Life In Mostar

Nicholas Vasil was born on November 27, 1934 in the town of Mostar located in the southern part of Croatia (Bosnia and Herzegovina). He lived in Mostar during the time of World War II where his brother, a soldier, and his father both took part in it. His parents were tobacco farmers but Nick did not get to enjoy his childhood like a regular kid because of the invasion of Yugoslavia and because he lived in the time of World War II. As Nick grew up in Mostar he decided to finally get out of there so he escaped from Mostar when he was only 21 years old and moved to Italy were he lived for two years and moved to France and lived there for four years earning a license in politics and finally immigrated to the United states of America were he reside in his home in the city of Van Nuys. I remember when I lived in Mostar the people were nice but my childhood there was terrible because of World War II so my life was a bit different.  

I was born in Mostar, Croatia on November 27, 1934. I lived in Mostar for twenty-one years. The population of Mostar was small and the religions there were Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Jewish people. The Catholics had more people living in Mostar and the smallest percentage of people was the Jewish people. Even though there were many diverse religions all the people were friendly to each other and everybody new everybody in Mostar because it was a small town.

            Mostar even though a small town has many industries and even an airport in its most populated area. In rural areas people grew tobacco and there were vineyards everywhere. One of Mostar most praised things was soccer or as we called it football. The national team of Mostar was called “Village” and they went around our neighboring countries like Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia.

            In Mostar we had a bridge called the Turkish Bridge (the Old Bridge) above the river Neretva. The bride is a symbol of Mostar and the bridge was about twenty-seven meters high or about eighty feet. During the summer when the tourist were coming people from Mostar jumped off the bridge and into the water below and the tourist paid to see them jump off and wondered how they did it.

            Near Mostar there was another town called Medjugorje and the Mother of God started to appear there in 1982 an it was on the mountain called Gradina. Many religious people and sick people walk up the mountain and pay to see. The sick people like the blind come there to pray and sometimes they even walk down able to see again. The town became popular after Mother of God started to appear. Medjugorje had a population of Roman-Catholic people.

            Mostar was also home to many famous people. Most of the famous people were soccer players but there were also some famous singers that came from Mostar. There were no criminals in Mostar but once in a while someone did some very small things.

            The biggest newspaper for Mostar was called Slobodna which in English means liberty and freedom. The newspaper was like any other newspaper because it talked about local stories but it also had stories about the neighboring cities, people, culture, foreign, and politics. I also remember that it talked about people getting married in one part of the town.

            One of the biggest things to happen to Mostar when I lived there was World War II. Mostar got caught in the war because of all the different religions and nationalities but Mostar was not the only city to get involved because the Yugoslavian built one republic and took all of Croatia. The leader of Yugoslavia at that time was Josip Bros Tito who led Yugoslavia and allied with Russia because they were both Socialistic and communist countries.

             When World War II came to Mostar my brothers became soldiers and my father was anti-Yugoslavia so most of our family was part of World War II because we were not happy that Yugoslavia came into Croatia because it made life for Croatians hard and made life for Muslims and Serbians much better and this was all happening during my childhood and I did not get to enjoy my childhood like any other kid because the war was going on.

            The anti-Yugoslavia Croatians in my generation were turned down by the Yugoslavians but after many generations some Croatians were accepted into Yugoslavia.

            Before the war got any worse I decided myself it was time to leave Croatia. I escaped from Croatia when I was twenty-one years old and moved to Italy for about two years and I didn’t like Italy very much so I moved to France and lived there for four years getting my self a degree in politics and becoming a citizen. I then moved to America and to the state of California where I live in Van Nuys.

            Looking back at my life in Mostar I do not regret escaping from there because my life was bad because of World War II and all. I now go visit there once in a while to see my relatives and people but I would never move back there.