Title

AHS-2016-05-18

Interviewer

Dzenita Muminovic

Date of Interview

Winter 5-17-2016

Interview Location

St. Louis, MO

Length of Interview

1900-01-02

Date of Birth

1976

Gender

Male

Religion and/or Ethnicity

Muslim

Description

Born in village of Miholjevine in the outskirts of Srebrenica, Life before the conflict was peaceful and enjoyed being with a close group of friends from his village who were Bosnian Muslim, Came from a family that had all sons with him being one of four, After completing school wanted to attended military academy with friends but all were denied as the Serbian authorities said that there grandfathers had been Ustaše, Began to notice things were changing when talk of a Greater Serbia began, Milosevic started giving speeches about Serbian unity and not unity for everyone, Shortages of food began and family fun market was not allowed to resupply by Serbian authorities, Serbians began to request that everyone give up weapons but they had none to give, Village began to be shelled constantly and people began to die, People did not think the war would last long or be brutal but would be over in a night or two, Large amount of refugees from other parts of the country began to arrive to family run store with no food, Provided food to families until everything was gone, Serbian army attacked from Serbia using JNA whole arsenal of weapons including tanks, planes and artillery, Soldiers were Serbian along with Greek, Russian and Belarus, After the fall of Srebrenica was forced to try and escape via the forest with other men on a trek known as the "Put Smrti ", On the trek came under constant shelling and attack by military jets and motor strikes, Chemical were against the column of men, Creeks and any water sources on the road were poisoned, Men in the group began to hallucinate and do crazy things, Two brothers were killed on the way while one who was in a concentration camp called Batković managed to survive, Eventually applied to live in the United States and after a long journey came to St. Louis, Living in St. Louis was difficult as he did not know the language and had no job or money to survive, Life became easier after a while but also fast paced with only more and more work needing to be done, Believes that the whole conflict was a ruse to make politicians rich, Common people in Bosnia and Serbia and all the former Yugoslavia are now all worse off than before, Cannot hate anyone even Serbians but wants to educate his children so they can be successful and can make a difference in the world, Wants future generations to not look at people based of their race, creed or religion but judge them on their actions and character, Wants future generations to avoid war and if at all possible never have another one anywhere

Keywords

Srebrenica (Miholjevine), Milosevic, Chemical Attacks, Potocari, St. Louis, Batković

Pre-War Residence

Srebrenica (Miholjevine)

Wartime Residence

Srebrenica (Miholjevine)

First Country of Residence

United States

First US Residence

St. Louis, MO

Document Type

Oral History

Collection

Affton High School

Digital Format

MP3

Digital Publisher

Center for Bosnian Studies

City

St. Louis, MO

This document is currently not available here.

COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.