Part One
Anita Susuri: Can you introduce yourself to us and tell us a little bit about your family, your ancestors and about the earliest memory you have?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, I am Ljubica Berišić from Janjevo, Croatian.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Talk to us, to turn to the camera because there’s no need for it.
Ljubica Berišić: All right.
Anita Susuri: It will be easier to introduce yourself like that. Say it to me if you can.
Ljubica Berišić: Did she turn it on? Okay, good. So I should talk about my mother and all that?
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Yes, when you were kids and such. Those little details that we don’t know. Just don’t look there (laughs).
Ljubica Berišić: Okay. I’m Ljubica Berišić, born in Janjevo, Croatian woman. I was born in 1947 from my father Nikola and mother Katarina. I don’t know…
Anita Susuri: Could you talk more about family life? How many kids were there?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, there are nine of us, seven of us still living. And we went to school here in Janjevo, we lived and farmed, Dad did it while he was alone. Then later when electricity came to Janjevo, since the ‘60s and so, then people lived doing craftsmanship too. So then Janjevo became a little bit more developed. We were from a poor family, let’s say, and in school there were 1,200 students, so we had a lot of friends, a lot of good memories. You couldn’t really do anything with school, life was like that for everyone and for us. Our father was an honest man and a good father who directed us to good things and who worked as much as he could. After that, he went to Macedonia to do these typical Janjevo jobs and then things became a bit better in the house. What I remember the most is, when I started first grade, I went to Prizren with my mom to see my aunt, she took us there. We got to know the city, Janjevo was still like that, but we lived and we were happy.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You were born after World War II?
Ljubica Berišić: I was.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What was life like after the war? Did people talk about it? How was it?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes. People talked, my dad told me all about what happened and what went on during the war. He went to a place close to Pristina, Matičani. He spent nine months doing military training, Mom was alone, how many kids did she have back then, in ‘45, we had one sister. She was born then, Mom managed the best she could. Life back then was very hard, I told you, but then what happened is we got electricity and such, it got a bit better.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And what did your father do when he was in Matičane?
Ljubica Berišić: Training, as a soldier, yes, yes. Nine months.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Did he ever talk about that later?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes he did. Well, he told us about…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What did he say?
Ljubica Berišić: How they waited there, God forbid, how they trained and such…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Was he in the war?
Ljubica Berišić: No, no, he was in Albania. Yes, they were in Albania back then, he told us about it and they had a friar, one of our own, a priest. And so, they were supposed to be there even longer, he says to them, “When the census of the army happens, you tell them you’re Albanian.” And they did come, our uncle too and some Janjevo people. And he said, he made them a list and we were released immediately, and the Serbs, well, they stayed there for a bit longer, they walked on foot, with no food back then…
Anita Susuri: Was that Fra [Friar] Serafin? Which one?
Ljubica Berišić: No, it was Fra Pal Doda. Palj Doda, that’s what they called him in Albania, Pavle, Palj.
Anita Susuri: And you’re the second child or what?
Ljubica Berišić: No, no, my brother in Zagreb was born in ‘34, then my sister in ‘37, yes. I’m the second to last. That’s that.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Could you talk more about that first day of school? Where was the school?
Ljubica Berišić: The school is right there, it was the first one. My mom took me there, I wasn’t really fond of it, but as soon as I started there, I couldn’t miss a single day, like I’m losing something. I loved it, I studied, I was an excellent student all eight years. But I’m telling you, the school didn’t have enough funds for everyone, to take us on school trips, we didn’t have those. But as I told you, we were very happy, and after that I loved the school very much. Loved to learn and such…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Were there any other girls when you went to school? This was in the ‘50s.
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, there were both boys and girls. In our class, there were 30 of us. So then later, we had two classes in the first grade, there were four. When the school had 1,200 students, and it’s a small school, poorly equipped, so maybe you saw the school. It’s a very beautiful school.
Anita Susuri: Did you go to the old school, the one by the church? Was it that one or?
Ljubica Berišić: I went here because there was no space, then after the fourth grade, I went there.
Anita Susuri: Where?
Ljubica Berišić: There, it was that one…
Anita Susuri: Vladimir Nazor?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, the school, the church. There I went from the fourth grade because it was like that.
Anita Susuri: Can you describe the school more, what did it look like?
Ljubica Berišić: We…
Anita Susuri: For example, how was it for you in the school?
Ljubica Berišić: We had teachers here, unlike the other villages. Very nice teachers from Serbia, from Vojvodina. My teacher was from Sombor, so they lived here, the teachers, they didn’t have to travel back and forth and come back. The teachers lived here and they were very understanding and they never made any problems. Unlike one teacher (laughs) who started talking about religion, and the other colleagues say, “Make fun of anything, but don’t talk about religion.” Because we were devoted to the church, since we were little our mom took to church, that stays within your soul. And so we…
Anita Susuri: What were the traditions like, Sunday services? What was it like?
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Was that another chance for everyone to get together?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, we had three services. We had the service for youngsters at nine o’clock, then at eleven and then in the evening. We always had two priests, but now there’s only Don Mato. We also had nuns who were there for the services to help. Now all that is lost.
Anita Susuri: Did people dress up for the services, you and your family?
Ljubica Berišić: On Sunday, yes. You’d get ready, go to church, also for the holidays like Christmas and Easter. Janjevo, after that, when the youngsters and grown-ups left to work in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia, but for those holidays, they always came home. We had a lot of coffee shops and there would be music, everybody was together, joy. There was a lot of us back then, and now as you can see, there’s nobody to come to the house. The times have changed, our people moved during the ‘90s, in ‘92 and again in ‘95 and so…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What else can you say about that life, the church? Did you go, were you a member of the choir?
Ljubica Berišić: I was.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Can you talk more about that?
Ljubica Berišić: I was, starting with my dad, he was in the choir and he was, then there were some events, something was being prepared, he was involved in it, in acting. Mom also sang in the choir, we were all singers. I went many times with the singers to Dubrovnik. We went there, then we went to Zagreb to a competition Dani Nina, I went with the church often. Like this I probably would not have gone anywhere, and we stopped by to Rijeka, Zadar, Split, everything.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You competed against other church choirs?
Ljubia Berišić: Yes, yes, church. In Zagreb, yes.
Anita Susuri: Did you ever win first place or?
Ljubica Berišić: We did, in Zagreb, yes.
Anita Susuri: When was that? What year?
Ljubica Berišić: ‘90.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And when was your first time leaving Janjevo?
Anita Susuri: When you traveled somewhere.
Ljubica Berišić: First time was in Prizren, I was six, then we went to Bosnia, I had an aunt there, I also went there as a kid with my mom.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Who did you have in Prizren?
Ljubica Berišić: In Prizren also an aunt. Mom had five sisters.
Anita Susuri: How did you get there? What means of transportation did you have?
Ljubica Berišić: Back then, there was a train. After that, our aunt moved to Osijek. We also went to Osijek.
Anita Susuri: Was the train interesting the first time you saw it?
Ljubica Berišić: Well, of course, it was. We also had family in Ferizaj, so we went there from Lipjan, Dad had a sister, she got married there. And so we took the train to go there.
Anita Susuri: Here in Janjevo, the families are mostly big.
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, they are.
Anita Susuri: Could you tell us more about your family, your house, how do you remember it all?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, my grandpa was in America then, he was in Bulgaria for work. But unfortunately he died when he was 45 years old, when some Serbians came to our vineyard and killed my grandpa for no reason. My dad was wounded when he was 17, back then there were no doctors, no transfusion or anything… He was, my grandpa was wounded and by the time they brought him home, he had passed away. Then we had some relatives here, they put him there. Dad didn’t even know he died, when we have a funeral here, you go to the cemetery, you sing. But they stopped so he wouldn’t hear it, because it was so hard for him, they’d always check on him… But still, apart from that, we never hated those people, they’re not all the same, not everyone would come for no reason to the vineyard and shoot so easily.
Anita Susuri: What year was this?
Ljubica Berišić: Well…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Were you born?
Anita Susuri: No, the father was 17.
Ljubica Berišić: No, I wasn’t, Dad wasn’t even married, he was 17.
Anita Susuri: This was maybe in the ‘30s?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, we have a memorial. Somehow it all…
Anita Susuri: Okay, if you don’t remember, we can…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Could you tell us more about this tradition of singing when going to the cemetery?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, on the way there, our priest Don Mato, he sang. Then the people would too until the cemetery, and you’d pray up there, and then…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What was that like, were they sacral songs?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, church songs.
Anita Susuri: Could you talk in more detail about your family, for example, when you were little, what did your mother do?
Ljubica Berišić: Our mom at that time used to knit. In that way, she could contribute, and it wasn’t like today, no machines, you’d wash everything by hand, and there’s a lot of kids, you couldn’t do much. She did that and she could even sell something back then.
Anita Susuri: What did she make mostly?
Ljubica Berišić: She made these aprons, mostly bošće that they wore, we also still have a pillow today that she made, we keep it in the room upstairs. Maybe you’d like to take a picture of it, I’ll show you. She made that and so on.
Anita Susuri: You are talking about knitting?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, that’s what Mom used to do, and you had nothing else really.
Anita Susuri: So she also made traditional clothes or?
Ljubica Berišić: And sold.
Anita Susuri: And sold it.
Ljubica Berišić: But only when she was engaged, that’s when she prepared everything. It wasn’t like today, when you can simply buy everything. Back then, they prepared all of it. She was engaged for a long time, three years. And then she was ready, she did come from a slightly richer family, but nevertheless, she got married here and life was a little bit harder here. So…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: She was also from Janjevo, your mom?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What was her family like?
Anita Susuri: Last name?
Ljubica Berišić: Palić.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Oh, she was a Palić?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes.
Anita Susuri: Did any specific women knit, or did everybody do it a little bit?
Ljubica Berišić: Oh, everybody knew, that’s how they would get ready to be married, there was nothing else to buy. Now unlike then…
Anita Susuri: Did your mother wear traditional clothes?
Ljubica Berišić: She did, yes.
Anita Susuri: Could you describe it?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, she wore dimia, apron, bošće, I don’t know what, back then we called it, I don’t know now, mintan and then a shirt underneath. When she got older, then they used to wear from that material, xhamadan that’s what we called it. And she wore that, our daughter-in-law also wore it when she got married to our brother, after that, she went to visit in Osijek and Bosnia and then she wore dresses and she’s not here anymore. My sister also when she got married here in Janjevo, and they demanded that she wear the traditional clothes, she wore it for a while and so. Women used to wear it, but now unfortunately, nobody does anymore.
Anita Susuri: Until when did they used to wear it?
Ljubica Berišić: Well maybe ten years or so have passed since anybody wore them, because unfortunately women left, some died and now the younger generation doesn’t do it.
Anita Susuri: Did you used to have it?
Ljubica Berišić: I used to dress for the wedding. It was really beautiful and that formal wear and when you come to church for Christmas, and the people from above, from the tall house and watched the choir below. They’d say, “Oh, how beautiful it is, all the women have dressed up.” It was all the same for weddings, those garments, the clothes were very rich, nice to look at. Our things were very beautiful.
Anita Susuri: You mentioned weddings and how women wore those special garments. Could you tell us more about weddings? What kind of traditions did you have?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes. The weddings… We had traditions, first, you’d go to church, they [the couple] would go to the town hall and then to the church to get married. And from the church, the bride goes to her house and the groom goes back to his. After lunch, around three o’clock, they came for the bride. Every Sunday, this used to happen, we’d go and watch the wedding. They danced in the yard and Janjevo was so big that even four weddings used to take place on a Sunday. But now, unfortunately, I can’t even remember the last time there was a wedding in Janjevo. And that was that, family, friends, music played all down the street. Janjevo is a tight place, you could hear everything, the singing and everything, it was so beautiful. Just what was mentioned, the rest I don’t know about.
Anita Susuri: What was the music like, did people sing? Was there a band that played?
Ljubica Berišić: There was, there was a band. They had from Pristina, a Roma man used to come with a clarinet and here they had guitars and such, an accordion too. They came and they played.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Those Janjevo songs, your songs?
Ljubica Berišić: Before they used to… Yes, there are some Janjevo songs, but mainly Macedonian ones were sung. They are good for dancing (laughs) and so. And when our dad was here, there was no transportation, he told us. So when a wedding was planned, at night the musicians from Pristina came on foot, there was no transportation. And he said that they had to come on Saturday because they needed to rest and sleep so they could be there in the morning. He said, “We can hear the music.” And they went straight to the hill, to Glama, they played and he said, “It’s known, the musicians are here,” and so.
Anita Susuri: You mentioned Glama, there used to be some celebrations held there. What was that like?
Ljubica Berišić: Ah, St. George’s Day. It was very beautiful, it was on April 23rd. We had that day, we called it rifana. On the night of the holiday St. George’s Day, friends would gather in houses but mainly they went to Glama. They’d set up a tent and cook there, make a fire, cook a lamb, a goat, who had what, drinks, singing and you could also go and steal something (laughs). But I think it didn’t become a habit, but you could take some food that was cooked, if you can steal it, you can eat it and that was that. And that used to be a tradition for us, it was like a joke to mention something, but that was that, all night long.
Anita Susuri: This happens every year?
Ljubica Berišić: Every year. All night there would be singing until the morning, and somebody celebrated at home. Then they would put up those swings, on the roof, now I have the gutter, so I can’t put it like that {points to outside} on that beam, and they’d put a rope and tie it, put a pillow and swing all night. So, the village had its own traditions and…
Anita Susuri: Did younger people do them more or were there others?
Ljubica Berišić: There were others, but mostly young people. Others didn’t go up to Glama but in their homes.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You said that you loved going to school. When the time came to go to high school, where did you go? What was that like, how was that transition for you?
Ljubica Berišić: I started, I started going to school in Ferizaj, I got a scholarship there and just went to school there, from Lipjan.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What year was this? Why there?
Ljubica Berišić: In ‘60, ‘62, there was a school there.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: In Serbian language? It was the economics school, right?
Ljubica Berišić: Mhm.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What was Ferizaj like for you? Did you live only in Janjevo?
Ljubica Berišić: I had an apartment, I waited for my brother one year so I could go with him and we got a private apartment. My cousin was there, we were protected and so, we often went to lunch at their place, mostly on Sundays. And we had a really nice time.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What was Ferizaj like at the time? Was there anything being built, what kind of town was it?
Ljubica Berišić: Well, it was a nice town, for that time, I just think that Pristina was always more developed but yes, you could live nicely, you had everything available to buy and so on. It was good.
Anita Susuri: Did any of your friends keep going to school, or was it just you?
Ljubica Berišić: The men did, but not the women.
Anita Susuri: Was it strange that you went to school, back in those days?
Ljubica Berišić: It wasn’t, my sister went even before me, she went somewhere close to Belgrade, to Pančevo to school. She went to Bosnia with our uncle there and Dad took her there so she could go to Bosnia, but since she didn’t have the means for it, then she got a scholarship from Pristina and she ended up there. And it was only girls there, 30 in the school, one teacher said that we had this and that, educators and directors, everyone was a woman. And so she finished it there, and even before me, there were some girls that finished school.
Anita Susuri: Was there any prejudice against women, girls who kept going further with their education?
Ljubica Berišić: Well, it was a little bit unusual to the world but…
Anita Susuri: For example, what was being done?
Ljubica Berišić: Oh, what will a woman do, she will get married (laughs) and so on.
Anita Susuri: So you spent how many years in Ferizaj?
Ljubica Berišić: Four.
Anita Susuri: Did you come home for the weekends?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, there was a bus later, I came home on a bus. There was one in the morning from Janjevo and in the afternoon from Ferizaj to Janjevo so I was able to come. And back then Saturdays were also school days.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And when did you start working in the family workshop?
Ljubica Berišić: In the family workshop, since I was little, yes.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How old were you?
Ljubica Berišić: I worked when I finished the eighth grade, I started working but then I went to school. My family also worked at home, Mom went to her sister in Osijek, so she used to bring us some, we made dolls from sponges, we made those nets that we used to weave, not plastic is banned but we can’t remember how it used to be, how we made it. We bought at Jugoplastika in Pristina the materials, we made nets, and I also said plastics from other people what they made. Then we started our own products and did that, it was good.
Anita Susuri: Did you have a special room in the house where you made that?
Ljubica Berišić: No, we made it here in the room the machine used to be here outside.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And did anybody from your family go to Croatia to work over the summer?
Ljubica Berišić: No, no. Our dad worked in Macedonia, and our brother was in Bosnia for a while since we had an aunt there, and he knew what to do, and how to do it and so on. It wasn’t very…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: When did you start working?
Ljubica Berišić: Where? At Metalac?
Anita Susuri: Right after…
Ljubica Berišić: I waited for a long time, until ‘84 even.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How did it come to that you…
Ljubica Berišić: Well, they were hiring a worker, I applied for it, my sister worked there, but unlike others she didn’t look for a connection or any help or anything, I handled it on my own and she kept quiet. They hired me and so I began working, but I waited for a long time.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: What did you do?
Ljubica Berišić: I was in commerce, invoice administrator.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You mentioned that you worked for 15 years. What was it like at Metalac during that time?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes. It was very nice at Metalac. We would gather every morning mostly in an office that was very big, there were Albanians, one Serbian woman. We’d go, my sister was in accounting, we even had Roma people there and everything. And so we’d have a coffee, we’d joke around, talk and then everybody would get back to work. Nobody ever really paid attention to anything but later when it all started…
Anita Susuri: And what did they produce?
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Could you tell us more about that?
Anita Susuri: About their work, about the production?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, here, at Metalac, we processed aluminium and iron products. So, meaning those candleholders, mortars, doorknobs and that’s about it. Then later when Metalac developed a bit more, we also made those crown plugs, that’s what it’s called, the bottle caps. It was a very lucrative business and we made a lot of money. Our director was Dedi, he was a very capable man, then later they made another factory in Srbica, plastic, our table was made there. And that factory worked very well, and then we found out that a Serbian man had bought all those machines and products and took them to Serbia. So Srbica doesn’t have it anymore. There were 1200 workers there, with Srbica included.
Anita Susuri: What importance did Metalac carry for Janjevo people?
Ljubica Berišić: Yes, yes, it did. Our own people had founded Metalac on their own, for example, my dad when Metalac was being opened, they brought their own tools and managed like that, started small. So Metalac came to be…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: And then the state took it or?
Ljubica Berišić: No, they sold it to a private company now.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: No, I meant after the ‘90s.
Ljubica Berišić: Ah, yes, yes, yes. Yes, so Metalac was founded in ‘47.