The brief history of the Maldini family The tale of two cities Very few places in the world had such a colorful and turbulent history as (modern ). It was first mentioned in the 4th century B.C., when it was originally inhabited by the Illyrians and Celts. In the 1st century B.C., it was conquered by the Romans, who, under the name of Sirmium proclaimed it an economic and political capital of , the province of the Roman Empire. At the time Sirmium had 100,000 inhabitants and was one of the biggest cities in the empire. Ten Roman Emperors were born there, and it served as an imperial residence several times in the past. Then, in the 16 century Sirmium fell to the Ottoman Turks. By 1538, the entire region was under Ottoman control. Two centuries later, Sirmium changed overlords again. As result of Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18. Habsburg Monarchy took from the Ottomans and made it a part of the Habsburg Military Frontier (Vojna Krajina or simply Krajina in Croatian). It was formed out of territories the Habsburgs conquered from the Ottoman Empire and included southern parts of Slavonia and Syrmia; today the area it covered is mostly in eastern , with its easternmost parts in , . Its main objective was to defend Christian Europe from the onslaught of the Islamic armies. The Croats, Serbs, Hungarians, Italians, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians and people from other parts of the vast Habsburg Empire, were invited to settle in the areas depopulated by Turkish invasion. By 1776, the rural population of the Slavonian military frontier was 177,212. The number of Roman Catholic men was 43,635, while number of Orthodox men was 33, 400. Between 1772 and 1774, ten to twelve thousands of Germans were added to the mix of predominantly Slavic settlers. They settled mainly in towns close to the border. The Monarchy provided them with the necessary security and economic assistance, so that their activities could flourish. The German settlers were favored over both the old population and newcomers from other nationalities. They formed the backbone of the civil administration of the Slavonian Krajina. In short, Vienna trusted them more than others. The Italians were treated in much the same way on the western flank of the frontier, in Venetia and Croatia. With the arrival of the Germans to Krajina, the already highly ethnically-mixed frontier population, became even more so. Ethnic marriages were common, notably between Croatians and Serbians and Croatians and German. It is during these turbulent times in the history of Sremska Mitrovica, that the first known traces of Maldini ancestors are to be found. In the Catholic cemetery in the city, there is a family Maldini crypt/mausoleum (No.1333). Since there are not any markings on it, it is difficult to ascertain who are the people buried there, how many, and when they were buried. For the lack of evidence, it is reasonable to assume, that whoever is buried in the crypt could be the oldest ancestors of the Maldini family in Sremska Mitrovica. Also, shrouded in mystery is the identity of Konstantin Maldini (b.1880-d.1950.), buried in the grave No.1179? He was born the same year as Maja’s grandfather Stjepan, who Maja affectionally called -- my deda. Could Konstantin and Stjepan had been brothers? Twins? Born the same year and of the same mother? Deda Stjepan Maldini (b.1880 d.1964), was married to Luiza Neubauer (b.1884 d.1910). They had one child Ladislav Maldini (b.1906-d.1986). Original email from Sremska Mitrovica Catholic Cemetery______Poštovani gosp.Juričić, Prema našoj evidenciji na Katoličkom groblju u Sremskoj Mitrovici sahranjeni su članovi porodice Maldini. Ispod vam navodim podatke sa popisa groblja izvršenog 2006. godine. 1. Grobnica obitelji Maldini. (na toj grobnici nema uklesanih imena, sa podatcima o broju pokojnih i godini sahranjivanja) br.133 2.Maldini Konstantin 1880.-1950. br. 1179 - grobno mesto ) 3. grobnica br.1670 sahranjeni Maldini Stjepan 1928- 1951 Olga 1917- 1987 Sofija 1923- 2005 Persida 1890- 1966 Mira 1925 - 20__ Anton1929 - 20__ Marija 1930 -2006 4. Maldini Josip sahranjen 1953, poživeo 67. god - grobno mest0. U programu naplate postoji podatak da je Ladislav Maldini sa adresom Ilica 36, Zagreb, uplaćivao 1979 zakup za grobno mesto Lujze Maldini. Od ovih navedenih grobnih mesta dva su aktivna a za njih zakup uplaćuju Agneza Ikavac i Slavica Maldini, obe žive u Sremskoj Mitrovici. To su podatci sa kojima mi raspolažemo. S poštovanjem, Snežana Krstajić Sektor Pogrebne usluge, JKP "Komunalije", Sremska Mitrovica Stari šor 94, 22000 Sremska Mitrovica 022/623110 ______In 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed and Sremska Mitrovica region became a part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On November 24, 1918, most of the region, including Mitrovica, joined the , and became incorporated in Vojvodina province. In 1910 percentage of Croats in Vojvodina was Serbs 33.8%, Croats 2.3%. ______It is known that during the Austro-Turkish war, Stjepan Maldini served on the Military Frontier as a male nurse. He volunteered. He was a familiar figure in the corridors of Austrian military hospital in Plitvice Lakes, Croatia. At the beginning, the small hospital was used as rehabilitation and convalescing center for imperial military officers, exclusively. But, as casualties kept mounting at the front, the hospital was converted to taking care of wounded rank and file soldiers. At the collapse of the Monarchy, in 1918, the hospital and facilities associated with the war effort, were converted into non-military use. Accommodation for travelers was erected at Velika Poljana, and the first hotel with a restaurant was built. Stjepan Maldini was appointed the first manager of the entire civilian complex in Plitvice Lakes. He and his 12 years old son Ladislav, left Sremska Mitrovica for Plitvice, Stjepan’s new job. (His wife Luiza could not accompany them. She died in Sremska Mitrovica in 1910.) It is not known how long he and his son stayed in Plitvice. Whilst managing the facility Stjepan accumulated wealth of knowledge in the hospitality area. That will serve him well when he moved to Zagreb and opened his own restaurant. He named it Sremska Menza. The restaurant was located in the back yard of Ilica 10, on a busy Zagreb thoroughfare not far from Jelačić Square. (Menza is a Hungarian word meaning canteen, a place where good but cheap food is served. The concept, which originated in Zagreb during this time, became quite popular during the socialist era). A modern kitchen and the spacious dining premises were on the ground floor. There was an adjacent terrace where customers could dine on sunny days. All dishes were prepared out of freshest ingredients and served, buffet style, every day. Additional personnel were hired to handle an ever increasing number of customers. At one point it employed over several dozen people. Business prospered. In addition to Ilica 10, the Maldinis opened two other eating establishments. One on the outskirts of Zagreb, in the beautiful alpine setting, known as Gračane. Unlike the restuarant downtown, the new place, called Maldinovac, was a regular restaurant. In a beautiful, spacious, new building with gardens front and back, it served traditional local specialties like cottage cheese and sour cream (sir i vrhnje), čevapčići with onions, Zagreb schnitzel(Zagrebački odrezak), the Wiener schnitzel (Bečki odrezak), Pariser schnitzel, lamb on spit, filled peppers, and other tasty delicacies. On the sweet side, freshly made orehnjača, makovnjača and štrukli, were known as best in the area.Wine and slivovitz (a fruit brandy made from Damson plums, often referred to as plum brandy) were also served. Maldinovac soon gained reputation as one of the leading restaurants in Gračane. Weekends, particularly, the customers from down-town Zagreb, in search of fresh air and good food, filled the house to the roof. The other, smaller menza was opened in Ilica 36/II, not far from the original Sremska menza. This one had only few tables and was mostly patronized by devotees of good, homemade Srem food. Amidst the hectic and tiring work in their restaurants, the two Maldinis found time to add a bit of flair to their lives. Stjepan Maldini, a widower, married another widower Marijana. She had three children. In addition to his two, son Ladislav and an adopted child, Puba, the new family consisted of seven members. They all helped in Stjepan’s restaurants. Soon his son Ladislav followed suit. From hearsay, a girl named Zora Stojanović (b.1913-d.1986), was visiting Zagreb as member of a choir from Sremska Mitrovica. In all likelihood the choir frequented Sremska Menza during their Zagreb visit. One thing led to another, the 27 year young Ladislav proposed to her. She accepted. In 1932, they were married in the beautiful St. Mark church in uptown Zagreb. Years on the couple had four children: Luiza (b.1933-d.1996), Marija-Maja (b.1935 -), Zdenka (b.1938 -), and Mladen (b.1951 d.2005). In Maja’s birth certificate, her father is listed as baron Ladislav Maldini, occupation – restaurateur. In1873 a beautiful department store opened in the Czech town of Opavi, Austria. The owners were two Graz business men of Czech birth, Carl Kastner and Herman Ohler. The business prospered. Six years later, the two partners opened their second store in Graz. There was also talk of expansion into other countries. On the top of the list was Zagreb. In 1879, to test the waters, the partners wrote a letter to Zagreb mayor expressing interest in opening their third store in the Croatian capital. The response was positive. In November, 1881, the Zagreb papers trumpeted that in Ilica16, “otvorena je Trgovina lakatne i manufakturne robe Kastner i Öhler", later known as "Kastner i Öhler"department store. The Austrian-owned department store soon became the most important retailer in pre-war Zagreb. People flocked to new town sensation in search for work. Ladislav Maldini was among them. As luck would have it, he was among the first to lend the job there.

Although restaurateur K&O store in Zagreb by trade, his sharp business instinct and organizing skills, helped him climb the stores’ success ladder…/ He was soon promoted to a highly responsible and trustworthy position of collecting money from all the cashiers at the end of each day. This position became even more important when in 1929 the store opened its own credit and catalogue offices, where tight money handling was crucial. But during WWII the big commercial success in Ilica switched to a lower gear. There were fewer customers and more empty shelves. The new regime, the NDH, looked unfavorably to Jews owning a business in the center of their city. They labelled Franjo Öhler (and his wife Gertrude) as antifascist, difranchised him from the ownership of the busssiness and sent him to a concentration camp, where he died in 1943. The regime replaced him with his own man called Grgić and the store begun to be known as Kastner and Grgić. It remained so until the end of the war. While one bussiness was on the downswing, another, few blocks away, in Ilica 30, was on the upswing. Office suply and stationary store Stjepan Kugli, was selling everything from books, pens, school and office supplies and stationary, to paper clips, staplers, and a large selection of related products. It also opened its own publishing house. Unlike the owners of Kastner and Ohler, Kugli was a home-grown product. Born in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, he run his stationary store alone from the day it was open, in 1902. After the war, he passed on his bussiness to his three sons Rudolf, Ivo and Zlatko. They run it only for a short while. After the war, the communist regime nationalized it and replaced it with the state own Izdavačko Poduzeće Mladost. The life of Ladisslav Maldini is closely tied to the fate of these two businesses. After he left restuarant bussiness, he embarked on a bussiness career first at Kastner and Ohler, then as Director of Stjepan Kugli company. His new, spacious, office was at the company's headquarters, in Ilica 30. In his chaffeur-driven limousine he travelled throughout Austria and Germany, advancing companys business. Kugli prospered under Maldini's tenure. But it was not to last. Immediately after the war, Kugli was nationalized and new Director appointed. The companies name was changed to I.P. Mladost. Until his retirement Ladislav Maldini then worked for a a publishing house Tipografija in Zagreb, and Litokarton, packaging materials, paper and carboard company from Osijek. For the rest of his life he spent making handicrafts from home. He died in Zagreb in 1986.

In brief: Ladislav baron Maldini (b.1906- d.1986) married Zora Stojanović (b.1913- d.1986). They had four children: Luiza (b.1933-d.1996), Marija-Maja (b.1935 -), Zdenka (b.1938 -), and Mladen (b.1951- d.2005). Luiza married Victor Mučnjak (b.1920-d.1997). They had one son Damir (b. 1957 -). Marija-Maja married Dr. Želimir Juričić (b.1935-). They have two children John (b.1959 -) and Catherine (b.1971-). John married Collen Sullivan (b. 1958 - ). They have four children. Daniel (b. 1982 -), Sarah (b. 1984 -), Michael (b. 1987 -), and Kathryn (b. 1989 -). The eldest Daniel married Natasha Crocker in 2016. They have no children. Sarah married Brian Harrington in 2011 . They have one child, Luke ( 2014). Michael and Kathryn, both single, live in Victoria. Zdenka Maldini married Drago Husjak 1960. They have one child, Andrea. Andrea married Jim Allison. They have two children Sarah and Dean, both singles. Mladen married Branka Baračević. They have two children Martina (b.1984 - ), and Maja (1988).