What’s a grown 45 year old male doing reading a little Bosnian girl’s diary you might ask yourself. Well, it cropped up as a recommendation in a documentary on the war in the former Yugoslavia, a subject to which I have passionately researched from its genesis. The Balkans conflict is (to date) the worst conflict that has taken place on European soil since World War 2 (although Ukraine must now be heading to take over that mantle, perhaps? Let’s hope not!). There was some pretty brutal stuff going on and a complete breakdown of society, the break up of a nation and all the murky, dirty traits of war nationalism, ethnic division, race and religion, all went up in smoke and Sarajevo was the epicentre of the whole mess, where little Zlata was a carefree little schoolgirl, and had her life turned upside down, directly experiencing the day to day hell of living through war. When you think of war, you think of soldiers, tanks, battlefields, munitions, generals and lots of death and injuries. The history books are full of tactical analysis of military commanders’ strategies and details of who won and who lost and what the politicians were doing. Often it is the collateral damage that is the worst in the war. The inhabitants of London’s East End felt the blitz more than the pilots of the Battle of Britain. Zlata is a normal girl, with a normal family, just getting on with a normal life. She is a civilian. When the bombs start raining down, Zlata is right there on the scene. Her neighbours are affected. It is her streets that are the battleground. Her school is closed and her friends are either killed or flee the terrible tragedy that is unfolding on her doorstep in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is where a lot of the worst of the ethnic divisions are apparent with Bosnian-Serbs fighting Bosnian-Croats, Muslims and a previous harmony among the population is cast out for some terrible tragic results, well-documented later in war-crimes cases such as the Srebenica massacre. Zlata is the Anne Frank of the Balkans War. She notes in ‘Mimmy’ a primary account that no historian should ignore. Ye, it’s sad, yes, it’s heart-breaking and war is something that nobody should have to live through. But when war does happen, the importance of documentation is critical and Zlata leaves her testament as a warning for future warmongers and future victims of war and survivors. It wouldn’t hurt some of the politicians and war industry profiteers involved in the current Ukraine crisis to pick up a copy of Zlata’s diary. It’s a kid’s book, written by a kid. It’s not long, won’t take up too much of your time. But by heck it could transform your thinking and opinion to the betterment of all of society. Daily struggles for water supply and gas and electric are sounding to me in 2023 as quite realistic possibilities for my own future in the U.K. (I’m told as a result of war) – Coping mechanisms are great. Zlata does get upset, but rarely depressed. She has a transcendental philosophy and sees in the most simplest of basic provisions or freedoms a ray of sunshine in the midst of the dirty tragedy that is unfolding all around her. Ultimately, her writing work is not in vain. French journalists pick up on the diary and TV crews start popping in to see her and ultimately after securing a publishing deal for the diary, Zlata and her family are flown out and repatriated in Paris, thus escaping them from further direct immediate harm from the war. Not every young diary writer was perhaps so lucky as Zlata, bhut it’s amazing that she did manage to get the book out there and it is a bestseller. I just wonder how many little girls are hiding in the blackened ruins of apartment blocks in Mariupol, their only lifeline and hope being pencilled into their own diaries.
Adrian Mole talked about pimples. Zlata has a more grown up conversation but she also likes cats and playing the piano. I remember first seeing the live story about Zlata on Blue Peter. It’s taken me a while to get around to reading Zlata’s Diary but I am glad that I have now done that.