30 YEARS AFTER THE CRIMINAL OPERATION OLUJA: Here’s what the life of returning Serbs in Knin looks like!

On the day when “Oluja” started 30 years ago, memorial services were held in Orthodox churches all over Croatia. For the returning Serbs, this is a day of sorrow, but also a remembrance of the moment they set out on a journey into the unknown. The RTS team spoke with those who fled and then returned to the area around Knin.

A symbol of national and religious struggle that connects Serbs in Croatia and the southern Serbian province exists – in Dalmatia. A monastery dedicated to Prince Lazar in the center of Kosovo Polje, near Knin.

In it, as in all other Orthodox churches in Croatia, a memorial service was held for those who died and were exiled in “Oluja”.

For a century and a half, the Lazarica monastery has united Serbs from this part of Dalmatia, and a few years ago, a memorial was also placed in the monastery’s courtyard. A rare one in Croatia that commemorates group victims – in this case, the municipality of Biskupija, where 57 people died during and after “Oluja”.

Among those present, there are almost none who did not know any of the victims.

“Whether the house is in one piece or not, who cares about that. But, for example, human fates affected me much more. There are no words for it. It just follows a person for the rest of their life, it really can’t be described. And I lost a lot of people. Friends, relatives,” says Đuro Žmiko from Uzdolje.

Many people from here left irrevocably in “Oluja”. Only every fifth resident returned the same way.

They are the absolute majority, so they are represented locally by a Serb.

“This is the place where the sun rises most beautifully, and that is behind Dinara, and sets most beautifully. Wherever there is sun, there is life, and this is the most beautiful place for me. I can’t say anything bad, life is great for those who want to work. Wherever a person wants to work, there is life,” says Jašo Đurđević from Ramljani.

The mayor of the municipality of Biskupija, Milan Đurđević, notes that more or less all able-bodied people from that area have found a job.

“Since then, what has changed is that we have opened a kindergarten in our municipality – 24 children go there. It is completely free for our municipality. We are building a water supply system in the largest village, and we are working on a green market and a center for the accommodation of the elderly,” says Đurđević.

This is a rare returnee community that does not lack children. And where they can learn the Serbian language and Cyrillic script.