Bonka Davico with her great-grandson Stevan Divljan

Bonka Davico with her great-grandson Stevan Divljan

I and my great-grandson Stevan Divljan in their garden in Vienna in 2002.

My granddaughter Dina married Vlada Divljan, a famous musician and lived in Belgrade.

My daughter left for Vienna on business just about the time the bombing was about to begin (Editor’s note: the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999).

We had a house in Vienna about which something had to be arranged. -She called and said, mama, leave for Vienna immediately, there’s going to be a bombing.

I didn’t believe, I didn’t know. She called again, I wasn’t packed, she ordered my granddaughter and me, we packed on Tuesday and left for Vienna on Wednesday.

I left with a small suitcase. So I went into exile twice the same way.

We arrived in Vienna around 7 o’clock, my daughter welcomed us most adorably, and at 9 o’clock I saw Belgrade was being bombed. It was awful, I couldn’t believe it.

And so we stayed in Vienna. After the bombing I went back and my daughter stayed, because it was very difficult under Milosevic’s rule.

My granddaughter also stayed in Vienna with her husband, as they couldn’t find work in Belgrade and there she gave birth to two children.

I have two great-grandchildren. One’s name is Stevan and the other’s Pavle.

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