Out of the Siege of Sarajevo: Memoirs of a Former Yugoslav

by Jasna Levinger-Goy

Overview

The horrors of the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the very heart of Europe in 1992, may be all but forgotten – but not by everyone. In this book, Jasna Levinger-Goy offers a vivid, personal story of a family of Jewish origin who identified as Yugoslavs. It traces their journey over a period of ten years, starting with their life in Sarajevo under siege and ending in the United Kingdom.

Without belonging to any of the warring factions, this is Levinger-Goy's true story, a story that takes place on the front lines in the heart of Sarajevo. The book offers a percipient view of the civil war through the eyes of those who witnessed it. We are presented here with the motives, reactions and behavior of people caught in the crossfire of political and military events outside their control. It illustrates coping with dangers and the resourcefulness needed during the siege and during the perilous journey out, which were needed almost as much in adapting to new circumstances and in building a new life.

Levinger-Goy’s venture into the unknown is tangled with the sense of loss – of home, of a country and the loss of identity. Her experience provides an insightful commentary on how these intersect, overlap and ultimately affect an individual. It sheds light on human suffering and resilience, frailty and ingenuity, cruelty and empathy. It describes unique personal circumstances, but illustrates universal behaviors. Although the book inevitably deals with fear, pain, desperation, loss, and even hatred, it also reveals much about love, hope and happiness and above all about the prevalence of good even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Set against the backdrop of a brutal conflict, this book reminds us of the very human cost of war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399098625
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	03/11/2022
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x (d)

About the Author

JASNA LEVINGER-GOY was born in Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia. She has a BA in English Language and Literature from Sarajevo University, an MA in Linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington DC, and a PhD, also in Linguistics, from Zagreb University. In the former Yugoslavia she was a university lecturer at Sarajevo University and later at Novi Sad University. In the UK she was a lector in Serbo-Croat at SSEES, University College London and a tutor in interpreting at London Metropolitan University. She has published a number of articles and translations both in Serbo-Croat and in English. While in Sarajevo she translated Emily Dickinson’s poetry in cooperation with Marko Vešović, published by Svjetlost Sarajevo in 1989 and by OKF Cetinje in 2014.

She moved to the UK during the Bosnian civil war and married Edward Dennis Goy, a Cambridge University Slavist. They worked together on various translations, including translations into English of the Yugoslav novels, The Fortress by Meša Selimović and The Banquet in Blitva by Miroslav Krleža. In the early 2000s she qualified as an integral psychotherapist and has her own practice in Cambridge.

Table of Contents

About the Author viii

Acknowledgments ix

Author's Note xi

Chapter 1 Prelude to the Events to Come 1

Chapter 2 Blind Denial 15

Chapter 3 Reluctant Recognition 52

Chapter 4 Rude Awakening 66

Chapter 5 Recovery 107

Epilogue 137

Addendum Yugoslavia in the Second World War 141

Appendix A 2021 Update of Family Members and the People from Sarajevo Mentioned in the Text 144

Appendix B Excerpt from a Story by Ivo Andric 149

Endnotes 150