[78-L] Regarding Samuilo Almozlino (pseud. Ć. Ćamilović), a Serbian Jewish singer

[Nikola Zekić]

Greetings,

Below is a text about Samuilo Almozlino, which I wrote. I am posting it 
here, mainly to inquire whether anyone has come across his discs, 
perhaps unknowingly, for his great-grandson, with whom I am in contact, 
is most angsious to acquire as many of them as possible, or the 
digitisations thereof.




All the information below were graciously provided to me by Mr. Zoran 
Pantelić, great-grandson of Ćamilo, from his second daughter Luna, who 
married a Serb, Ljubomir Pantelić.
Samuilo Almozlino, nicknamed Ćamilo, was born on the 23rd of September 
1877., in the renowned and distinguished Sephardic Jewish family of 
Almozlino. His father was named Josif, son of Avram, and his mother was 
Rahela, née Cvi (Zvi). He got his nickname, Ćamilo, (pronounced Chamilo, 
the "ch" being spoken as in the words "chair", "Chocolate", albeit a bit 
softer), in early childhood, and was known by it throughout all the 
Belgrade Jewry, but also among the distinguished people of other 
ethnicities and faiths. Being extremely talented for acting, and 
possessing a most pleasing baritone voice, he became a permanent member 
of the Serbian Royal Theater in 1900. He left the theater suddenly in 
1914., leaving behind over 30 roles in many different dramatic pieces. 
He was one of the better paid actors at that time. His name was included 
in the state calendar for 1911. as Ćamilo Almuzlinović, while on 
advertising material he was known as Ćamilo Ćamilović. He also recorded 
gramophone discs under that name, often abbreviated as just Ć. 
Ćamilović. Among the companies for which he recorded were Concert 
Gramophone, Odeon, Pathe, and Favorite.
Ćamilo participated in both Balkan wars, as well as in the First World 
War. As a Serbian officer, he was interned in a camp in the town of 
Boldogasonj, (Boldogasszony), nowadays Frauenkirchen in Austria. In the 
camp, the living conditions were very bad, but the inmates managed to 
form a theater. Similar theaters were formed in other camps which 
contained interned Serbian officers. Ćamilo, of course, participated in 
the activities of the theater.
After the war ended, he bought a well known kafana on Dorćol, Dva bela 
konja (Two white horses), located on the corner of Dušanova and 
Višnjićeva streets. In 1922., he was the owner of the kafana Jevrejska 
kasina (the name could be translated as "Jewish house"), located on the 
corner of Dušanova and Princa Evgenija (nowadays Braće Baruh (Baruch 
brothers).
He was a man of good standing, often seen in the company of such 
luminaries as the comediographer and novelist Branislav Nušić, or the 
actor Dobrica Milutinović, etc.
He was not as fortunate in his family life. He first married Oru (Zlata) 
Albahari (an equivalent name among some Ashkenazim would be Goldelle or 
Goldie), (born 1. March 1879.), a daughter of a very rich and 
distinguished Belgrade Jew Salamon  Albahari. The wedding occured on the 
26th of September 1900. They had three daughters: Rahela (3. February 
1901.), Luna, the grandmother of Mr. Pantelić, (19. March 1903.), and 
Ester (5. April 1906., died as an infant on 22nd of July 1906.) Three 
months before little Ester died, Zlata also passed away, on the 20th of 
April 1906. Having been widowed, with small children to care for, he 
married for the second time, a divorcee, Venezijana Alkalaj, nicknamed 
Veza. The marriage occured on the 5th of June 1906. Venezijana brought 
with her a daughter of her own, Sultana Bukica (Bukica (Bookitsa) being 
the name for the oldest female child among Sefaradim, originating from 
the word bohor. The masculine equivalent would be Buko or Bukus).
Veza was a good woman, who accepted Samuilo's children as though they 
were her own. She was killed in the bombing of Belgrade by the Germans 
on the 6th of April 1941.
His eldest daughter, Rahela, married Mata Arueti on the 26th of 
September 1920. With him, she had two children: Jisrael (Yisrael, 26. 
12. 1921.-19. 04. 1922.), and Samuilo, nicknamed Samika, (10. 03. 1923.)
After Mata Arueti died, Rahela married for the second time, this time an 
Ashkenazi, Leopold Erenyi, on 25. 09. 1927.
His second daughter, Luna, nicknamed Sklava, married a Serb, Ljubomir 
Pantelić, on 22nd of November 1925. At first, Samuilo opposed this 
union, but soon he accepted his daughter and son in law in his own house 
in Mladonagoričanska street no. 19 (now the Branka Krsmanovića street, 
the house still exists).
Luna gave birth to two daughters, Anka (1925.), and Dana (1927.), and a 
son, Bratislav (1931.), Bratislav being the father of Mr Zoran Pantelić, 
my honourable informant. Anka married Milen Lazarević, who was for many 
years the director of "Centrotekstil", with whom she has two daughters, 
Branislava and Slobodanka. Dana married Milan Leka, a technologist, one 
of our most famous specialists in plastic matter, with whom she had a 
son, Bogdan, sadly deceased as of a couple years ago.
Bratislav graduated from the 6th male grammar school in Belgrade, and, 
as an excellent student, he was exempted from having to pass a 
graduation exam, with 14 others of his classmates. He then studied, and 
graduated from, the Faculty of medicine in Belgrade. He married Mira 
Kalšan on 4th of July 1952., with whom he had two sons, Zoran and Ljubomir.
But let us return to the life and fate of Samuilo (Ćamilo) Almozlino.
The outbreak of the war found the entire family in Belgrade. After the 
bombing, and subsequent German occupation, Jews were forced to labour 
(cleaning the ruins, etc).
Luna Almozlino, nicknamed Sklava, who changed her name to Slavka after 
marriage, remained alone, her husband, Ljubomir, as a reservist of the 
Yugoslav army, was taken as a prisoner and interned in Germany. Having 
thus been left with three children, she gathered her courage and did not 
answer the call of the Germans for all the Jews to register themselves. 
As Mr Pantelić put it, thanks to good people, her Serbian neighbours, 
she and her children were saved, because noone betrayed them. Her sister 
Rahela, father Samuilo and her nephew Samika, who answered the call to 
register, did not have such luck.
Near the end of 1941., Ćamilo, and his grandson from his daughter 
Rahela, were imprisoned in the Topovske šupe (former army barracks of 
the Royal Yugoslav Army, "Prince Andrej Karageorgevich"). There was 
scarcity of food, hygiene was non-existent, every day new people were 
brought and the old inmates were taken, who knows where. About 400 
people were daily taken to be shot in places such as Rakovica, Bežanija, 
Ledine, Jabuka, etc. Some were also killed by being choked in a special 
gass van, called by slavs dušegupka (dushegubka, literally the soul-eraser).
In the first days, food and clothes was permitted to be brought to the 
camp, by the relatives of those imprisoned therein. Almost all of it 
ended up taken by the guards, of course. Ćamilo's daughter Luna used to 
bring such necessities to him, but he warned her to cease doing so, and 
not to come to visit him, for she is only drawing attention to herself 
that way.
Soon, there were no more Jews in Topovske šupe. The graves of Samuilo 
Almozlino and his grandson Samuilo (Samika) Aroeti, as well as the 
graves of many others, remain unmarked and unknown.

Here are some recordings of Samuilo Almozlino:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WcqGTTEM5g&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1NvF3SSs3VP9M08cOhH7ABk98gwUmFgzEmeU698EW9aIdW9eApPyOwOGw



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUiwmuQJkaw




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-K789lmV_M




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7tKJ_r30jk&t=8s




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si3CLI-p-Dg




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTvmfZbFLWw&t=21s



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIoiEAjK378&t=9s




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5nPAcSnWuE&t=34s