Branka Vasić was born in 1927 in Zagreb. Her father Jakov Weiss was from Slavonski Brod. Her mother Tea was born in Pakrac and her maiden name was Schrenger. The family moved to Ljubljana, where her father opened a clothes and textiles store Zora on Miklošičeva Street in 1934. Branka remembers their store's location thus: "There was a cosmetics shop on the corner, and then there was us. It was a very modern house." Branka's mother oversaw the five employees in the store while her father travelled the country purchasing materials and clothes from factories all over Yugoslavia.

Branka started attending elementary school in Ljubljana. Upon their arrival to Slovenia she quickly learned the language with the help of their maid, Mici. As she started her second year in school, her father changed their last name from Weiss to Vasić. Branka says she still does not know why her father wanted to change his name. In Ljubljana, the Vasić family only saw other Jewish families at important holidays. They also used to go to attend services at the beautiful synagogue in Zagreb. Some of their relatives still lived there. The Jews used to rent a room at the Metropol hotel but later stopped it because the press covered it with a certain disapproving air. Branka, who was never exposed to anti-Semitism in Ljubljana, remembers that they used to go to Tivoli on Yom Kippur. There they would meet with other Jewish families: Moskovič, Spitzer, Bolaffi, Banjaj, Ahenigo, Lorant, Henig, Abufali and Majer (although she is not sure that the latter family was Jewish) ...

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