Vladimir Drobashevsky Shares Story of Fleeing War, Immigrating to U.S.

Vladimir Drobashevsky was only 12 when he and his mother had to leave what was then Yugoslavia, the country to which his father had fled for safety during the Russian Revolution.

Their World War II odyssey took them to Austria and eventually to the United States.

Now 81 and a resident at the Woodlands of St. Barnabas, Drobashevsky shared his life story in brief in the retirement village’s monthly newsletter.

It created quite the stir.

“People were saying, ‘Wow, how did you survive that?’ and ‘I didn’t know all that about you!’ I was kind of surprised at all the reaction,” he said.

The reactions to Drobashevsky’s article and the memories of his father motivated him to write his newly released book, “Odyssey of a DP: Memoirs of a Displaced Person.”

“When I was a child, I wasn’t very interested in my father’s life. But my dad, he was a walking encyclopedia,” he said. “After he was gone, I was sorry that I had never really talked to him about his history. I wanted to tell what I could in my book."

Drobashevsky will share stories from his book at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Hilltop Hall at the Village at St. Barnabas at 5858 Meridian Road. The lecture is open and free to the public.

Drobashevsky’s history is indeed unlike many of his neighbors’ stories. 

It unfolds on the pages of “Odyssey,” starting with the night Vladimir’s mother woke him during a bombing of Yugoslavia by the German army.

“I thought it was a dream that I was having about a movie that I had just seen,” he said.

The story of the mother-son duo’s journey to safety in Austria, the eventual reunion with his father, and the family’s immigration to the United States are told in his book.

But Drobashevsky’s remarkable story doesn’t stop there. Once his family established their lives in the U.S., he joined the U.S. Army and was sent overseas to Germany.

“I went to Germany and then my life got even better. I met this person here,” he said, indicating Elfriede, his wife of more than 50 years. It was 1952.

Even their romance is an interesting story.

“Her father was very strict and had a very strict rule that none of his daughters would date an American soldier. Maybe it was that I spoke German, but he allowed me to see her,” he said.

He courted the young, beautiful German woman, and when he came back to the U.S. he asked permission from his parents to marry her.

“My parents were happy that I was happy and supported me all the way,” he said. She moved to the U.S., and the two were married in 1954.

In his memoirs, Drobashevsky interweaves his life over the years with the history of his father’s and mother’s lives and Elfriede’s history growing up in Berlin.

He also shares anecdotes of his life with Elfriede and their children, Elizabeth and Michael, even sharing painful details of Michael’s struggles with drugs and eventual death in an accidental fire.

“It was a difficult time, but it is still our history,” he said.

Once Drobashevsky decided to write his book, he would work mornings from 6 to 9 a.m., then a few hours in the afternoon when Elfriede would often nap.

“I would try to work five to six hours on it a day,” he said. Friends helped with the graphics before he self-published the book in 2010.

Drobashevsky hopes the book will help preserve his own stories along with those of the people he loves.

 “It is really a tribute to my dad and to Elfriede.”