FBU-2013-11-14

Date of Interview

11-14-2013

Interview Location

St. Louis, MO

Length of Interview

70:15

Date of Birth

1968

Gender

Female

Religion and/or Ethnicity

Orthodox

Description

Born in Herceg-Novi in the Yugoslavian Republic of Crna Gora(Montenegro), Remembers early life as care free with no conflicts and there was no religious conflict, Remembers learning Brotherhood and Unity as being the main policy of all Yugoslavia, Felt safe and without care and cannot recall any crime or any poor people or homeless people while growing up, Enjoyed trips to all other of the Yugoslavian Republics with other students during elementary and high school years, Remembers the death of Tito as a time of national mourning and remembers her own mother crying as most people did not know what would happen now, After high school attended one year of College in Montenegro but did not enjoy it, Decided to move to the United States to attend college in Tampa, Florida in 1987, Before leaving home did not see any tensions or any hint that a war would break out among the republics, While attending began to hear about problems in the Yugoslavia but could not believe them, Remembers hearing about the oppression of Serb in Kosovo that Milosevic was going to fix but I do not remember anything else, I traveled to Herceg-Novi back to my city and i was shocked at how hard it was to enter the country, There was no international flights into Yugoslavia instead traveled to Budapest and then traveled by bus to Belgrade to visit a friend, Country was in upheaval as the stores had no food and many stores were closed, The Yugoslavian Dinar was devalued and many people were trying to buy Detsch Marks, Traveled via domestic flight to Herceg-Novi where the situation was not any better, The stores were empty and there was no food to buy, The money was becoming to become worthless, Heard rumors of war but still was hard to believe as everything of earlier in life was all about brotherhood and unity, After returning to the United States moved to St. Louis and read a report the concentration camps in Bosnia in TIMES and BBC, Could not believe the reports and thought they were propaganda and they were trumped up, Could not understand how a county that had been so united could be in such a conflict, After being employed in 2000 at the Center for Survivors and War Trauma in St. Louis began to have clients from Bosnia, Clients told stories of harsh realities of war, killings and concentration camp, Still hard to believe that Yugoslavia her county and the international community could let this happen, Began to explore religion and spiritual in order to understand and heal and help her clients heal, Wants an open dialogue between Serbians, Croatians, Bosnians and all other groups to come together spiritual and in other aspects and heal, Wants newer generations such as those her sons age to grow up together in understanding and make an effort together to accept what happened and to figure out a way to heal together as one people

Keywords

Montenegro, Hercg-Novi, United States, Tampa [FL], Tito, Helping others, Religious identity

Pre-War Residence

Herceg-Novi

First US Residence

Tampa, FL

Document Type

Oral History

Collection

Fontbonne University

Digital Format

MP3

Digital Publisher

Center for Bosnian Studies

City

St. Louis, MO

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