“I had just lain down to rest a bit when suddenly my neighbour burst in and shouted, ‘Run, let's go! Save our lives, the Ustaše are coming from Dinara!’ "
Despite her 94 years, these words will forever remain etched in the memory of Grandma Anđa Vuković, who on that 4th August 1995 during Operation "Storm" forever left her home in Cetina near Knin, where she was born, dressed only in the clothes she was wearing and carrying a woollen rope she had woven herself, intended for a cow. Before fleeing for her life and freedom, she managed to untie the cow, hoping it too might escape the villains. She survived the horrors of three wars, losing her home in one of them.
Robberies and executions
“My dear, what can I tell you... We had built a house there, I left everything behind, a tractor, house, all memories, photographs. The only memory I have is that woollen rope... The Ustaše looted everything, we had to flee, if they caught you, they would rape, kill... Back then I was 65 years old, my husband had died of illness five years before the "Storm", and he was a veteran of the Second World War,” recalls Grandma Anđa with a lump in her throat in an interview with Kurir.
Anđa gave birth to five children, one of whom she lost during childbirth. Before the war, a son and one of her daughters had moved abroad, another daughter lived in Belgrade, and the third in Knin. Although the daughter who shares her name was also in Knin, they knew nothing of each other for 12 long days. They simply prayed for each other to stay alive.
“To this day, I am still frightened of war. In the column, all sorts of things happened, people fell from tractors into ravines, some killed themselves, some died in the forests, there were even air raids. I saw various horrors, but I was always afraid of knives, I thought, even if they are going to kill me, better to shoot me. God forbid my worst enemy should suffer such a fate. The Ustaše did all sorts of things, anyone they saw, they killed, slit their throats, raped. It was a time of lamentation, truly horrible. I was with neighbours in that column. I still shake today and am dying. One neighbour, Đuro, saved the whole village with his truck. He took us to Knin, there I wanted to get out and look for my daughter, but he said, ‘Where are you going, there's not a soul alive here!’ We got to the Serbs, then on to Banja Luka, where we slept under the open sky. Oh, I fell into a hole there, barely got out. Some tall grass, it was dark,” recounts Grandma Anđa with great pain.
Never Again
She travelled for 12 days, without food or a change of clothes, and did not even know her daughter's phone number who lived in Zemun. She went to a famous tavern in Belgrade where a relative worked, and that's how she managed to reach one of her daughters and let her know she was alive! The daughter who had fled from Knin had already arrived at her sister's in Zemun, then Anđa's heart was relieved when she heard that her daughter had survived.
“They came for me in Ripanj. Fortunately, we had somewhere to come, we all lived there for a while. It is hard, I have never returned to our village. My daughters went, tidied up the house a bit after it had been completely demolished. They smashed doors, windows, stole everything. After all these years, I miss our hearth, our home, it is hard. As they say, may it never happen again! These people experienced a harsh fate in Croatia, each of us who fled has their own story. It is hardest for those who lost someone dear, but everything else can somehow be compensated for,” she says, her voice trembling.
Four years later, in March 1999, she experienced the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia:
“I was very frightened and shaken then too, my blood pressure shot up, I know what war means, my daughter comforted me not to worry. I have traumas from wars, I was a child during the Second World War, but all sorts of armies passed through, Ustaše, Partisans, Chetniks, Italians, they took animals, there was hunger and everything.”
Lost everything, but rich in family
Four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren
From the memories, little has been preserved, perhaps a few photographs and a knitted woollen rope. Although she lost her home, she says her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are her riches.
“I have four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. I live for them; when my great-granddaughter comes over and tells me I need to eat and walk, then I feel like I’m in heaven. They keep me alive. When they visit, I am in heaven,” Anđa smiles.
Reproduction of part or all of the text and/or photo/video, without citing and linking the source and author, is prohibited, in accordance with the WMG Terms of Use and the Public Information and Media Law.
M. B.
NE PROPUSTITE
Bonus video:
