{"id":1188,"date":"2021-01-21T00:57:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T00:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2021-08-19T09:22:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T09:22:40","slug":"sadbere-aliti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/sadbere-aliti\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Sadbere Aliti"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Bjeshka Guri (interviewer)<\/p>\n

Sadbere Aliti (interviewee)<\/p>\n

Acronyms: BG=Bjeshka Guri, SA= Sadbere Aliti<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no war here, was there? No, there was not.<\/p>\n

Our house was the only one in Crep, in the municipality of Ranilug, and every time those cars, tanks were passing, the whole house was shaking. About a thousand or two thousand tanks in a row, I used to count them and say to myself “oh god, they are going to kill all the Albanians”. We were never able to sleep, neither at night. Never, ever. Then, they started evicting everyone from their houses. When they evicted Petrovc from their houses, I went downstairs to look at them and they told me \u201cgo inside, go because you are Albanian and they will kill you too\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even the Serbs from that side were moving their hands, as if they were saying \u201cthank goodness they are leaving\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jasmin was very little. After they completely evicted them from their houses, I was still there even during the bombings, even when they started shooting near us, we went out on the meadows and started to run, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. It was me, my two sons, my husband and my father-in-law. When the dog saw us running away he followed us on whatever side we were going, until they stopped. But we were very sad. This was it. During that time, I had no other problems from the Serbs. Then they came and asked “Where is the KLA” or they said “get out” or something like that, and it was the time I started fleeing. I went to Ternovc\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it OK?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, everything is all right. Go on\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a good time in Ternovc. I did not know where I my parents were. When I heard that they were in Ternovc I was very happy. Do you know that I thought they were killed? \u201d<\/p>\n

“Really?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes. Then for a long time I did not know anything about my family, except that they are in Pogragja. “Even when I came here in Gjilan at home, I saw that no one was home and I asked uncle Musa, ‘uncle Musa, where are they?’<\/p>\n

“I do not know”, he said, “I think that they are in Pogragja\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not a single living soul was here. The day before they had killed a neighbor here and had run away. Then I went to Ternovc. I did not know that my family was in Ternovc. I would go there and come back again. When something worse happened, I would come back. I returned home when a Serb came and told me \u201cTonight we have to put on a white kerchief to tell that this is Serbians’ house\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I begged the Serb ‘Can I (starts crying)…can I also put on the head kerchief to save my children?’<\/p>\n

“He told me ‘no, because this is a provocation.’ I told him ‘OK, I am pretending that this is a Serbians\u2019s house just to save my children.”<\/p>\n

“No no, that’s a provocation.”<\/p>\n

‘Goran, can I come to your house with my children?’ I said. He said ‘no’.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, another Serb said that if you have a problem you can come to us. If you feel that it is necessary”.<\/p>\n

Then from that day onwards we went in Ternovc and stayed there. I thought my family was dead or missing because I could not find them anywhere. While I was there, I went to my husband’s cousin and while staying there I was extremely upset. I did not think of going anywhere. While at her house, she said to me \u201cSadbere, your mother and father were here for lunch yesterday\u201d
\n\u201cWho was here?\u201d
\n\u201cI started crying. Then, she sent me to the place my family was staying. I found them and then I stayed with them there. I also stayed with some of my husband’s cousins who welcomed us. But the bombings over our heads did not stop even there. There were shootings\/bombings even during the day. I remember one time they gathered everyone to send them to Ternovc. I do not know what they called the place where they wanted to shoot everyone. But I do not know, thank God no one was killed that day. They had gathered them all in a large meadow and sent them somewhere and yet they sent us all back home. So we were safe from that.<\/p>\n

How was this experience of leaving home?<\/p>\n

There is nothing worse than leaving home. To leave and go to a foreign house, with children. At that time they didn’t even have bread to eat. Imagine we took soup pasta, boiled them and then put them in the oven, and thus we had to eat soup pasta for lunch. I don’t know, it was a disaster. We were really welcomed but I do not know. My mother-in-law and Suzana said that they suffered a lot. We went to Ternovc, then came back at home. Then Naseri, Bejta and Skenderi went to the gas station to get oil and there someone was shouting “(speaks Serbian)”… about Stefan they said that you took Serbian children. They almost killed them.<\/p>\n

Do you know that at that time I had a problem at home? I do not know what else to tell you about here. As for Ternovc, I am saying that they welcomed us very, very well wherever we went.<\/p>\n

How do you remember returning home? What do you remember? How did you feel?<\/p>\n

When I got home it was April. I do not know if it was April or not but it was the spring season, there was a lot of greenery. There were iris flowers that had blossomed in lilac color. They had all blossomed. When I entered the yard it looked like paradise.<\/p>\n

Then, 2-3 days after we returned home, some Serbs were working at the factory, I do not know what factory was there in Crep, and when they were returning home at 11 o’clock at night, they fired machine guns in the direction of our house. Even today the house has those holes. They wanted to frighten us or even kill us. They almost killed Naser twice at the door. But we have not seen them again. They were bodyguards of Niteks I think. On their way home they fired machine guns. We were staying at home when we felt the house shake due to the firing of the machine guns.<\/p>\n

But returning home was good. It was a very good feeling to get home to start everything from scratch. Everything was dirty. When we went out in the yard, we and other people around looked at each other like wolves and goats. Albanians thought we were Serbs. Serbs thought we were Albanians. You know, we were neither here nor there. We have experienced many abuses. We were not supported by either side, either Albanians or Serbs.<\/p>\n

Because we were the only ones in Crep. Anyway, it was good. Then, the KLA also protected us. When they fired with automatic weapons, the KLA came and guarded us for 3 or 4 days. Then later again there was a problem. The Russians killed 2-3 people. Then when I came to Gjilan at my parents\u2019 house, I had to come and sleepover because I did not dare to return since there always shooting in Ranilug.<\/p>\n

I had to sleepover and then when I got home we still had problems. We also had a problem with the Russians. They approached the wall, whistled, or did something. We did not even dare to go out because they were together with the Serbs, with the Serbian KFOR. We had problems. Then, when the Italians came there, the situation was better, but for a long time the Russians also guarded the house. They surrounded our house and guarded us from the Serbs. I.e. 2-3 times they wanted to shoot my father-in-law. They took him to fix a truck. Nothing was wrong with that truck. Then my mother-in-law went out and saved him. She spoke Serbian out of necessity and then they thought they were Serbs and in this way she saved him.<\/p>\n

What effect do you think the war had on you as a family, or even on you personally?<\/p>\n

Very bad effect. I can never imagine (unintelligible)\u2026 When they went, when the war was over. When NATO entered we went out and saw all the tanks, the cars and all our goods, our houses, when they emptied them at my parents’, the baby bears, the toys were all tied up in tanks. I saw many of my neighbors, who were Serbian neighbors in Gjilan. I also know them by name and when I saw them I hid because I said to myself that now that they lost the war they will say \u2018she is Albanian\u2019 and they will kill me immediately. I did not dare to appear before a Serb named Serxhan. They went and stole washing machines, electric stoves and everything else in every house. They have filled the trucks to the brim, I have seen with my own eyes what they stole and what they did. Then after the war I came to my parents. They had nowhere to return in the house since Serbs did everything in those houses. They had defecated and urinated and did everything there. Each closet door had the SPS inscription on it. Did you see it?<\/p>\n

There is nothing else\u2026[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Bjeshka Guri (interviewer) Sadbere Aliti (interviewee) Acronyms: BG=Bjeshka Guri, SA= Sadbere Aliti \u201cThere was no war here, was there? No, there was not. Our house was the only one in Crep, in the municipality of Ranilug, and every time those cars, tanks were passing, the whole house was shaking. About a thousand or two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1349,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions\/1349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}