{"id":1906,"date":"2023-01-30T21:06:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T21:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/?p=1906"},"modified":"2023-01-30T21:06:33","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T21:06:33","slug":"olgica-subotiq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/olgica-subotiq\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Olgica Subotiq"},"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]Interviewer: Could you introduce yourself and say where you are from?
\nOlga Subotic:I am Olgica Subotic. I was born in Radevo. I lived in Obili\u0107, now I’m here gr… in containers, now I’m in an apartment. I never left Kosovo.
\nInterviewer: How do you remember the period before the war?
\nOlga Subotic: Before the war, it was wonderful. In my village where I was born, there was only one Albanian. I sat with Gjuzdjida at the same table… at the same desk. They attended a Serbian school. There were two sisters and four brothers. We were getting along, we didn’t know if they were Albanians. They would come to our place for weddings and funerals, we went to their place. Special preparations of food were made for the Albanians, special for us. We hung out, like that. After a few years, while they were not, but later when their children were born, they separated to learn Albanian. For two children, a teacher from Jenac came to teach them. Right before the war, they went to a private school in Jenac. Although there was room for as many of them as you want. The village is small. And they went to Jenac to study and were educated there. And so, we hung out like that. We went to each other’s houses, and to the weddings. We would go at their place for Eid, they at our place for slava. They didn’t look, there were no complaints. Moreover, that oldest brother introduced himself as Dragan. He went to dance parties, to Serbian weddings. He was… having fun with a girl from Srpska. A woman asked him, whose are you, Dragan? He says, I am Tin’s. As Tin has two sons, Slava and Dina. Me… and that Tin had two wives. He says Stana brought me. Oh, may you be alive and well my son.
\nInterviewer: How do you remember the war period?
\nOlga Subotic: The period of the war and before the war, when the demonstrations started, it was desperate. We had to go pick up the children from school. And, around 1981, 1982, I can’t remember exactly which year, I worked at Elektro Privreda. I didn’t speak Albanian, suddenly a mob came. Workers from Elektro Privreda mines, with poles in hands and bottles. They kicked us out of work. “Dil jasht, dil jasht”, I didn’t know what that meant. Only then I asked, “what does that mean to them, dil jasht? Well, get out”. That’s when I learned that Albanian word. And to director Bobi\u0107, they hung a “Kosovo Republic” poster on him and at the front of this… as they were going to demonstrate, he was at the front with that poster on his forehead when we got to the cemetery. There the army and the police were waiting for them, they ran away and some workers were locked up in the barracks. Some… … somebody was beaten, depending. And during the war, it was very difficult, when they returned. We went to Elektro Privreda as if we were going to work, they invited us. We went to the gate to call ten Albanians, ten Serbs. They called ten Albanians, the machine broke down, to get… the job cards. We walked back home. We go again the next day, they call ten Albanians again. When it’s the Serb’s turn, they call two, three… everything like that. And one boy, Rako\u010devi\u0107 entered and never came out again. Well, they slaughtered an engineer, Zoran Konti\u0107, in his apartment in Pristina. He was a great expert, he was in that negotiating team. And when we came on the fifth or sixth day, Zoran Stanisavljevi\u0107, also an engineer, came, he said stay there, I’m going to talk to them, Zoran Konti\u0107 was slaughtered, let’s see what we’re going to do. In Kosovo B, the Main Administration was there for us. When he returned, his car was completely riddled with bullets. I don’t know how he survived. And that day we returned home and did not go again. Workers’ cars were taken away. They approach, whoever comes in a car they would just pull out a gun, give us the keys and take their car. And for that Rako\u010devi\u0107, his aunt came to look for him. He lived somewhere near the Batlava lake and came to his aunt, since he could not travel and did not return for two days, his aunt came to look for him. Have you seen him? Somebody says, I saw him in the dressing room. They say that they threw him in the bunker where the fire is lit for the Elektrana. Not a trace, not a voice about him, not even today. When the Albanians returned, we lived great with neighbors in Obilic. We didn’t know when they left or why they left. We had no idea. A neighbor comes, she says these… who was a neighbor with them, she says these neighbors of ours are gone. Chickens are chirping, dogs are barking. I watered and fed them myself. And that’s how we fed those chickens for fifteen days, watered them, with bombings from above, until some people came with stockings on their heads and destroyed the houses. We don’t even know who they were is or what they were. We were afraid of them too. Well, when they came back, we thought they were the same neighbors, but they weren’t. They threatened us that they were going to slaughter us, that they were going to kill us. They burned houses, looted, what didn’t they do. In Obili\u0107, since the arrival of KFOR, nine people have been killed. An old woman in her eighties was murdered, dragged out of her bed. We were getting her help, and we went to get help, one of them went to get the card, she says Grandma Milada is gone. As she undressed, that’s how things were left. And we stopped the UNMIK vehicle, a black man was there, put on a yellow tape, searched for her. Fortunately, one little girl worked in KFOR as a translator, she visited often. When she came, she was gone. And she asked, asked. They found her in Vu\u010ditrn. Eyes gouged out, nose broken, ears cut off. The English took that picture and showed it to us, do you know this woman. That means, they threatened us with it, like this is what will happen to you if you don’t leave. How can you know her without ears, without a nose, without… all the blood that flowed from her. After that one old woman Stevka, they burned her with an iron. One man called Radovan Kukalj, they came to steal his car. He flew out of the house, they killed him with a burst. Sta\u0161a Rapaji\u0107 was slaughtered and the woman next to him, they thought she was killed, but she was not, just unconscious. Only in the morning when a neighbor passed by, when they saw… his wife was alive. I don’t know if today… she survived that accident. Well, the Stoli\u0107 family to the core. They killed them only because they didn’t want to sell the house, because one of their sons died in Elektro Privreda from an electric shock, the Albanians also set him up. Sent him to fix something, turned off the electricity. When he arrived to fix it, they turned on the electricity and the electricity killed him. They didn’t want to sell either, they were elder calm people, quiet, they had another son. He was not married. His mother said, don’t sell the house until I die, to bury me next to my son. If you happen to sell it, put a tent in one corner for me to live there, to be buried next to my son. One morning when we heard, I was getting ready for Gra\u010danica, a neighbor came and said they had killed Sloba. Which Sloba? Two neighbors were there, one sold the house and left a few more if they weren’t him… because that also happened. He also tells Sloba and Radmila and Ljubinka. I went there, everything was fenced with yellow tape. One or two from the Stolic family stood, sat there. What happened? Nobody knows what happened. The police wouldn’t let them in, they set the house on fire to hide their tracks. Fortunately, an Albanian woman was going out, she had to pass by their house. Is that the reason… she was afraid to pass by the burning house, or is it the reason they lived well. I don’t know now, she’s the only one who knows. And she reported it to the fire department. We only found out in the morning, when we turned everything off, when we found out about this from a neighbor. Those inside did not want to let us see. We had an argument with the police there, all sorts of things happened. And then we didn’t let them take them to the autopsy until Dragutin Dobri\u010danin came. And when Dragutin Dobri\u010danin arrived, he introduced himself, they were taken to Orahovac. Autopsy, eyes also taken out, scrotums down, ribs broken. This woman was not much disfigured, I bathed her. Only her hands were blue in places. No one knows why or how or what. But it is assumed only because they did not want to sell the house.
\nInterviewer: Do you remember the moment you had to leave your home?
\nOlga Subotic: We stayed, we were then in Belgrade to talk. Either to evict us, or to secure us, to secure us… to guard us, KFOR. That… they were not allowed to move out. We spoke with Mr. \u010covi\u0107. I can’t evict you, I can talk to KFOR for security. General Mini, the Italian general of KFOR, was coming. He guaranteed us safety, but that safety was still not there. We had to guard ourselves, keep watch at night. No one was allowed to go alone, we only went in groups. I lived in a rented house. That owner sold the house, I moved into a building. Across the street from us was the police station. On March 17, I was in Mitrovica, and when I was coming back, a woman from there from Suvi Dol said that our people came here, I don’t know how they will return. What happened? She says that some children drowned, and they say that our men chased them with dogs. And we had to pass two Albanian villages to chase them. And nothing, it was peaceful in Obili\u0107. Me, I was doing some handicrafts and I sat down and did some embroidery. My sister is calling me, what are you doing? I said, I am doing embroidery. Doing embroidery, she says, \u010caglavica is on fire. Why is it burning? You don’t know, there is a war going on. No, it’s peaceful here. I stop what I was doing, I look out the window, same thing happening at us. The mob is going, they came armed… those vehicles. They climb onto vehicles, broke windows, but they didn’t evict us that day. They beat up one or two at the train station. Well, that’s how it was, that\u2019s how we spent the night. We kept watch in the building all night. The next morning, I made a pie, I’ll never make a pie like that again in my life [laughter]. And I wake up to see the children going to school without backpacks. What is this, I don’t think it’s a holiday. Oh my mother, it seems there were million children and adults. KLA and they are throwing stones, throwing stones, breaking windows. We… there was a bar below us, we hoped they wouldn’t burn us down. The whole of Obili\u0107 is burning here, where there were private houses. No one to come out to say stop, stop what you’re doing. These Slovaks were in the school. Not a hundred meters from us, the Slovak army. They waited for the order, but then they apologized to us. They were not allowed do act without orders. And the police came out and just kicks stones to them. While they burned down those houses, we were sitting in the same building next to us, when they came there, there were also Albanian bars down there, they set the building on fire. The people inside are screaming, then the army rushes to save them. And… and an American policeman who worked for the UNMIK police in Obili\u0107 came, he convinced us to leave, we didn’t want to. In the end, he told us, you have five minutes to leave, no one will protect you. We went out, bare-handed we went across the street to the police. There were one or two departments, I don’t know how big they were. We were stacked like sardines, like this. My daughter fainted there, they are laughing, we can’t bring her back. Serb police officers are not allowed to go outside the circle, and Albanians… are just as proud of what they did. And then, we were there from ten to three. At three o’clock, (they took us with) tanks to the army barracks. We were in the barracks for five days. We asked to be taken to the border, because when… I defy from 1999 to 2004, five years. Nothing is better, you lost your property, we were looking to take us to the border and then who knows. However, they didn’t want that. And there we had a lot of complications. The first day we arrived, they gave us good food. And afterwards, they cooked us grain and we ate corn. Machine-cut bread, no meat, thez put cauliflower. They put some dirty water. That’s how we fed ourselves. We went through a lot of trouble there as well. They arrested Ivica \u010carapi\u0107. He didn’t… he worked as a translator in… for the Carabinieri. He knew English, he only translated for us, and he was not our leader. They arrested him too. So then we didn’t want to leave until they brought him. Then, they let him right across the border. He has no right to come to Kosovo. And the hardest thing for me was when they brought priest Miroslav. He was in the Monastery, where are the lodgings. He was in the basement below. They set fire to that inn, when he came out all black in soot. As he was hiding from the heat, he only had a cross, an icon and that pot with the holy water. He came crying. That was the hardest time for me. He has a kidney condition, they wanted to arrest him too. However, we managed while they were capturing Ivica, we managed to hide priest Miroslav. And so, Ombudsman Nowicki visited us, no one else. Veli\u010del was coming, as if with an order. He did not come to ask us and promise us something. And then they tricked us into Gracanica. You are only going to Gra\u010danica to rest a little and change the other escort, and they will take you to the border. When we came, there was none of that. Then I was in private accommodation, then in old containers, and the electricity went out. And we didn’t have… it was winter, the month of November. Everything was frozen, water and food and everything. We didn’t eat anything for two days. Then we went to the Ombudsman in Pristina. He wrote a protest letter to the United Nations Security Council; the Government of Serbia, and I don’t know who else he wrote to. Only then did new white containers arrive from Russia. It was a little better there. Again, we had two beds. We had wood for heating. They gave us fridges, some mini ovens. Again, one could live somehow. It wasn’t, the bathroom was shared. I had to walk 50 meters to go and take a bath. Washing machine was used in queue, there were fights, uncomfortable situations, and so on.
\nInterviewer: Do you believe that Serbs and Albanians can build a better society together?
\nOlga Subotic: Well, I don’t believe so. I don’t believe it! Let me tell you, from my old neighbor, I’m going to Obili\u0107. I haven’t sold the house yet. My old neighbors always give me a warm welcome. And… but various, unknown ones came. You don’t know what they are like. And the old neighbors, they also regret. Now a woman, a neighbor, called me on the phone. I communicated with her son. Her son was killed, she doesn’t know a trace or a word about him because he wasn’t with Tha\u00e7i, what do I know. And she, she tells me if Olga is coming, ask about me. She says… [unintelligible] call her and see if she’s alive. And she calls me. I ask, is Fahria alive, she is laughing there, I can hear it. She says, I… now she was forcing me to call you to see if you were alive. I said, I am. And I asked about all the neighbors, about everyone. I say, I heard from \u017divka, she has the picture that you took. I also watched it the other day. I want to tell you that we lived well, until these Albanian emigrants started coming. I had two families in the neighborhood. When they came, these Shiptari of ours, they did not recognize them for… that they were theirs. They told us why you hang out with them. We also hung out with them. That woman, every time I went to Obili\u0107, always welcomed me. Once when I left the German journalists, took them to see how my house was set on fire, she came out in front of me, she asked me, the journalists were surprised. She asks me about my youngest daughter, Lena, how is she? I said Lena has a daughter. Oh, may she be alive and well, she raises her hands. They stopped and looked. Here she said, do you see how we neighbors used to live. But all that has been disrupted now. The two old men died, one who was also Albanian, sold the house. I don’t know where he went. He was… no, that old neighborhood is gone. Here, I didn’t sell the house. I let one guard my house. He pays me 50 euros for 11 years. He plays with me as he pleases. I can’t get him out, he won’t come out. 11 years, nonstop saying, I will buy it, I will buy it. And neither buys nor anything.
\nInterviewer: You think it won’t get better?
\nOlga Subotic: Excuse me?
\nInterviewer: You think it won’t get better?
\nOlga Subotic: I don’t know, I don’t know. If someone smart comes to rule Kosovo, it will. They had everything good, everything. I had a colleague at work. He was a very good boy. He worked with me and says… his daughter went to public school. He says, oh aunty Olga, they are forcing me to transfer my daughter to go to a private school. I was a hygienist, and so was he. I have no way to pay, what’s wrong. She is learning Albanian, what does it matter if she goes to a state school. They are forcing me to enroll her in a private one, they come and just threaten me. And when, when he was supposed to go, he was at the border crossing between Macedonia and this. He says, aunty Olga, I didn’t want to go. He is poor, but he is honest. I didn’t want to go, but my father tricked me into going to my uncle’s place in Turkey. When I went there, I didn’t eat anything for five days, just so the children could eat, he says. He has two children. And when he returned, work came. I shout So, did someone chase you out? Going from house to house, you have to leave, you have to leave. They ordered us. I would never go. When the bus came, he said to pick me up, to bring me back, I got on the bus first. One called my father, what are you doing here? So and so, enter. And then he gave me bread and p\u00e2t\u00e9. Then after five days I ate. It was good for them, and it was difficult for us, but it was more difficult for them. And that\u2019s how it is.
\nInterviewer: Thank you![\/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]Interviewer: Could you introduce yourself and say where you are from? Olga Subotic:I am Olgica Subotic. I was born in Radevo. I lived in Obili\u0107, now I’m here gr… in containers, now I’m in an apartment. I never left Kosovo. Interviewer: How do you remember the period before the war? Olga Subotic: Before the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1915,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions\/1915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofrefugees-ks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}