From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Zagreb Diary
Date: 29 Sep 92 11:02:05 +0100
Article-I.D.: ZAMIR-ZG.4mhJzwkotC
Followup-To: soc.culture.diskussion
Distribution: soc


  

Zagreb Diary
23-09-1992

Dobar Dan,

The volunteers left this morning for Gasinci, some of us were 
afraid that there weren't enough children in that camp since 
the last weeks a lot of them left for the Netherlands and 
CSFR, but I am sure that new ones will come soon and there 
are still about 400 children there. It is again a good group 
of people who went there.

The best news of today came from UNICEF, after weeks of 
negotiations they have, according to their press release, 
received the promises from all fighting groups that the first 
week of November will be quiet, no fightings. In that week 
UNICEF wants to deliver aid to about 1.000.000 children in 
former Yugoslavia. Even when it sounds strange that it only 
will be a week it is good, better was of course if it would 
be total peace. It is not the first time that UNICEF is 
making such a deal, according to their fax we got today they 
also did it in El Salvador, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and in the 
Sudan. Hopefully the situation is not changing to much in the 
coming month and the leaders of the different groups remember 
their promises. Up to now not much of the promises of London 
are kept. 

The last days I was wondering what the nice maimer plate said 
on a house here in Mlinovi, which is nearly falling apart. I 
could make out that it had something to do with the Croatian 
Communist party, but today somebody translated it for me, in 
that house, it says, the communist party, department of 
Zagreb, had their office between 1926 and 1929 and also the 
important 6 and 7 congress of the communists party took place 
there. It is a very small house and probably nobody remembers 
the plate on the wall, the house looks a lot like Yugoslavia 
looks at the moment, broken and next to loose the last 
standing walls, the biggest part of the house already is 
unlivable and the rest will soon follow. Today Yugoslavia is 
just like this house, nevertheless the efforts of Panic the 
country is throw out of the International UN community, 
during the UN general assembly in Geneva. Maybe this house is 
symbolic, as far as I can remember Tito was elected on one of 
those meetings which took place in that house, but I and the 
one who translated it for me wasn't sure about it anymore.

I was also shortly at the Peace Center in town today, 
Tkalciceva is full with all kind of stands and looks more 
than ever like Casa Blanca. Zagreb is remembering that it got 
city rights 750 years ago and in the center you really can't 
imagine anymore that there is still a war going on in the 
country. According to the news 14 people were killed in 
Slavonski Brod only today. And also in Vinkovci the general 
alarm went off for the first time in 3 months (I am rather 
glad that we haven't started with reconstruction camps there 
yet), it was lucky enough only a shooting between Militia 
from Krajina and Croatian MUP (police), but who knows.

From Jajce in BiH (between Sarajevo and Banja Luka) more and 

more reports are coming about very heavy fightings. Again 
they are reporting cluster and napalm bombs. Yesterday 
already it was on the news that the hospital seems to be the 
main target. Some people said today already to me that Jajce 
is becoming the so much remake of the story of Vukovar. 

On the television I saw a report from Sarajevo, they make 
graves for their people all over the place, since the grave 
yards are or dangerous or full. People are buried with a 
simple wooden cross on their grave, on the cross the name on 
date of dying in plastic letters, but so many died that the 
cross makers run out of plastic 9's, he has to make them from 
8's by cutting a part of the down circle. If this continue 
soon their will be no figure at all left he said.

On the Zagreb main cemetery, which I visit today, since there 
is a famous Jewish part, which I wanted to visit already 
months ago I also saw a lot of new graves and at least 5 
bataljons of different part of Croatian army who brought one 
of their fighting comrades to his last resting places. When 
you see all those new graves, there and on the television 
from Sarajevo the war is getting again very close. Tomorrow 
this soldiers will be back on the front again and some of 
them will be back soon in Zagreb to bring an other of their 
friends to this place. Even when you can find thousand 
reasons for all the fighting, it is hard to imagine that this 
soldier go back. I can't understand why still every day 
foreign volunteers, youngsters from all over Europe (lot's of 
them unemployed) are arriving and join one of the armies. 
There first visit in Zagreb should not be a discotheek, but 
this cemetery and the hospitals.

Discotheeks are however a profitable thing nower days, 
besides the soldiers of HV, there are also a lot of HVO 
(Croatian Army of Herceg-Bosna) soldiers in Zagreb and of 
course more and more UNPROFOR soldiers. In the last weeks 
some new ones opened. In many ways I am glad that I live 
outside the town center now, some of our volunteers complain 
about it, but I really started to hate this amusement in the 
city. It is nice ones and a while, but Tkalciceva is like an 
ongoing party. Every night is Saturday evening and the pubs 
are full. Of course it is part of the reality of this war, 
but it also let you forget to often the other reality and 
that reality is the horrible killing, the total destruction, 
since every time that I write, again shelling on place X 
people are dying and houses are destroyed. Even after nearly 
six months I sometimes have that stupid feeling of not 
understanding why people can party when so close people are 
going through this terrible nightmare.

In the evening Nina and I went to Sue to have dinner with her 
and her husband. They are living on the other side of this 
small suburb in a very luxes house, but one of the nicest 
thing was that they had 3 very big sunflowers in their 
garden. That can't be a coincident. Via Sue's husband we 
maybe can buy a few computers very cheap, we really need them 
since we have only my one and we are working now with at 
least 10 people in our Suncokret office.


With Love from ZA-mir-GREB,

                            Wam :-)
--------------------------------------------------------
Zagreb Diary can be found on a lot of different computer
Networks. If you can port it to another, please do.
It has no copyright and may be used in all forms of
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But please if you use something drop me a line.
You can reach me via wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de 
I dedicate Zagreb Diary to Tyche, Pjort and Rik
to know what their father was doing all that time