AHS-2015-02-22

Date of Interview

2-22-2015

Interview Location

St. Louis, MO

Length of Interview

1900-01-01

Date of Birth

1949

Gender

Female

Religion and/or Ethnicity

Muslim

Description

Born in Kozorac as the youngest of 7 children, Attend primary school in Kozorac and finished but did not attended future education as her mother passed away, Remembers life before the conflict as peaceful with everyone getting along and respecting each other, Remembers that everyone loved the JNA and honored them and what they did in WW II, Married at the age of 17 and lived with her husband in Dubica, Noticed that the JNA began to construct trenches around the area and a large presence of soldiers but it did not alarm them as this was the army of the people of Yugoslavia, As time went on they began to notice that the JNA began to change with different insignias and that they were not the JNA but the Serbian army, After the city came under the control of the army spent her time at home and only went out for essential times, Witnessed soldiers coming to houses in the town and beating people, Witnessed the killing of two neighbors in front of her house, After getting permission form the police traveled to the concentration camp Trnopolje where her brothers were held to give them food and clothing, The conditions at the camp were horrible, Witness one prisoner that had Chetnik symbols carved into his chest that had maggots crawling around the wounds, Did not leave home again after that, Stayed at home until papers to travel to Croatia came from a German organization called Fisher, Before being allowed to leave had to sign over all property to the Serbian state, At the border to Croatia soldiers took everything that she had brought for the trip, Stayed in a Croatia concentration camp for 2 months until traveling to Germany, Residing in Dusseldorf for 4 years working in a restaurant in a variety of roles, After the Dayton Accords Germany began expelling people from the country, Decided to come to the United States since there was no life in Bosnia, Arrived in St. Louis and worked for 12 years until retiring, Enjoys her life in St. Louis but still travels back to Bosnia every few years, Avoids Bosnian Serbs while in Kozorac as they refuse to admit that they did anything wrong during the conflict, Wants future generations to remember to always treat everyone with respect and not fight but always to remember what happened and not to put all your trust into people that hurt you before

Keywords

Kozorac, Trnopolje, Dubica, Croatia, Germany, Kozarac Massacre, Refugee camp, Concentration camp

Pre-War Residence

Kozarac

Wartime Residence

Kozarac (Dubica)

First Country of Residence

Croatia

First US Residence

St. Louis, MO

Document Type

Oral History

Collection

Affton High School

Digital Format

MP4

Digital Publisher

Center for Bosnian Studies

City

St. Louis, MO

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