Nachricht Nummer : 192 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 41 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ZER.sub.org Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 7 July, 1993 Erstellungsdatum : 19.07.1993 15:26:00 S+2 Realname: Wam Kat Zagreb Diary 7 July, 1993 Dobar dan, Back to Pacras this morning, but just at the moment that I want to leave from Zagreb the Bulletin Board is out of action again, the last month we are not particular lucky with it, but it is maybe since I haven't had the time to really get my act together and get it rolling perfectly, there are so many things going on and I am now about a year running around here without a descend day of. Anyway after some minutes looking at the thing it wonders above wonders was willing to listening to me again and start working again. And than it is off with Burkie and Joseph to Pacras, Joseph knows the way up to Kutina, so it is a calm drive, we fill up the tank and we hope that we can do it as fast as possible since Joseph want's to go with his truck Emma to Tuzla tonight, which is in principle only 150 Km passed Pacras, but in reality more somewhere on the other side of the world. This idiocy is more and more in my head the last weeks. Every time I look at that map from this country it strikes me again how strange it all is. So after a while we arrive in Pacras at the main square, Burkie looks around, this is destruction, this is a town after a war is over. We sit down at Scorpia, a bar which has a long war history, just 10 metres away from this bar in the North/East direction the barricade of the defenders of this part of Pacras was build nearly 2 years ago. From that barricade they shoot at a barricade just about 200 meters down the road, "There were the stairs from the Catholic Church come down, there was were the Chetnik had their line". And on the other side of the road, were now a pile of stones are laying, use to stand such an "ugly modern apartment house, lucky it disappaired". When you hear that stories suddenly all this bullet holes starts to become alive. It is now quiet in Pacras, so quiet that each shoot and explosion is heard all over the place. Burkie and Joseph bring to the school were the Suncokret volunteers sleep and we meet with Goran and Vanja, the first day was very easy, the volunteers immediately adopted the fact that they have to stand up at 5.30 in the morning at start shuffling at 6. Something we scare them off with when they still were in Zagreb, but nobody protested. When they left I walked back into the town, the school is about 500 metre outside the main shopping centre of the town. In days before the world that meant about 300 small and bigger (supermarket-a-like) ones, mostly "owned" by the same company, called "buducnost" ("future"), but especially those supermarket things are now more than some steal construction, with big green plants growing inside. The name, which were big blue plastic letters has been mostly disappear, only the steal constructions to keep them on the building show that it stood there two years ago. The only things which hasn't been destroyed or immediately have been rebuild are the pub's and snack bars, each 75 meter you see at least one of them, mostly full from the early morning into the late evening hours. For the rest there are a few multi purpose shops open, in one of them I saw "Holland tomatoes" till my surprise, even here, and the basic food and things you need in normal live, there is not much choice but enough diversity to see that the city is back living again. A little bit later I drive with Tommy from the UNOV (United Nations Office Vienna) in his only not white UN vehicle over the Canadian checkpoint on the either side of the main square, which is about 500 meters south of Scorpia (here use the be the defenders line at this side of the Croatian part). We pass the street full of totally destroyed houses in no-men's land and arrive at the Serbian checkpoint, where Tommies bodyguard is standing. Not a tall guy, but just somebody known in this area by all people in order make clear in problem cases that Tommy is trustable and if that is not enough he still has his automatic gun between the band of his treasures. Although he has put his gun nearly all the way down and only a small metal part comes over the band of his pants I recognize the calibre and type and imagine what it must feel like that steal next to your penis and how unconvertible sitting must be for him. But it must be said untrained eyes probably never would see it. Five minute later I am sitting in the living room from the major of "the other side" tasting his rakija and he tells me that the leader of the working brigades on the for him "other side" use to be his employee, he knows him well, he knows also that he is probably looking for him when ever he would visit "the other side", he tells me that is a warcriminal, at least that is what he have heard. Then we drop the politics for awhile and get pragmatic. Does he thought about some projects we could do on his side of Pacras. And he explain that this part of Pacras use to be mainly living from the Spa in Lipik, the guest there use to walk in the small mountains on what is now this side and one of the most important social things for them is the trappers place up the mountain. When I stand half a hour later next to the trappers house, looking at the building, with the graffiti "BBB" (Bad Blue Boys, the football team from Zagreb) on it and I stand with back to the valley, about 1,5 kilometre from me lays the hospital, I know how it looks and the grenade wrapping between the trees remained me for what this house has been use in the heavy months of Pacras. Bok I Mir from Zagreb, Wam ------------------------------------------------------ Zagreb Diary can be found on a lot of different electronic networks, it is copyright free and can be ported to any network or other means of communication you like, but please drop my a line, you can reach by sending a message to wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de or wam@zamir-zg.comlink.apc.org. Zagreb Diary is dedicated to Tyche, Pjort and Rik, so that they found out what there father have been doing all that time in Zagreb. Financial support for Grassroot relief work in Croatia or BiH can be send to Kollektief Rampenplan (atn. Lylette, Postbox 780, 6130 AN Sittard, Netherlands, tel:. +31-46-524803 and fax: +31-46-516460 or to Zagrebacka Banka, Zagreb, accountnr.: 2440291594, to Kat, Pieter Jan Herman Fredrik, Brace Domany 6 6fl nr3, 41000 Zagreb. Please notify me if you send or have send any donations. ## CrossPoint v2.1 ##