Branko
Interviewer: Can you introduce yourself?
Interviewee: Yes. I’m Branko. I lived in…, in Uroševac, for 21 years.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: I had there, what to say, comrades, on both sides. And from the Albanian side. I played football with them. We were super good friends, with most of them. There were also a few who were, like, this, but I mostly… we got along well, hung out, made a football team; we also did some other things there… as far as water is concerned…. we repaired this. We were good guys, role models, so to say. And now… I had no problems with the majority, nothing.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. So life was nice in those years before the war?
Interviewee: I lived really nicely and I remember, for example, when I moved out and sometimes went back down there, since my parents stayed for a while, until I found an apartment and the rest there, so that I could bring them too. For example I went to the store there to… they welcomed me, so to say… you know, like I was some world famous person, you know.
Interviewer: Kind of them.
Interviewee: Yes, kind of them. They really welcomed me. Everyone greeted me, treated me. Then we went to the school, hung out there, brought drinks, as they say… to have a little something to snack. The teachers that were there, they released the children to go home, and then we sat together in the office and sang songs. Something, two or three Serbian songs, two or three Albanian songs. And literally, we had a great time that day. It’s… we did this one or two times… until I moved out completely, really but, it was great, really. I say, there were maybe two or three guys out there who were extreme, you know, but they were always… they always solved it all with each other. They always jumped to my defense, to exclude them, to remove them and… you know, that everything is okay.
Interviewer: Yes. Tell me, did you go to school in Uroševac for a while?
Interviewee: Well, yes, I went to a vocational school.
Interviewer: Yeah…
Interviewee: I went for two… I went for two years. Before that, I went to primary school in the village. I went to school in Tankosić.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: It was… was… in the beginning, there were only Serbian classes. Later, they introduced two Albanian classes.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: But… children are like children, you know, there is nothing there… it was this way and that way but….
Interviewer: It worked.
Interviewee: Yes, yes. It worked, nothing happened… you know, children’s play… you know… everything happened in the game, I’m not now… but in principle everything was correct, they also accepted it all there, we even spoke more in Serbian than in Albanian .
Interviewer: Yes, yes.
Interviewee: And we hung out with them, you know, children like children. I really can’t say it was bad, you know…
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: It was later, in the last couple of years, they have already started to create problems… there is this, but it was again… probably at the urging of parents and so on.
Interviewer: Yes. And what are those years, if you remember?
Interviewee: Well…
Interviewer: When did it start to change like this?
Interviewee: Well, the worst are… when it was ‘68, it was the worst.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: Well, for a while we didn’t even… there were demonstrations at the time, also… riots… and then even the school didn’t work. It was closed, we were sitting at home. But there was noise, clamor, shouting and other things, you know… but… it all calmed down, and then later in ‘73-74. There were also some little problems. Then, let me say, for example, my dad, the fertilizer he drove out in the field…
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: We had a garden at the meadows there… which is now just below Bondsteel.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.
Interviewee: Right there below Bondsteel, just across the asphalt. I say below, and there were meadows and there was our field and garden. And we had… we dug a well, my brother and dad and me; and everyone came there, when they were mowing, everyone came here to drink water. Everyone came there… many have even taken, so to say, from the garden… yes, took tomatoes to eat, peppers and what not. But, you know, they didn’t do any major damage, and there weren’t any thefts, like that they were breaking stuff there. Once it happened, some two kids tore something, a little bit like that, but it wasn’t terrible. But, the only thing is that… when mu father… when the mowing was over and everything was over, and… when he drove out the fertilizer at the meadow, then overnight they picked up all that fertilizer and threw it away and filled the well full.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.
Interviewee: That is one of the biggest problems we had. And the second thing is that… on two occasions we caught people cutting trees in the forest, stealing.
Interviewer: Yes, yes.
Interviewee: But, the police… we reported it, and a forester came and measured… the diameters of the wood that was cut, and we reported who stole the wood… so they found the trees and measured them, but they did not confiscate the wood and they did not pay us for the trees.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. So there were some…?!
Interviewee: Yes, we knew who it was… they found everything, but the wood was not returned to us. Let’s say it’s one of the curiosities, that is, they should have returned it to us when they found them. Now, further punishments and other things, that is another story again, I am not interested in that, but… they should have returned the wood to us, it is ours and it has been proven that it is ours.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. And tell me this… until when did yours live down there? Anyone of your family. Until what year?
Interviewee: Now, I can’t exactly… I think up to eighty something, and I can’t remember it right now.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: Until, oh… until the ‘85th. In fact, yes. Now I remember, yes. Because my son was born in ‘86th, and my father died in ‘85th. Because, he waited… waited… he had to work until the New Year, he died in November. He was supposed to work until the New Year and retire.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: You know, we found a house and a plot here. We were supposed to build it, but he did not want to leave his job due to his pension, and he stayed to wait for his retirement.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: And on November 17, 1985, he died.
Interviewer: Good. And was he buried down there?
Interviewee: No, no, no. We didn’t want to bury him down there, precisely because… there is a village cemetery, everything was destroyed at the entrance to the village. You cant recognize the graves, nothing can be recognized.
Interviewer: Even in those years, right?
Interviewee: Yes, yes. And even then they already started cutting. There was… a large oak forest. And then… one of them immediately bought a field across the street from the cemetery, and started building a house. And then he cut the wood for the material. He cut and stole wood from the cemetery for…
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.
Interviewee: Now… I know when I went there because of the property and because of the cattle… after my dad’s death when I went there. I’m telling you when I was passing by and passing by the cemetery… and the cemetery was almost leveled. So there are no monuments, there is no cross, there is nothing. Rarely can… it was difficult to recognize whose grave was there.
Interviewer: Yes, yes, yes.
Interviewee: Mostly people visit, as they say, I know, here are ours and there are yours, and what can I say, this and that.
Interviewer: Yes. Did you as a family manage to sell the property or how is the situation now?
Interviewee: Well, they didn’t. The property still stands there today. It cannot be sold because it has no value. The price is very low.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: Because, their goal was to move out stronger people, richer, and as many males as possible.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: And the other, the rest, as they say, we had already, my brother and me and all others had already left…
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: You know, in the seventies, my brother, he left even in ‘74, and I already in ‘76, because he is two years older than me. We left even then. And then they knew we weren’t going to come back, and it wasn’t even their goal to buy from us because it was going to stay this way or the other way, you know. Because they did it systematically. They knew exactly whom they should move out and who would leave on their own, and who… and some who left on their own, they will never even return.
Interviewer: Yes, yes.
Interviewee: They did not bother about such properties. Even today, you can’t sell it to anyone. It just stands down there.
Interviewer: Did you go to visit the property after the war? Have you been?
Interviewee: No, no. No, I was… I was at a wedding in Uroševac, for my cousin, but it was ninety… now not to lie, ninety-seven, ninety-eight.
Interviewer: Before the war?
Interviewee: Before the war. And then, when we went to the municipality for the wedding, we came across the very center, in front of the hotel, across from the hotel is the municipality, and we were one hundred and fifty meters away from the building… going towards the municipality… on that main street… and we came across protesters.
Interviewer: Mhm, mhm.
Interviewee: Then they really demonstrated… they walked the streets, you know, rows of people. However… since I am… my son was flag-bearer and I was driving him… we passed first, under the Serbian flag, everything was normal. Nobody, but nobody, said anything, and nobody spat on the car, on the flag or anything. We really passed… they just moved to the side, and let us – the wedding group – pass the rows. So, I didn’t really experience any ugly words.
Interviewer: Yes, yes, yes.
Interviewee: And… we really passed through the protesters, the rows, because we didn’t know. They came up from the center; they probably started there from the hotel, from the municipality. I guess they gathered there, since there is a big plateau there. They probably gathered there, from where they started to go… through the city… to run riot. But I say, really no one… I can’t say a word, really no one spat on us or said anything, nothing. They calmly went on the side and we passed without any problems.
Interviewer: Yes, did any of your friends, relatives stay to live down there? Do any of the Serbs live in the village where you lived?
Interviewee: There is no one.
Interviewer: No?!
Interviewee: There is no one. That was a long time ago, even before the war. They all left, they left their properties, some sold them, but some also left properties like us, my dad. It remains there. They haven’t sold to this day. They call, they ask to buy, but they won’t, they won’t pay you more than 20-30 euros per acre, man.
Interviewer: Oh, yes.
Interviewee: No, there is nothing there. So whatever you have there, you can’t buy one… you can’t buy one plot of three or four acres here in Vojvodina. No chance.
Interviewer: Yes. Where did you live with your family when the war started in ’99?
Interviewee: I lived in Pančevo.
Interviewer: Mhm.
Interviewee: I went to Pančevo a long time ago.
Interviewer: Can you remember those days how it was, was it…?
Interviewee: Well, some… what can I say… I had some friends there and friends from school who stayed, from a neighboring village in the city… but, you know, I was worried a bit about them, as they say, how and what will they do, did they get out, did they stay down, you know… I had a little hard time about all that…
Interviewer: Mhm.
Interviewee: But I worked, I couldn’t … I wasn’t mobilized.
Interviewer: Mhm. And tell me, your family in Pančevo, was it tense, terrible?
Interviewee: Well, we were not – we were… I don’t know. I didn’t want to burden my family with that, you know. What they saw on television, they then ask me about something, about… some places again when they hear something from the news, then I tell them that, but I avoided actually burdening them with it, you know. Because, when the bombing started and everything started, I was working. I had to work. Such is the company, you know… and then, my children are at home, they were young then, born in eighty-third and the other in eighty-sixth. They stayed home alone day and night, because I worked then, and I worked twelve and twenty-four hours a day, because there are no… some people were mobilized, and we had to work.
Interviewer: Yes, yes, yes.
Interviewee: But, I say, I tried non-stop to tell the kids the same thing, as they say, I was telling them non-stop, called them, instructed them on some things how to behave in case something happens. Some unforeseen situations, or even let’s say if they bombed as they later did, because everyone asked me about petro-chemistry. I thought that there would never be bombing of petro-chemistry industry, because it was not bombed anywhere in the world. That’s how I told the kids, and told the neighbors there, everyone in the building asked me if I knew about that. Because I basically calmed them down because I really believed that they wouldn’t shoot petro-chemistry.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: But in the end, everyone attacked me…, they said – you see, they will bomb, you see what they did. And they bombed, they destroyed two factories.
Interviewer: Yeah. Well then it happened… yet later we…
Interviewee: Yes. Two factories were bombed and destroyed. Well they knew, it’s their system, their factory, I say their this… license.
Interviewer: Good. So you and your family were in Pančevo all the time during the war, right?
Interviewee: Yes, yes, in Pančevo non-stop, and I worked. I couldn’t even go because I wasn’t even allowed to go and abandon the job because I was a single parent, I worked in the meantime and then the kids stayed home alone.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: And I say where to go, what to do.
Interviewer: Yes, yes.
Interviewee: I took care, as they say… to save the children also not to be afraid because, they were young. I mean, who should I leave them to?! Who to guard them?! So I communicated a lot by phone and called them.
Interviewer: Mhm, mhm. I get that situation. Do you remember if any of your loved ones from family, friends, comrades, lost their lives or were injured on the battlefield?
Interviewee: No. Not from relatives.
Interviewer: Mhm.
Interviewee: My nephew was down there, he was mobilized. He was on the battlefield in Kosovo, but he was not wounded, or anything…
Interviewer: Mhm.
Interviewee: There were others who went, also from Kragujevac, some relatives, but they all returned and no one was injured or wounded or anything.
Interviewer: Mhm, mhm.
Interviewee: In principle, how can it be said that someone did well?
Interviewer: Yes. This is the last question. How do you feel today when you remember that year, ‘99th, and the war?
Interviewee: Well, you know what, a little… I don’t know, some discomfort…, it’s hard for me you know… I don’t know how to… I’d like to go and see.. I’m dragged to go there, you know, but I have nowhere to go, because they occupied it, these Shiptars occupied it, the neighbors. They entered, they entered the house a long time ago, they occupied the property. They work the land. We were told about this.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: The forest was cut down. So, even if I want to, I can’t go there; and I say it’s a little difficult for me when I remember again… it happened that I dreamed of my house down there a couple of times, that I came back, that… I don’t know.
Interviewer: Mhm, mhm.
Interviewee: I say, now that time is passing by, it all gets me a little bit… from time to time, it drags me… I would like to go, but I have nowhere to go, I say. I can, as they say, sit in the car and go and just drive down the road to see if they live in there… they went inside and it was neither bought nor anything, they occupied it.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Therefore, your house was not demolished, but is used, they live there.
Interviewee: No, no, no, nothing. We even met down in Podujevo once. Not in Podujevo, but on the border there, what was it called, there near Podujevo, near Kuršumlija.
Interviewer: Merdare… I can’t remember.
Interviewee: Merdare, what’s it called.
Interviewer: Yes.
Interviewee: Merdare. We went to sell it, and we didn’t agree. They didn’t even want to give us ten euros then, fifteen, per acre.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: And then they told us who took which parts of the property, who uses it, who works it. They entered the house. And they actually just said that during the bombing, when it was, they took off the carpentry.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: You know. That they had removed all the carpentry so that no one would move in, go in. You know.
Interviewer: Yes, yes, yes.
Interviewee: And then… they said after it was all over, they returned the carpentry back and moved into the house immediately. So they have… in fact, they have occupied my whole property, and I cannot use it, nor can I go there or anything. And they won’t pay. As they say, at least to raise the price a bit, and what can you do with price of 20-30 euros per acre? The price is worthless.
Interviewer: Yes, yes, yes.