Franc Jordan and Amalija Bisčan

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It all started in 1923 when Franc Jordan of Jordan Baznik married Amalija Bisčan in Zagreb, Croatia. Frank had been born in Šentjernej, Slovenia nearby but was sent with brother Martin to a relative in Zagreb when his parents passed away. Both Frank and Martin met Croatian girls and settled there.

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The Children

A boy Zronko was born to the couple in 1924 but died in 1928 of Diptheria. Branka was born in 1926 with her youngest brother Vladimir following in 1928.

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Early Years

The family grocery store in Jalšje was the corner stone for much of their early, "together" life. Located about 30 miles north of Zagreb into the foothills, this would be the place the kids would grow up. Amalija was from this area and her parents remained close by through out.

Tragedy would strike Franc again as he died of TB in 1932. Just 13 years after he was orphaned.

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Growing up in the war years

Ljubica, as Amalija was known, would become more active in the efforts of the wartime just as her brother-in-law Martin and others would. It is not clear which side she was aligned with but it is known she was actively involved in underground movements. Her daughter, Branka, would be conscripted as a war bride to a soldier. Something that would luckily not last more than a few years as he was purported to be a drunk and abusive person. But by the time the war ended, the likely partisans split into the communists and others, Ljubica found herself on the wrong side of the battle and was executed around 1947. 21 year old Branka and her 19 year old brother Vladimir were now all alone to fend for themselves.

By the time of the war outbreak, life would become harder. Vladimir was luckily too young to be conscripted in the initial stages of the war. This would save his life early on. By the end though, he was conscripted but then escaped near the end of the war. He would learn the trade of being an Electrician. Which would give him the opportunity for their next big change.

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Branka and Vladimir on their own

Following the death of their mother in 1947, the young kids were now fending for themselves in the aftermath of the war and under the new communist regime of the area.

While on a conference trip to Nuremberg, Germany with many other Electricians, Vladimir and a few others took an opportunity to defect while at the train station. It created quite a stir; as reported in the newspaper covering the event. Vladimir stayed there to get his sister Branka and her new husband Tony out to Germany as well. Shortly after, he chose to make America his home and asked for asylum there; which was readily granted given the publicity the whole event created for the Allied forces against the communist regimes of the time.

Vladimir first traveled to Cleveland, Ohio due to his aunts, the Jordan sisters, already being there. Karel had arrived around the same time from Argentina. Karel's son-in-law Hubert obtained work at a new GM plant in Van Nuys, San Fernando Valley, California on the outskirts of Los Angeles County. Vladimir was able to follow shortly after by getting a job as an electrician there. Amalija (Karel's wife) did not like the winters of Cleveland and soon Vladimir, Branka, and their Uncle Karel and Teta Amalija and their children were all relocated to Los Angeles, California by 1961.

Soon after arriving, Vladimir married Lidija Ribic. Branka and Tony already had two daughters and so the two new families started by the children of Franc and Amalija were firmly rooted and would settle for the remainder of their lives. See Oreskovic Jordan and JordanRibic for the next fifty years of Frank and Amalija's offspring and their new families.