Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A former resistance fighter who fled to Scotland after World War II believes life is harder for the refugees of today.

Theodor Davidovic, 92, from Serbia, came to Scotland in 1947 after living in tented refugee camps in Europe for more than two years.

A powerful animation has now been produced, narrated by Theodor, which tells the story of how he came to make his home here, settling in Fife.

The stunning film, made to mark Christian Aid Week’s 60th anniversary, calls for refugees to be allowed the same sanctuary given to Theodor.

Around 1089 migrants are believed to have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea so far this year.

In 2016, the final number believed to have died in the Mediterranean surpassed 5000, which the UN refugee agency said was the “worst annual death toll ever seen”.

(Image: Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

Theodor said: “When I was walking in the world as a refugee, there was at least peace in the world, but now there is war. It is not people’s fault that they are refugees”.

Theodor was orphaned when he was eight and at 12, he left school and was sold into the domestic servitude of a wealthy man, where he remained until he was 16.

He added: “When the war broke out, I got my freedom from that slavery.”

Theodor joined the resistance movement against the Nazis but fled when he was 20 years old as the royalist Chetniks and Tito’s communists wrestled for power after the war.

He said: “I was in camps like you see now in Lebanon and Syria. Tents for two-and-a-half years, from one city to another, from one country to another.”

(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

Theodor found himself in refugee camps in Italy and Germany. He said he will never forget the food parcels he received from Christian Aid.

He added: “I feel I owe my life to that. I vowed there and then to do my best as long as I live.”

Aged 22, Theodor escaped the refugee camps and found his way to Scotland.

World War II saw the largest scale migration of people to Britain in its history. Working initially as a coal miner, at 26 Theodor met his future wife Betty in a dance hall in Kirkcaldy.

He said: “When I saw her, my legs went weak.”

They married in 1953 and now have two sons and four grandchildren.

After running a successful shoe repair business in Edinburgh for 50 years, he retired at the age of 76 to become a full-time carer for Betty.

Theodor said; “I came to Scotland as a refugee in 1947 and I am grateful for the sanctuary and safety that I found and I couldn’t have been happier.”

He said that same welcome should now be shown to today’s refugees.

He said: “I appeal to all the Christians – your Christianity is not only to come and pray and sing hymns. It is to put your belief in actions – helping somebody who needs your help and showing love and compassion to the wider world.”

Today, tens of millions of people are forced from their homes by war, conflict and disaster.

(Image: Aris Messinis)

Many are forced to make life-threatening journeys in search of a safe place to call home.

While the majority of today’s refugees seek sanctuary in Africa, Asia and Latin America, more than one million people have crossed into Europe. With borders across the continent now closed to refugees, thousands are stranded and in need of urgent help.

The numbers of displaced have surpassed those seen after World War II.

Two years after the end of the war, some 850,000 people lived in refugee camps across Europe.

The total number of displaced at the end of 2015 reached 65.3million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Almost one per cent of the world’s population is either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee.

Every minute, 24 people are displaced.

Sally Foster-Fulton, head of Christian Aid Scotland, said: “Theodor’s lifelong commitment to loving his neighbour is an inspiration to us all.

“Millions of people still have no safe place to call home – men, women and children, our brothers and sisters, forced to conflict, danger and persecution.

“This Christian Aid Week, we invite everyone to join us, standing in solidarity and support with refugees and those living in poverty.”