FBU-2009-10-17

Date of Interview

10-17-2009

Interview Location

St. Louis, MO

Length of Interview

110:49

Date of Birth

1985

Gender

Female

Religion and/or Ethnicity

Multi-Religious

Description

Born and raised in Prijedor form 1985 until 1999,Father was a Muslim who was a police officer in Prijedor, Witness to her father being taken away by 3 police officers by car to never be seen again, After fathers disappearance was traumatized and refused to eat and struggled to do anything, continued to live in her families government funded apartment with her mother, brother and younger sister, witness to Serbian soldiers coming into the home looking for weapons, watched as her brother who was 14 at the time was held at gunpoint during one of these searches, family would hide when searchers for Muslims were done and managed not to be taken to a concentration camp, kept attending school in Prijedor all throughout the war, Experienced discrimination due to her status as a Muslim from some teacher and other students, Attended a Orthodox Christian religion class with the other students and excelled in it, Excellent student in math and was the schools representative in math competitions even though she was Muslim, Eventually her mother married a Serbian veteran from the war in Croatia, After the government kicked them out of their government housing attempted to move to an apartment that had been given to her stepdad as a veteran of war, Experienced discrimination and ended up not moving there but instead the family moved to a aunts house in Gomjenica, Counited to attend school and received excellent grades, After the move to Gomjenica which was a town of mostly Serbians during the war did not experience that much discrimination but her stepfather did, Stepfather was called Turk and Balje by the other Serbians but her mother was left along and some Serbians even attended her mother’s Bajram celebrations, Applied for asylum in the United States via Belgrade, Paperwork took a while as an multiethinc family slowed down and muddled the whole process, After approval of papers came to the United States via a long journey from Belgrade though the countries of Hungary, Holland and eventually with a few layover to St. Louis, Experienced as a family their first tornado drill and siren in which they hide in the bathroom thinking it was an attack, attended high school at Gateway and was accused of cheating on math exams due to teachers belief that students who did not understand English were less intelligent, Family in St. Louis was discriminated against by other Bosnians due to her stepfather being a Bosnian Serb, Quit ELL classes and signed up for regular English courses were she excelled, Stepfather experiences health problems due to mistreatment by other Bosnians in St. Louis, Travels back to Prijdor in 2006 for the funeral of her father who was found in a mass grave, Plans of eventually moving back to Prijedor to advocate for all people and to make an impact to change the city and make it welcoming for all ethnicities

Keywords

Prijedor, Gomjenica, St. Louis [MO], United States, Disappearance of family member, School, Multi-ethnic family, Discrimination, Growing up Bosnian American

Pre-War Residence

Prijedor

Wartime Residence

Prijedor

First Country of Residence

United States

First US Residence

St. Louis, MO

Document Type

Oral History

Collection

Fontbonne University

Digital Format

MP3, MP4

Digital Publisher

Center for Bosnian Studies

City

St. Louis, MO

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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.