Zlata's Diary

Zlata’s friends and family talk about leaving Sarajevo. By April 5, shots ring through the streets. Zlata cannot concentrate due to the gunfire and television scenes of protests around parliament. She recounts that people trying to cross the Vrbanja bridge peacefully were shot, including a young medical student from Dubrovnik. The old part of the city, the Baščaršija, has been destroyed. Zlata worries for her aunt Bokica and cousins Vanja and Andrej, who attended the protest at parliament.

Increased shelling sends the family into the cellar. By April 9, school is canceled, and though Zlata’s neighborhood has quieted, other parts of town are under attack. Friends in more volatile parts of town must move into emergency shelters; Zlata attempts to keep in touch, but the phone doesn’t always work. Martina and Matea visit, and their parents offer to take Zlata with them to safety in Ohrid, Macedonia. Neither Zlata nor her parents can decide what to do, though they pack her suitcase just in case. Eventually, she decides she must stay with her family no matter how frightening the situation.

Both Zlata’s parents stop working and instead spend their days stockpiling food and supplies. Their neighbors, the Bobars, become a lifeline. By the end of April, her family must take shelter in the Bobars’ cellar, which is deeper and safer than their own. 

Shelling intensifies. Zlata and her parents spend the day in the cellar. Unable to get to the relative safety of the Bobars’, they crouch in the dark, only able to sneak up during a small break for food. When they emerge, the post office is burning and the news recounts even worse damage around the Eternal Flame near her grandparents’ home. Though Zlata must stay, her father bravely crosses over the Miljaka River to check on them.

Because their apartment faces the hills, the family must rearrange to protect themselves from shrapnel and flying glass. Most of the buildings in the neighborhood have no windows left. On May 7, a shell falls on the park while Zlata’s friends play there. Her friend Jaca, Jaca’s mother, Selma, Nina, and Dado are all horribly injured. Selma loses a kidney and Nina, whom Zlata has known since kindergarten, dies.

After another night hiding in their neighbors’ cellar, the family discovers that the Vodoprivreda, an area where her mother works, has caught fire and been destroyed. Zlata cannot tolerate watching more destruction on television. Officials cancel school for good. Zlata recounts feeling hopeless after the Zetra, the hall built for the Olympics, burns.

During a lull, Zlata’s mother braves the bridge to visit Zlata’s grandparents and catch up on news. Her mother learns that her brother (Zlata’s uncle) was wounded and has been in the hospital a week. With phone lines cut, Zlata cannot keep in touch with her family and friends. She marvels at how war creates such complete distance between people. During another lull towards the end of May, Zlata convinces her father to take her to visit her friend Mirna so she can give her a birthday gift. However, Mirna and her family are not there. Now Zlata’s only friends are Bojana and Maja next door. Though they are older, Zlata is glad she is not alone among the adults.

The family has a terrifying scare on May 27 when two shells explode on Vaso Miskin Street. Zlata’s mother had gone to visit her grandparents and was in the area at the time. The news runs horrible pictures of the carnage, but Zlata’s mother’s name is not among those listed dead or wounded. Zlata’s father sends her to the neighbors’ house so he can search for her mother. As he leaves, they see her mother crossing the bridge. She comes home in tears, talking about the dismembered bodies she saw. The street is renamed the Street of Anti-Fascist Resistance in memorial.

In June, the family gathers with the Bobars to celebrate Maja’s 18th birthday. The neighborhood creates a festive atmosphere. Zlata’s mother makes a cake with the family’s last walnuts, and Maja receives necklaces and bracelets of gold and pearls. However, Maja cannot feel at ease despite everyone’s efforts.

Because electricity is unreliable, Zlata’s family and the Bobars worry that the food in their freezers will spoil. They find an old wood-burning stove in the attic and use it to cook and preserve their remaining food. They enjoy an impromptu feast but worry because food reserves are low. Eventually, the whole neighborhood takes turns using the stove, as it is one of the only reliable ways to cook food.

In mid-June, a shell falls on a jewelry store around the corner while Zlata is in the kitchen preparing lunch. The blast knocks out all the windows. Zlata escapes the shrapnel but cannot relax after the brush with death. She keeps a piece of the shrapnel and the tail end of the grenade as a memento of her narrow escape.

On June 18, the family learns that their country house in Crnotina, including the 150-year-old tower, has burned alongside the other homes in the area. Many of their neighbors died. Zlata resolves to learn more about politics to understand why people want to destroy the country, but her parents simply tell her that the situation will pass.

Power and water return briefly on June 24, and the neighborhood takes advantage, filling bathtubs to store water. Though shooting continues, Zlata and Bojana roller skate in the lobby of Bojana’s building for fun. Zlata sums up the war as shooting, shelling, hunger, boredom, and people being killed, and she reflects on how it has robbed the children of Sarajevo of their childhoods.

Cherries ripen and the family eats as many from their trees as they can. Food is so scarce that the cherries raise spirits. The community center announces summer school, so Zlata and Bojana sign up. Zlata’s mother resumes work at a new office but must cross the bridge, risking sniper fire, to get there.

Zlata resents her summer confinement. She points out that children elsewhere are vacationing with family. To cheer her up, her friend and neighbor Nedo brings her a kitten. Water and electricity remain sporadic, so the family learns to save water in the tub. They even ration UN aid packages: It takes hours of standing in line and exposing oneself to danger to receive them.

On July 29, Zlata’s mother receives word that Srdjan’s brother, Mladjo, was killed. She only learns this by reading about the funeral in the papers. Worse, the family cannot tell Srdjan or alert Mladjo’s wife and children in Montenegro because Sarajevo is cut off. Zlata is sad to think that Mladjo’s children don’t know he has died.