was money only for a partial operation to heal the injuries she had sustained. This resulted in a gradual loss of sight. In 1925, Vanga was taken to a school for the blind in the city of Zemun, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where she spent three years and was taught to read Braille, play the piano, knit, cook, and clean. After the death of her stepmother, she returned home to take care of her younger siblings. The family lived in poverty. In 1939, Vanga contracted pleurisy. The doctor's opinion was that she would die soon, but she quickly recovered. During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded and dismembered by the Axis powers and Strumica was annexed by Bulgaria. At that time Vanga attracted believers in her ability to heal and soothsay—a number of people visited her, hoping to get a hint about whether their relatives were alive, or seeking for the place where they died. On 8 April 1942 the Bulgarian tzar Boris III visited her. On 10 May 1942, Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov. Gusheterov, a Bulgarian soldier from the village of Krandzhilitsa near Petrich, had come to town seeking revenge for his brother's killing. Shortly before marriage, Dimitar and Vanga moved to Petrich, where she soon became well-known. Dimitar was then conscripted in the Bulgarian Army and was stationed in Northern Greece, which was annexed by Bulgaria at the time. Gushterov became ill, fell into alcoholism, and eventually died on 1 April 1962. Baba Vanga continued to be visited by dignitaries and commoners. After World War II, Bulgarian politicians and leaders from different Soviet Republics, including, reportedly, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev. In the 1990s, a church was built in Rupite with money left by her visitors. Vanga died on 11 August 1996 from breast cancer. Her funeral attracted large crowds. Fulfilling Vanga's last will and testament, her Petrich house was turned into a museum, which opened its doors for visitors on 5 May 2008. Work Vanga was semi-literate in Bulgarian; she could read some Braille in Serbian. Though she did not write any books herself, what she said or allegedly said was captured by staff members. Later, numerous esoteric books on Vanga's life and predictions were written. Sources such as The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal claim that she foretold the break-up of the Soviet Union,