He worked as a zincographer at the Military Institute in Čačak, when the Second World War broke out. German units that entered the Institute captured him and sent him to forced labor in Germany. At the Hanover station, he managed to escape from the train and reach Herford (North Rhine-Westphalia), where he successfully hid due to his good German, and after some time he moved to Berlin as a volunteer worker.
The decision to flee from Herford to Berlin, and then to Serbia to bring his wife and son to Nazi Germany, affected Luka for the rest of his life. In addition to the horror and sufferings they experienced in Berlin, there was obviously also the fear that new communist authorities in Belgrade might not understand his choice and the circumstances that led to it. This fear is best illustrated by Mladenović's biography, written for the catalogue of the exhibition of his drawings, published in 2000 by the National Museum in Belgrade. That biography, written during Luka's lifetime, claimed that he "spent the years of occupation in Belgrade", and that "there was no time or conditions for drawing", but that he only "occasionally refined his drawings". Although Luka provided drawings for the exhibition and had the opportunity to present the truth about his life during World War II to the author of the exhibition and catalog, he did not do so. We assume that even then Mladenović had a certain fear, and that he felt safer if some traces of the past remained hidden in archival depots.

 

Third part of Kostić’s manuscript waited to be published precisely for two decades. This publication consists of 59 biographies. Selected and published text is original and integral, and explanations were provided for certain people mentioned in the text. Archaic language of the author is preserved; only in some cases modern orthographic standard was applied. Text is complemented by architectural designs preserved in the archival fonds Municipality of the City of Belgrade, Technical Directorate. Also, original documents and signatures of the merchants and businessmen used in the publication were taken from the archival collections preserved in the Archives of Belgrade and Archives of Yugoslavia. The text is also complemented by old photographs of merchants and their stores taken from collections of the Historical Archives of Belgrade and the Archives of National Bank of Serbia.

Many crafts have disappeared from everyday life, but bookbinding, one of the oldest crafts in Serbia is still resisting. In order to preserve this traditional and fine craft, the bookbinding service in the Historical Archives of Belgrade operates with two goals: to prevent it from being forgotten and to preserve this precious heritage for the future generations.
The Technical Service of the Archives was founded in 1955 and the same year bookbinding department was established. This department is working on the reparation of old books, bindery, making the archival boxes, folders, maps and similar products necessary for safekeeping of archival material. For a long period of time two workers have been employed in the department, unfortunately today only one bookbinder is working in the Archives, and only three in all Serbian archives.
Publication Arhiv kao čuvar starih zanata does not have pretensions to become a manual or a textbook, but represents an attempt of the Historical Archives of Belgrade to preserve and present to wide audience the significance, specificity and beauty of an old and particular craft. Author of the publication Bojan Kocev describes all elements and phases when working with paper, leather, wood, textile and other materials used in bindery in the Archives.

 

Many crafts have disappeared from everyday life, but bookbinding, one of the oldest crafts in Serbia is still resisting. In order to preserve this traditional and fine craft, the bookbinding service in the Historical Archives of Belgrade operates with two goals: to prevent it from being forgotten and to preserve this precious heritage for the future generations.

Consultants who gave their contribution to this pubilaction were Mirjana Obradović, Slobodan Mandić, dr Sanja Sanja Petrović Todosijević, Slobodanka Cvetković, Violeta Radovanvoić, elementary school teacher, as well as the children from our Archvies - Irina, Vukica, Nataša, Milica, Petar and Marko.