Jelena (Jelka) Brajša (18 August 1935 – 5 November 2021) was a Croatian humanitarian[1] and social worker, long-term president of the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Zagreb (1966–2005).[1][2][3][4] She helped in establishment of several reception centers and homes for abandoned children, handicapped, old and infirm.[1] She has been working on collecting aid for war victims during the Croatian War of Independence.[1][4] She was known as "The Angel of Zagreb"[5] and "Croatian Mother Teresa".[6]

Early life and education

She was born in Zagreb in 1935 as a youngest, thirteenth child in the Catholic family.[5] Her father was jurist.[5] She attended elementary and middle school in Zagreb.[2] With the establishment of the communist Yugoslavia, her family was labeled as a "class enemy" and she was prevented from studying.[5] In 1958 she went to Vienna, where she studied social work and religious pedagogy at the Seminar für kirchliche Frauenberufe, with the scholarship granted to her by the cardinal Franz König.[5][6] She further educated in Paris and Lourdes.[1][2]

Humanitarian work

Cardinal Franjo Šeper appointed her in 1966 as a director of the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Zagreb.[2][3] She suffered several public attacks for her caritative work.[5] The communist authorities labeled her activities as "illegal work".[6] Although Caritas was not recognized by the Yugoslav authorities, social workers and police officers referred mothers with children to Brajša and Caritas' workers or brought them abandoned children.[7][8]

Under her organization, Caritas had about 260 employees, 33 houses and institutions where about 400 children and 200 adults are housed.[9] She worked in Caritas for 39.5 years.[7] She was also long-term president of the Humanitarian Network of Croatia (HMH).[9]

She was editor-in-chief of the Betanija ("Bethany") magazine (hr), Archdiocese of Zagreb's magazine for patients. Besides native Croatian, she also spoke German and French language.[7]

Abandoned children

From July 6, 1969, when she took care of the first abandoned child, until her death in 2021, Zagreb's Caritas took care of more than 5,000 abandoned children.[10] After Glas Koncila published about the case of the first received child, from July to December 1969 Zagreb's Caritas received 70 unwanted or abandoned children.[7] From 1969 to 1990, Brajša and her co-workers from Caritas housed abandoned newborns at the Archbishop's House at Kaptol, Zagreb.[7] Carmelite nuns from Vrhovec also took care of some infants.[7][8] Daughters of Divine Charity also took care of the children and their education.[8] The first house for around twenty abandoned children was opened in Vugrovec.[7] In 1983, the centre for occupational therapy and rehabilitation "St. Vincent de Paul" was opened in Oborovo.[8] In 1991, abandoned newborn and infants were relocated from Kaptol to a newly opened house in Savica-Šanci.[8] In 1994, with the financial aid of Austrian Caritas and foreign donors,[7] Caritas home for children victims of war was opened in Brezovica.[8]

Personal life

She adopted four children who bear her family name and three more children whom she took in but who she did not officially adopt.[9]

The oldest adopted child is Tomislav Brajša,[11] musician and singer.[9] He was born in a hospital in Pula, where his biological mother left him. Although he was not born blind, due to the negligence of the doctors he went blind in the incubator.[7]

Her youngest adopted son Tomi Brajša, born without both legs,[7] is a paraswimmer and he competed for Croatia at the 2021 Summer Paralympics.[12]

In February 2004, she was operated on for a brain tumor.[7]

Awards

She received several awards for her work:[9]

  • Albert Schweitzer Medal (1992)
  • City of Zagreb Award (1993)
  • "Dr Kurt Waldheim" Award (1993)
  • Person of the dialogue-Person of the year by Croatian Academic Association (1998)
  • Humanist of the world (2000)[13]
  • Medal with the image of the Mother of God of the Stone Gate (2008)[8]

Remembrance

  • Documentary "Jelena Brajsa, der Engel von Zagreb" ("Jelena Brajša, the Angel of Zagreb") by Robert Neumüller for ORF.[5]

Bibliography

Journals

Conference proceedings

  • "Djelotvorna ljubav Caritasa i Crkve prema žrtvama rata od 1991. do danas" ("The effective love of Caritas and the Church towards the victims of war from 1991 until today") in: Šeparović, Zvonimir, ed. (1998). Hrvatski žrtvoslov : zbornik radova Prvog hrvatskog žrtvoslovnog kongresa, Zagreb, 19. do 21. lipnja 1998 (in Croatian). Zagreb: Hrvatsko žrtvoslovno društvo. pp. 441–448. ISBN 9539734010.
  • "Osnutak Caritasa Zagrebačke nadbiskupije" ("Foundation of Caritas of the Archdiocese of Zagreb"), in: Tanjić, Željko, ed. (2003). Veritatem facientes in caritate: zbornik radova Međunarodnoga simpozija o kardinalu Franji Šeperu povodom 20. obljetnice smrti (in Croatian). Zagreb: Glas Koncila; Kršćanska sadašnjost. ISBN 9536258862.
  • "Solidarnost sa siromasima" ("Solidarity with the poor"), in: Cvek, Antun; Cvitanović, Marija, eds. (2005). Biskup Josip Lang - prijatelj siromaha : zbornik sa Simpozija održanoga 6. studenoga 2004. u Zagrebu, prigodom 80. godišnjice smrti biskupa Josipa Langa (in Croatian). Zagreb: Zaklada biskup Josip Lang. pp. 39–43. ISBN 953998324X.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Brajša, Jelena". Croatian Encyclopedia (in Croatian). Zagreb: Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. 2013–2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "IN MEMORIAM - Gđa Jelena Brajša". czn.hr (in Croatian). Caritas of the Archdiocese of Zagreb. 6 November 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b Vujić, Antun (1996). Hrvatski leksikon [Croatian Lexicon] (in Croatian). Vol. I. Zagreb: Naklada Leksikon. pp. 146–147.
  4. ^ a b "Brajša, Jelena". Proleksis Encyclopedia (in Croatian). 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Jelena Brajsa und Kardinal König: Der Engel von Zagreb und sein Förderer". ots.at (in German). OTS. 2 August 2004. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Despot, Zvonimir; Schödl, Ingeborg (18 May 2004). "Friede entsteht im Herzen". Kirchen Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pavičić, Darko (27 November 2011). "Jelena Brajša: Moja istina o Brezovici, Caritasu i ljubavi prema odbačenoj djeci". Večernji list (in Croatian). Republished by bitno.net on 30 November 2011.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Stanić, Branimir (8 November 2021). "IZ POSLJEDNJEGA VEĆEGA RAZGOVORA POKOJNE UMIROVLJENE RAVNATELJICE CARITASA ZAGREBAČKE NADBISKUPIJE JELENE BRAJŠE ZA GLAS KONCILA »Majke su nama ostavljale djecu jer su znale da to činimo u Božje ime«". Glas Koncila (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 22 November 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Protiv Jelene Brajše nemoćan i Bozanić". Večernji list (in Croatian). 20 June 2005. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  10. ^ Čutura, Vlado (14 November 2021). "Caritas pod vodstvom Jelene Brajše zbrinuo je više od 5000 djece" [Caritas under the leadership of Jelena Brajša took care of more than 5,000 children]. Glas Koncila (in Croatian). Vol. 60, no. 2473. p. 5. ISSN 0436-0311.
  11. ^ Brajša 1972, p. 635.
  12. ^ "Tomi Brajša: "Najlakše je odmah odustati kod prve prepreke, ali tako se nikada ne dolazi do cilja."". hpo.hr (in Croatian). Croatian Paralympic Committee. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  13. ^ Padan, Martina (24 January 2003). "U Hrvatskoj je previše siromašnih". Hrvatsko slovo (in Croatian). Retrieved 17 January 2024. Archived by the Croatian Web Archive (HAW).
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelena_Braj%C5%A1a
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