AHS-2018-04-18-B
Interviewer
Elena Bresler
Date of Interview
Spring 4-18-2018
Interview Location
St. Louis, MO
Length of Interview
1900-01-00
Date of Birth
1999
Gender
Female
Religion and/or Ethnicity
Muslim
Description
Born in Sanski Most to parents who were from that city and Prijedor, Earliest memories are of eating Palacinke(Salty Pancakes) with parents, Family was forced to leave because of the war, During the war father would hide from the Serbian forces and was almost killed by a drunk Serbian solider who only spared him due to his sister being married to a Serbian, Grandfather on mothers side and her brother were taken away from home and bused to a work camp where they had little food and little water, In order to be approved to come to the United States parents married as this increased their chances of being approved, Arrived to the United States with $300 from the sale of their car and a suitcase full of items for her, Did not know the language or the culture, Moved original to Baltimore to a neighborhood that was in decline, Lived in apartments that were ill suited for family life, Remembers seeing parents always at separate times as parents had to work different shifts in order to survive, First experiences in school was being singled out for being Bosnian and being called negative phrases, Eventually moved to St. Louis where brother was born, Family observes events such as the March for Srebrenica in July, Grandfather suffers from extreme PTSD and still cannot speak about the war.
Keywords
Sanski Most, Baltimore, Prijedor, Culture, Trauma
First Country of Residence
United States
First US Residence
Baltimore, MD
Document Type
Oral History
Collection
Affton High School
Digital Format
MP4
Digital Publisher
Center for Bosnian Studies
City
St. Louis, MO
Copyright Note
These oral histories are made available by the Center for Bosnian Studies for research, educational, scholarly, and/or creative purposes only. All uses should adhere to the principle of fair use established under Section 107 of Title 17 the 1976 Copyright Act. More on fair use is available here: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/.