FBU-2007-01-13
Date of Interview
1-13-2007
Interview Location
St. Louis, MO
Length of Interview
130:37
Date of Birth
1960
Gender
Male
Religion and/or Ethnicity
Muslim
Description
Born in the city of Kozorac where they attended primary and secondary school, Completed a degree to become an eletrican and due to that career would travel to other republics in the former Yugoslavia for work, Remembers the county before the war as very peaceful and ideal for living where everyone enjoyed each other’s company and religion was not used to judge anyone else, Began to notice chances in the behavior of the people as early as 1980 after the death of Tito, It became more and more difficult to leave the country and to reenter it as the conflict neared, Working for a Croatian company at the outbreak of conflict and while on the way back to work in Germany gave up seat to women and children, Traveled back home to the village of Kozorac and began to organize lines of communication between Prijedor and Kozorac, Criminal groups in Kozorac bought old weapons from the JNA which became the Serbian army that were not in functioning condition, Serbian forces attempted to change the makeup of the police force of Kozorac by sending Serbian men from other areas to take their positions but the Kozorac Muslim majority did not listen, After conflict broke out family including wife and two children fled to another area with his father while he was on positioned in a vantage point, Watched the Serbian forces advancing on Kozorac from both the side of Prijedor and Banja Luka, Shelled the city for 3 days and would focus on one house at a time until it was destroyed then move to the next one, Demanded the surrender of the city and of weapons when they reached the center of town on the third day, Men who surrendered were either killed or taken to concentration camps, Fled along with a group of 150-200 men and some women and children to the mountain of Kozora, Using the forest as cover watched as the Serbian forces began to loot empty houses of valuables and then light them on fire, Survived on food that they could find in the town which they entered during night time and avoided Serbian patrols, While looking for food in the town would find dead bodies of men and women who were executed which they buried and the Serbians would dig back up, As winter approached food became scare and made the decision to try and flee to Croatia, Attempted to cross 3 times with the first two ending in failure with some men captured and others killed, Third time managed to cross with a group of 33 men which split into two smaller groups after the Serbians began to chase after them, Reached Croatian bunker were they met with Croatian police and were given food and medical care along with clothing, Contacted friend who lived in Zagreb and made his way there with family who joined him, Lived there until conflict between Croatia and Bosnia started after which he fled with family to Kazakhstan.
Keywords
Krajina, Kozarac, Croatia, Trnopolje, Kozara, Fleeing soldiers, Shelling, Burning, Parent during the war
Pre-War Residence
Kozarac
Wartime Residence
Kozarac
First Country of Residence
Croatia
Document Type
Oral History
Collection
Fontbonne University
Digital Format
MP3, MP4
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/.
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