Title
FBU-2018-09-25
Date of Interview
Spring 9-25-2018
Interview Location
St. Louis, MO
Length of Interview
61:06
Date of Birth
1985
Gender
Female
Religion and/or Ethnicity
Muslim
Description
Born in Jajce to parents who were natives of Sarajevo due to an outbreak of disease in the Sarajevo clinic, Grew up with her father a computer programmer and mother who worked at a university in the Bistrik region of Sarajevo, Remembers it as a time when her family would go on trips to other countries go skiing and enjoy concerts together, Remembers Sarajevo as a multifaith, multiethnic city were everyone was friendly and in that time did not think about religion, At the outbreak of war remembers seeing Serbian politicians on tv speaking about war and nationalist politics at play, After villages close to Sarajevo began to be attacked family decided to go to Germany where her aunt lived, Put on last plan leaving airport to Belgrade with her mother and grandmother but father left behind, After arriving in Belgrade took a train to Germany, Remembers as a difficult period as her father was still in Sarajevo and would not join the rest of the family for one year, Started school in Germany were kids would taunt her due to her not knowing the language and due to her social class, Mother was employed in a hospital as a cleaner while father after arriving worked on construction, After 5 years of living in Germany were told they had to leave, Decided to come to St. Louis is there seemed to be no future in Bosnia, Came to St. Louis with some money saved up and lived in South County, Parents began to work once again and she began to adjust to life in the United States, Began to think of herself as more then Bosnian due to the melting pot effect of the United States, Visited Bosnia for the first time in 2004 and had a panic attack, Wants future generations to remember to treat all of humanity equality and fairly as not a single person choses where they are born and who their parents are
Keywords
Sarajevo, Bistrik, Germany, St. Louis, Politics, Community
Pre-War Residence
Sarajevo (Bistrik)
Wartime Residence
Sarajevo,Germany
First Country of Residence
Germany
First US Residence
St. Louis, MO
Document Type
Oral History
Collection
Fontbonne University
Digital Format
MP3
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/.
Rights Statement
