..............................
In Search of the Displaced Persons
The long Road to Brđani
The following pages give an account of a twenty year search to uncover the mystery that had surrounded grandfather for the entirety of his life that he had spent living in the United Kingdom. All that was ever known of him were the basic facts that he was Serbian by nationality (although I was later to discover that he in fact lived in Bosnia) and that he was never to return to his native homeland again.
The book is like that of a split personality, two sides that would never see the other until the final chapters were acknowledged, recorded and written together.
It describes my own early recollections of the man and the time I would spend in his presence throughout childhood and teenage years until his death in 1988.
The other persona tells of the other side that was left behind in Bosnia. The happiness, ever wandering, the horrors and finally, as the first one is uncovered, the understanding and joining together of both as finally one.
The search would be a relentless task searching for a man that had no records of his existence prior to his displacement in 1946. Searching a country whose own bloodlust and carnage has seen whole generations of people and records of them disappear forever. A country whose varied people are so secretive in their wn right and often hide their own pasts with a passion.
It would see me travel to Bosnia only to be faced with the realisation that nothing there could be found.
Private Investigators that specialised in genealogy would be hired but it would be by sheer chance that the mystery would eventually unfold and a family lost for over sixty years would be uncovered.
A second visit to Bosnia would result in reunion and embrace and it would become clear that the connection had not been lost but was merely lying dormant in the passing of time.
The stories would begin to unfold from both sides, so differently told. Stories and memories so very different but would have the magnetic pull that would keep them connected without each knowing of the others existence. The same memories would become entwined spiritually as if they had never been apart.
Two lost brothers that had known of the others continued existence but for reasons out of their control would never have any contact for over sixty years until their deaths twelve months apart.
The connection would continue and would increase its pull even after their deaths and would eventually draw both sides together with a clarity that would have the feeling that they had never been apart.
Two separate people that had never met but found themselves spiritually drawn together with one goal. Finally, to bridge the gap that had been suspended for so long and to record finally the years that had been lost.
The following pages give an account of a twenty year search to uncover the mystery that had surrounded grandfather for the entirety of his life that he had spent living in the United Kingdom. All that was ever known of him were the basic facts that he was Serbian by nationality (although I was later to discover that he in fact lived in Bosnia) and that he was never to return to his native homeland again.
The book is like that of a split personality, two sides that would never see the other until the final chapters were acknowledged, recorded and written together.
It describes my own early recollections of the man and the time I would spend in his presence throughout childhood and teenage years until his death in 1988.
The other persona tells of the other side that was left behind in Bosnia. The happiness, ever wandering, the horrors and finally, as the first one is uncovered, the understanding and joining together of both as finally one.
The search would be a relentless task searching for a man that had no records of his existence prior to his displacement in 1946. Searching a country whose own bloodlust and carnage has seen whole generations of people and records of them disappear forever. A country whose varied people are so secretive in their wn right and often hide their own pasts with a passion.
It would see me travel to Bosnia only to be faced with the realisation that nothing there could be found.
Private Investigators that specialised in genealogy would be hired but it would be by sheer chance that the mystery would eventually unfold and a family lost for over sixty years would be uncovered.
A second visit to Bosnia would result in reunion and embrace and it would become clear that the connection had not been lost but was merely lying dormant in the passing of time.
The stories would begin to unfold from both sides, so differently told. Stories and memories so very different but would have the magnetic pull that would keep them connected without each knowing of the others existence. The same memories would become entwined spiritually as if they had never been apart.
Two lost brothers that had known of the others continued existence but for reasons out of their control would never have any contact for over sixty years until their deaths twelve months apart.
The connection would continue and would increase its pull even after their deaths and would eventually draw both sides together with a clarity that would have the feeling that they had never been apart.
Two separate people that had never met but found themselves spiritually drawn together with one goal. Finally, to bridge the gap that had been suspended for so long and to record finally the years that had been lost.
No posts match your query. Show all posts
No posts match your query. Show all posts
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
