Zašto su ćutale?: majka i ćerka o istom ratu

Abstract

„Kada je moja majka Magda, u 83-oj godini, napustila svoje borbe i svoje bitke, iza nje su ostali neki neobjavljeni rukopisi, među njima dokument „Bačvanke - političke osuđenice u ratu 1941-45“. I novosadske „Ženske studije“ mi ponude da mi to objavimo. Ali, rekoše, bilo bi veoma zanimljivo da se taj rukopis dopuni komentarima koje bih pisala ja, Magdina ćerka, i, što je jednako važno - druga generacija preživelih iz tog II svetskog rata. Majka i ćerka, prva i druga generacija preživelih - ista tema, dva ugla. Pristanem. Lako smo se dogovorile: poći ću onim stazama po Evropi kojima su nacisti i njihovi saveznici hapsili, tukli, mučili i zlostavljali, pa prevozili kao stvar moju Magdu i stotine njenih ratnih drugarica, političkih osuđenica; žena... Prateći Magdinu ratnu stazu i povremeno ratnu stazu moga oca Živka, sve sam se više udubljivala u svoj unutrašnji lavirint, pa reči koje ovde prostirem pred vas čupam iz svoje ranjene duše druge generacije preživelih u Holokaustu. Iako sam veći deo svog života mislila da je za čoveka kome se zlo dogodilo najzdravije da sve zaboravi, nisam se pokajala zbog pristanka da ponovo otvorim ta zla vrata u sebi. Kako iskustvo nadolazi i gomila se, pokazuju se i drugačije mogućnosti i drugi razlozi izranjaju na svetlo dana. Sve mi je jasnije koliko je važno svedočiti. Baš zbog zdravlja pojedinačne žrtve i zbog ozdravljenja čovečanstva. Na ličnom iskustvu sam se uverila da ratni zločini ne zastarevaju, da rane od tih zločina ne zaceljuju ni u deci, ni u unucima, ni u praunucima i truju nova pokolenja u nedogled. To se mora govoriti, neprekidno, bez obzira što novi ratovi zasenjuju stare“ (deo teksta iz Uvoda).

„When my mother Magda abandoned all her struggles and battles at the age of 83, she left behind some unpublished manuscripts and among them a document titled “Women of Bačka - Political Convicts in 1941-1945 War”. “Women’s Studies” from Novi Sad offered me to have it published. But, they said, it would be very interesting to supplement the manuscript with comments written by me, Magda’s daughter, and equally important - a representative of the second generation of the survivors of the Second World War - on the same topic from two angles. I gave my consent. We arrived at an agreement easily: I would set out on the itinerary across Europe along which the Nazis and their allies arrested, beat, tortured and maltreated, and then transported as mere objects my Magda and hundreds of her war women comrades, political convicts; women…While I was treading along Magda’s warpath and occasionally the warpath of my father Živko, I was increasingly engrossed by my internal labyrinth, so that the words I am laying down here at your feet, I have plucked out from my wounded soul of the second generation of the victims of Holocaust who have survived. Although for a longer part of my life I had believed that it is best for the health of a human being who has experienced something bad to forget everything, I am not sorry for having agreed to re-open all those evil doors within me. As the experience comes up and accumulates, new possibilities emerge and new reasons come up in the open. It is increasingly becoming clear to me how important it is to testify. For the sake of the health of each individual victim and for the sake of restoration of the health of humanity in general. From my own experience, I became convinced that war crimes cannot be subject to the statute of limitations, that wounds inflicted in such crimes cannot heal in victims’ children, not even in grandchildren, nor in great-grandchildren, and that they continue to envenom the posterity indefinitely. Testimonies must, therefore, be repeated incessantly, regardless of the fact that new wars outshine the old ones“ (part of the introduction).