Family

During the siege, the continuation of normal life in the city, continuation of creativity, for all citizens of Sarajevo was as important as bread or medicine or water.

This segment in FAMA research period 1992-1996 contains the question "Could you describe a creation of yours?" and interviewees' answers. Sarajevans (in this case: interviewees) created and accepted this model in order to survive: "We were all innovators of our own methods of survival" – as put by one of the respondents.

Sources: FAMA Collection 1992-1996: Oral History, Survival Questionnaire, Sarajevo Life Magazine, archival video and photo collection.

A HOUSE PARTY

© FAMA Collection - Visual Archives 1992-1996 (Jelena Oksenfeld)

Mother: ‘You had to calm down the children, entertain them somehow, never to leave them to their own devices or to do nothing. You always had to be with them, telling them stories, teach them to paint, play with them, sing to them’.

FAIRYTALES

© FAMA Collection - Visual Archives 1992-1996 (Jelena Oksenfeld)

Grandmother: ‘I used to tell fairytales to my grandchildren to keep them from thinking about and listening to what was happening outside’.

FAMILY CHAIN

© FAMA Collection - Visual Archives 1992-1996 (Jelena Oksenfeld)

Family chain description: ‘The team that guaranteed survival was made up of my father, my brother and me. There was a 'family economic chain' in which people clustered together, each of them participating in the collective effort for survival. The 'chain' functioned flawlessly under the new rules to which each individual agreed. The only way to survive was within a family, through a mechanism which was partly cash-based and partly barter-based and partly smuggling’.

QUASIMODO - A GAME FOR KIDS

© FAMA Collection - Visual Archives 1992-1996 (Jelena Oksenfeld)

Nedžad Begović, father and artist: ‘I made a game with nine geometric elements and called it Quasimodo because it was not-so-good-looking. I cut pieces of paper imitating origami techniques. These nine elements could be arranged in different ways to form all the letters, and numbers, and puppies, kittens, different geometric forms. The children were spending their free time playing with it. We all played with these cards, we had fun and they quickly learned the letters.’