritone voice, he became a permanent member of the Serbian Royal Theater in 1900. He left the theater suddenly in 1914., leaving behind over 30 roles in many different dramatic pieces. He was one of the better paid actors at that time. His name was included in the state calendar for 1911. as Ćamilo Almuzlinović, while on advertising material he was known as Ćamilo Ćamilović. He also recorded under that name, often abbreviated as just Ć. Ćamilović. Among the companies for which he recorded were Concert Gramophone, Odeon, and Favorite.
Ćamilo participated in both Balkan wars, as well as in the First World War. As a Serbian officer, he was interned in a camp in the town of Boldogasonj, (Boldogasszony), nowadays Frauenkirchen in Austria. In the camp, the living conditions were very bad, but the inmates managed to form a theater. Similar theaters were formed in other camps which contained interned Serbian officers. Ćamilo, of course, participated in the activies of the theater.
After the war ended, he bought a well known kafana on Dorćol, Dva bela konja (Two white horses), located on the corner of Dušanova and Višnjićeva streets. In 1922., he was the owner of the kafana Jevrejska kasina, located on the corner of Dušanova and Princa Evgenija (nowadays Braće Baruh).
He was a man of good standing, often seen in the company of such luminaries as Branislav Nušić, or the actor Dobrica Milutinović, etc.
He was not as fortunate in his family life. He first married Oru (Zlata) Albahari (an equivalent name among some Ashkenazim would be Goldelle or Goldie), (born 1. March 1879.), a daughter of a very rich and distinguished Belgrade Jew Salamon Albahari. The wedding occured on the 26th of September 1900. They had three daughters: Rahela (3. February 1901.), Luna, the grandmother of Mr. Pantelić, (19. March 1903.), and Ester (5. April 1906., died as an infant on 22nd of July 1906.) Three months before little Ester died, Zlata also passed away, on the 20th of April 1906. Having been widowed, with small children to care for, he married for the second time, a divorcee, Venezijana Alkalaj, nicknamed Veza. The marriage occured on the 5th of June 1906. Venezijana brought with her a daughter of her own, Sultana Bukica (Bukica (Bookitsa) being the name for the oldest female child among Sefaradim, originating from the word bohor).)
Veza was a good woman, who accepted Samuilo’s children as though they were her own. She was killed in the bombing of Belgrade on the 6th of April 1941.
His eldest daughter, Rahela, married Mata Arueti on the 26th of September 1920. With him, she had two children: Jisrael (Yisrael, 26. 12. 1921.-19. 04. 1922.), and Samuilo, nicknamed Samika, (10. 03. 1923.)
After Mata Arueti died, Rahela married for the second time, this time to an Ashkenazi, Leopold Erenyi (25. 09. 1927.)
His second daughter, Luna, nicknamed Sklava, married a Serb, Ljubomir Pantelić, on 22nd of November 1925. At first, Samuilo opposed this union, but soon he accepted his daughter and son in law in his own house in Mladonagoričanska street no. 19 (now the Branka Krsmanovića street, the house still exists).
Luna gave birth to two daughters, Anka (1925.), and Dana (1927.), and a son, Bratislav (1931.), Bratislav being the father of Mr Zoran Pantelić, my honourable informant. Anka married Milen Lazarević, who was for many years the director of "Centrotekstil", with whom she has two daughters, Branislava and Slobodanka. Dana married Milan Leka, a technologist, one of our most famous specialists in plastic matter, with whom she had a son, Bogdan, sadly deceases as of a couple years ago.
Bratislav graduated from the 6th male grammar school in Belgrade, and, as an excellent student, he was relieved of having to pass a graduation exam, with 14 others of his classmates. He then studied, and graduated from, the Faculty of medicine in Belgrade. He married Mira Kalšan on 4th of July 1952., with whom he had two sons, Zoran and Ljubomir.
But let us return to the life and fate of Samuilo (Ćamilo) Almozlino.
The outbreak of the war found the entire family in Belgrade. After the bombing, and subsequent German occupation, Jews were forced to labour (cleaning the ruins, etc).
Luna Almozlino, nicknamed Sklava, who changed her name to Slavka after marriage, remained alone, her husband, Ljubomir, as a reservist of the Yugoslav army, was taken as a prisoner and interned in Germany. Having thus been left with three children, she gathered her courage and did not answer the call of the Germans for all the Jews to register themselves. As Mr Pantelić put it, thanks to good people, her Serbian neighbours, she and her children were saved, because noone betrayed them. Her sister Rahela, father Samuilo and her nephew Samika, did not have such luck.
Near the end of 1941., Ćamilo, and his grandson from his daughter Rahela, were imprisoned in the Topovske šupe (former army barracks of the Royal Yugoslav Army, "Prince Andrej Karageorgevich"). There was scarcity of food, hygiene was non-existent, every day new people were brought and the old inmates were taken, who knows where. About 400 people were daily taken to be shot in places such as Rakovica, Bežanija, Ledine, Jabuka, etc.
In the first days, food and clothes was permitted to be brought to the camp, by the relatives of those imprisoned therein. Almot all of it ended up taken by the guards, of course. Ćamilo’s daughter Luna used to bring such necessities to him, but he warned her to cease doing so, and not to come to visit him, for she is only drawing attention to herself that way.
Soon, there were no more Jews in Topovske šupe. The graves of Samuilo Almozlino and his grandson Samuilo (Samika) Aroeti, as well as the graves of many others, remain unmarked and unknown.
Owing primarily to the efforts of Steven Kozobarich, we can hear some of his recordings, such as this one, the link to which is given below.
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