Rectangular yellow badge with Star of David and Ž kept by Theodora Basch Vrančić Klayman

Theodora Basch Vrančić Klayman (1938- ) was born Teodora (Dorica) Rahela Basch in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) on January 31, 1938. Her father, Salamon (Shlomo, 1907-1945), owned and operated a small brush manufacturing plant. Her mother, Silva (née Deutsch, 1912-1942), was a teacher and grew up in Ludbreg where her father, Josef Leopold Deutsch (1871-1942), served as the community rabbi for more than 40 years.

Silva was born to Josef Leopold (1871-1942) and Katarina (1872-1942) Deutsch, and had three siblings: Giza (1895-1943), Blanka (1905-1942), and Erne (1910-?). Salamon was born to Jakob (1879-1932) and Charlotta (1875-1942) and had several siblings, including Lina, Josef (1910-?), Arnold (1913-1945), and Bernard (Dov, 1915-?).

In April 1941, Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia. The country was partitioned and Croatia became an independent state under the Ustaša regime. During this time, Teodora visited her grandparents and extended family in Ludbreg, Croatia. By June, Teodora’s parents and brother, Zdravko (1941-1946), were arrested. Their housekeeper was able to get Zdravko released from jail and Silva’s family took him to Ludbreg. Salamon was deported to the Jasenovac concentration camp and Silva was sent to Stara Gradiška, a subcamp of Jasenovac. Salamon escaped from Jasenovac in 1945 with a group of Jewish prisoners, and they went into hiding in the mountains. While seeking food in a local village, they were caught and shot.

In Ludbreg, Teodora and Zdravko remained with their grandparents, but by 1942, their grandparents and Silva’s sister Blanka Apler (1905-1942) and family were deported to Jasenovac where they were killed. Teodora and Zdravko were left behind with Silva’s other sister Gizela (Giza) Vrančić (1895-1943) and her Catholic husband, Ljudevit (1885-1970). To avoid arrest, Teodora and Zdravko were frequently taken by train to a nearby town or to spend a few days with different neighbors. Eventually, Ljudevit was arrested on suspicion of supporting the partisan resistance movement and was sent to Jasenovac. He was eventually released along with other political prisoners. By 1943, Gizela was arrested and deported to Auschwitz and died from an intestinal illness.

After liberation in 1945, Ljudevit legally adopted the Teodora and Zdravko. Zdravko died of scarlet fever in the fall of 1946. Teodora remained with Ljudevit, attending high school in Varazdin and then the University of Zagreb. In 1957, she moved to Switzerland to live with her paternal uncle, Josef Basch, and his family and attend the University of Lausanne. She married Daniel Klayman, a Jewish American research chemist, in the fall of 1958 and later moved to the United States and had two children.