Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...
Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...
Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Chapter 1 • Silvia Salvatici<br />
or her wish to forget and give priority to the objectives of the national<br />
community. The individual subject leaves his personal stance to the construction<br />
of a collective stage, and the performance of this duty itself reinforces<br />
a sense of belonging to the national community, at the same time<br />
seeming to have consolatory and therapeutic effects. Still another reason<br />
for remembering is that it gives meaning to the loss. This occurred in the<br />
case of Teuta. At 18, Teuta had mourned the murder of her father and<br />
brother, (both of them active in the KLA) by the Serbian police. “We have<br />
to live for the sake of those that fought and died for us, because when they<br />
took the gun in their hands they did a great thing”, she said.<br />
Afrim, another man who contributed by remembering, had witnessed the<br />
execution of his 16-year-old daughter. She had asked Afrim for permission<br />
to join the KLA, which he had not given her. While describing his daughter’s<br />
death, Afrim said, “Although the pain is very deep, I’m proud of her.<br />
I’m very proud.” From this perspective, the dead are no longer mere<br />
victims. Remembered, they become martyrs, and their loss is made more<br />
tolerable.<br />
The pain of the present<br />
The affliction, grief and anguish described by the interviewees was not<br />
limited to past events, but also tainted their descriptions of the present. To<br />
the Kosovar-Serbs, suffering is an immediate reality. From their point of<br />
view, those who chose not to leave the region are still at war, a war in<br />
which they are the victims. Within this community, the past is usually<br />
recalled only to emphasize the suffering of the present, or to show where<br />
this suffering originated. A group of men from Belo Polje (Pec) thus told<br />
how their village was destroyed by Albanians. The memory of this event,<br />
which occurred immediately after the “end” of the war, however, was<br />
invoked mainly in order to bring to light the suffering of those who saw<br />
their houses burnt down and who were forced to flee to Serbia. A narrative<br />
is shared because the Kosovar Serbs’ living conditions must be brought to<br />
the attention of the international community, which should guarantee them<br />
the right to return home. This was the case and sentiment of Sonja, now<br />
living in Gorazdevac, who remembered the painful experience of her<br />
flight, with the family, from Pristina to Belgrade, but recalled it mainly in<br />
order to raise awareness of the specific events that caused the psychological<br />
disturbances suffered by her youngest son, for whom she sought<br />
the help of international experts. To her, the memory of past experiences<br />
could be used as a tool to emphasize and intensify the suffering she bore<br />
in the present, in order, ultimately, to bring the international community to<br />
recognize the Kosovar-Serbs as victims of the conflict, and to find adequate<br />
solutions for them.<br />
24