Brown hat with a triangular patch bearing a J and initials worn by John Bolé

John (previously Ivan Johann, 1916-1978) Bolé was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to Catholic parents, Ivan and Danica Strekelj Bolé. The family moved to Laibach, Yugoslavia (Ljubljana, Slovenia). Danica died on November 14, 1929, in Laibach. John completed five years of university education. He received his diploma from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Law, in January 1941 and became an attorney. He spoke Czech, Slovenian, German, Italian, French, and Serbo-Croatian.

On April 6, 1941, the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria, invaded and divided Yugoslavia. Laibach was in the area occupied and annexed by Italy. John went to Venice, Italy, with the Slovenian Red Cross. On September 19, 1944, he was caught attempting to smuggle a radio transmitter across the border and was arrested by the German SS security force in Trieste. John was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, arriving on November 19. He was designated a political prisoner, assigned prisoner number 67186, and housed in Block 17. He was assigned to work commando A6 in Wanz-leben am See. Buchenwald was liberated on April 11, 1945, by American forces. The war ended when Germany surrendered on May 7.

In June 1945, John was repatriated from Mittenwald displaced person camp to a DP camp in Rome, Italy. In 1946, he was employed by the Allied Military Government as a school director in the Gorizia region of Italy, near the Slovenian border. In fall 1948, John was living in Bagnoli DP camp near Naples, run by the IRO [International Refugee Organization.] On January 16, 1950, John left for the United States, sailing from Bremerhaven, Germany, on the General JH McRae, and arriving in New York on January 26. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1955 and changed his name to John. He went on to have a successful career in international banking. He married Martina, nee Kosuchowski, on May 4, 1957, and they had a son, Michael, and a daughter, Lorraine.