NOTHING NEW IN THE EAST
BEFORE DEPARTURE
In those years, we used all our free time to take the children on outings to Tisovac, where our then log cabin stood — or “weekend cottage”, as it was popularly called.
Tisovac lies in the Bosnian hills — grassy clearings peep out between small woods where white birches and oaks alternate. Here and there a blue-green pine rises high above the other treetops. At the foot of the hills, small streams flow down and join together into a little river that runs through the central canyon of Tisovac. The clearings are partly covered with lush grass and partly with even lusher ferns, among which mushrooms, wild strawberries, and blueberries hide. For years we picked parasol mushrooms, porcini and chanterelles there.
Ever since I can remember, my father held important positions — first in the Steelworks, then in Željezara Zenica, until he eventually became the general technical director of the entire Mining and Metallurgical Combine, RMK Zenica. The RMK Combine was the work of a team of engineers who, after the Second World War, had returned from England, France, Czechoslovakia, and Germany.
Only a year before he was assassinated in France, King Alexander Karađorđević gathered an entire generation of hardworking secondary-school students from across the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and sent them to study at Western European universities. After the Second World War, that generation formed the pillars of industry, the economy, and the universities in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
At the same time, from the ranks of the Yugoslav Partisans there emerged a generation of politicians and social workers who established the foundations of socialism on the highest moral principles.
I cannot escape the impression that, as both groups slowly grew older and left their key positions, those foundations and pillars also began to shake.
My career at RMK Zenica also began to wobble. I had grown up under the protection of a father who was highly successful in fields of key importance to the community. My mother was also an engineer, but as a housewife, she was able to devote more attention to the whole family. As a result, at school and in society I always appeared properly cared for in every respect, surrounded by the aura of a person with whom it was good to be close.
As I grew out of the short trousers of primary school, any possible problems around me seemed to be removed by an invisible hand. To be fair, as far as primary school was concerned, I did shine in all subjects. But by the time I reached grammar school, the composition of the pupils had changed, and I found myself among a very different range of teenagers from all parts of the Zenica municipality, and even from the wider republic.
Still, my two-years-older brother was breaking the ice ahead of me; my aura continued to shine, and the illusion that I was immune to earthly problems went on.
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