Don't Leave Me Behind

Time to go

News of the concentration camps spread like wild fire .  In August 1992, the existence of the Prijedor camps was discovered by the Western media, leading to their closure. Trnopolje was transferred into the hands of the International Red Cross (IRC) in mid-August, and closed in November 1992. It was announced everyone will be let go in few months . Couple of my family members were held captive . My uncle and his  son was just one of the thousands of prisoners . He was a very educated man worked as a director in one of big companies. As I was told he even owned his shoe repair shop as a hobby . He was considered a threat . They would beat him until he couldn't get up anymore just for fun . He never wanted to talk about it  .

They said people from a city called Kozarac were the first ones that were taken to the camp . We had no idea he was there for months with his son . From all the beatings and torture his son didn't take it well. He suffered severe injuries causing brain damage.

They couldn't hide what they were doing in those camps . In struggle to hide murders and mistreatment
the Serb solders announced if family members want they are allowed to bring food to the camp to the prisoners . They were prisoners now barely holding to life .

A lot of talk between our neighbors who will go or will they go at all . Everyone was afraid . The Trnopolje camp was an internment camp established by Bosnian Serb military and police authorities in the village of Trnopolje near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the first months of the Bosnian War. Also variously termed a concentration camp, detainment camp, detention camp, and prison,

(Trnopolje held between 4,000 and 7,000 Bosniak and Bosnian Croat inmates at any one time and served as a staging area for mass deportations, mainly of women, children, and elderly men. Between May and November 1992, an estimated 30,000 inmates passed through. )

My mother the brave one . She made a lot of bread and other food to pass out to people in the camp that were starving to death . She would load all of this on her bike and make the trip daily for weeks . Passing food through barbed wire . She feed neighbors, friends , family and strangers .

We barely had enough to eat but she always said

' we have more than enough '

She would come home so sad and angry . She would tell us . Everyone is barely holding on to life . They are starving and being beaten . The conditions were unimaginable . Tears would stroll down her face and she would cover her face with her hands in this belief that this is happening.

Finally news broke out that they are letting the prisoners out of the camp .  International Red Cross opened up immigration service that victims have a choice to leave or as they said deported  . Buses will be available in couple of weeks .

Buses were coming in to transport people out every day . It wasn't easy to get a spot on the bus . You had to pay alot of money for one person and you had to do it in secret through a connection. They accepted money and gold as payment . My mother scraped everything she had to get us on that bus . 

I'll never forget that cold morning. Everyone was so sad . My mom was packing us up to leave .

Where will we go ?

I had so many questions and it made me feel uneasy . I heard alot of horror stories how these buses get hijacked by Serb solders . I was even more scared .

As our neighbors came by to say their good byes they shared that they will be leaving soon as well. A lot of tears , alot of tears .....

I remember taking that last walk out of home . I remember looking around and taking it all in so I don't forget where I came from .  Trying to paint a picture in my mind that I will always remember.

I cried and I was not ashamed of my tears . My cries echoed around me .  The good bye that hurts even today . 

As we kept loosing sight of our house , our neighbors and my childhood 'who would think that it would take me 28 years to build up courage to go back and visit' .