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]
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]Carmelitenuns 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]
"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. ISBN9539734010.
"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. ISBN9536258862.
"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. ISBN953998324X.
^ abcDespot, Zvonimir; Schödl, Ingeborg (18 May 2004). "Friede entsteht im Herzen". Kirchen Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 17 January 2024.
^ abcdefghijkPavičić, 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.
^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. ISSN0436-0311.
