Ayana Horovic Touval

Ayana Touval was born Ayana Horovic in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on March 4, 1939. Her father, Ernest, managed Nashichka, a successful timber company. Her mother, Herta, was a piano teacher. She had been a student at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. The family lived a comfortable life surrounded by a large extended family that also lived in Zagreb. 

In April 1941, Nazi Germany and its Axis partners (including Fascist Italy) invaded and partitioned Yugoslavia, disrupting Ayana’s peaceful early childhood. The area in which Ayana’s family lived became part of the so-called Independent State of Croatia. It fell under the control of the Croatian fascist Ustaša movement. The Ustaša-run Independent State of Croatia collaborated with Nazi Germany, instituted its own antisemitic policies, and perpetrated the mass murder of Jews, Roma, Serbs, and political opponents. Jews, including 2-year-old Ayana, were forced to wear a yellow badge with a “Ž” on it for Židow, the Croatian word for Jew. They were also forced to register all of their belongings with the authorities. 

Recognizing the threat to their lives, Ayana, her parents, and her grandmother, Irena, fled to the island of Korčula (Italian: Curzola) in the Adriatic Sea, which was occupied by the Italians. Bela Friedman, Ayana’s maternal grandfather, was the head of the Jewish community in Osijek (a city in eastern Croatia.) He stayed behind because he felt responsible for the care of the remaining Jewish community in Osijek. Several other extended family members also stayed.

Ayana and her family spent 18 months on the island. Ernest and Herta spent many hours waiting in line for access to water and food, mainly fish. Irena waited at the port daily for her husband’s arrival on a ship that would never come.

In 1943, the family left the island for mainland Italy. On one occasion, Italian policemen stopped the train and demanded to see the family’s papers. After 4-year-old Ayana smiled at them, they left the compartment without checking the documents. The family completed their journey, obtaining false papers with new names and Catholic identities from a monk. They settled in Cutigliano, an Italian mountain town north of Florence. 

There, the family lived under their new identities. Ayana was instructed to speak only Italian to protect their true identities. The family found a small hotel to live in. They survived on chestnuts and mushrooms foraged from the forest nearby. Irena studied the Italian dictionary while Ayana’s parents listened intently to the radio for news about the war and possible information about their family members who remained in Croatia. 

In April 1944, almost six months after the Germans occupied Northern Italy and as occupation forces approached Cutigliano, Ernest decided the family should try to flee to neutral Switzerland. During the journey north, they spent two weeks in Milan, sheltering in local train stations as the Allies bombed the city. Finally, they made it across the border. 

Ayana’s parents found jobs working at a local children’s home, where Ayana was placed for the first few months. Irena had to live in a home for elderly refugees. Eventually they all settled together in Geneva, Switzerland. While in Switzerland, Ayana learned French and attended kindergarten. In the beginning of 1945, the family received the news, via the Red Cross, that her grandfather Bela, uncle Branimir, and great grandmother Regina had been killed in Croatia. 

On May 8, 1945, the war in Europe ended. Ayana celebrated with others at a grand parade on the streets of Geneva. Shortly afterwards, Ayana and her family traveled back to what was now Communist Yugoslavia to see if any other family members had survived. Unfortunately, they found only one cousin. Neighbors had looted Irena’s home. But after some effort she was able to obtain some of her belongings, including painted family portraits. When Ayana was in second grade, her father was arrested for his ties with the timber company, which the regime claimed exported resources to “imperialists.” After one year in prison, he was released by the Communist authorities in order to become the director of Yugodrvo, the largest timber company in Yugoslavia. The family immigrated to Israel in July 1949 and settled in Ramat Gan. 

Ayana moved to the United States in 1985 and taught high school mathematics. She now teaches mathematics at a community college. She also volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.