Title

AHS-2017-00-00-B

Interviewer

Nadija Rizvanovic

Date of Interview

Winter 1-1-2017

Interview Location

St. Louis, MO

Length of Interview

1900-01-01

Date of Birth

2023

Gender

Male

Religion and/or Ethnicity

Muslim

Description

Born in the city of Sarajevo where he enjoyed his childhood playing with other children and spending time outside, Had mostly friends that were Bosnian Muslim but also Serbians and Croatians but did not know that until later as before the conflict this was not discussed, After a shell fell into his neighborhood killing three children including a close friend family deiced to leave the city, July of 1992 left the city via a path know to be safe to Mount Igman and could see the city behind him with the Bosnian Muslims areas being without electricity while the smaller village who were launching attacks into the city had light, Family stayed in the region of Herzegovina for a year and then moved to Germany, After Germany began to evict Bosnians moved to the United States in 1997, The United States was a completely different environment and it was hard to adjust to the life style and everything from the cars to the streets and how the city seemed empty at night was strange, Began to work in different types of factory jobs around the city until enrolling in school at STLCC and graduating with a degree in Accounting, Become a community organizer along with other members of the community and organized such events as the Srebrenica March in 2015, Helped raise money for schools in Bosnia and raise awareness for the genocide that occurred, As a Bosnian Americans shares everything in common with all other Americans only being different in the sense that he celebrates holidays differently then others, Hopes that Bosnians retain more of their traditions and identity as assimilation has taken down a lot of the restaurants and Bosnian business that used to dot St. Louis, Has a wish to go back to Bosnia and live there when older as he still belives that is his one and only true home where he has never left

Keywords

Sarajevo, Shelling, Mount Igman, St. Louis, Culture Shock, Assimilation, Community

Pre-War Residence

Sarajevo

Wartime Residence

Sarajevo

First Country of Residence

Germany

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

This document is currently not available here.

COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.