FBU-2015-03-20
Interviewer
Ben Moore
Date of Interview
3-20-2015
Interview Location
St. Louis, MO
Length of Interview
180:14
Date of Birth
1975
Gender
Male
Religion and/or Ethnicity
Muslim
Description
Born in the Muslim village of Dulici, outside of Zvornik, in 1975; he recalls a normal childhood, going to school, and having friends of all ethnic backgrounds before the war. He went to school in the Serb village of Petkovici and then high school in Mali Zvornik. He was 16 when the war began, and the Serbs gathered all Muslims from surrounding towns. They separated the men from the women and children. The 750 men were marched down to Klisa, Dulici, and ended at Bijeli Potok. He saw an opportunity to escape; he ran into the woods and was able to make it back to the village, travelling through aqueducts and tunnels, where his mother was. He and other male family members went into the woods to hide and make it to territory occupied by the Bosnian Army. They had a radio and batteries to know where the front line was. They hid close to Serb villages as there were not as many scouts looking for Muslims there. Once they made it to Bosnian territory, they were taken to Dubrave, where his mother and sister were. He eventually went to Germany, where he stayed for 4.5 years working as a laborer. He got married and had one child. They applied to come to America in 1998 and arrived in St. Louis on March 18, 1999. His second child was born in St. Louis on July 21, 1999. He began working at Granit City Steel but was laid off in 2001, and he then started a cleaning business. He believes that he is the only survivor of the Bijeli Potol Massacre. He provides a detailed description of the pre-war demographic makeup of many small villages surrounding Klisa.
Keywords
Bijeli Potok Massacre, Ethnic cleansing, Escape, Shelling, Tradesman, Steel Worker, Entrepreneur, Petkovici, Mali Zvornik
Pre-War Residence
Đulići
Wartime Residence
Dubrave
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
