It was in Vukovar that we met an officer of the Croatian army who told us his story. In september 1991 he had been a young civil engineer, some days later life had changed. 

Listening to the colonel's story

I just had the feeling that (our) history

is only history

repeating.

The words he said shaped a reality

around what I heard on TV in the early

90's.

What at the time was just an abstract truth,

built on images, facts and unclear issues

fell down yesterday like the apple from the tree.

This was again a human tragedy.

I can't help feeling said and depressed

when I witness what human beings can do

to their siblings,

but after darkness comes the light, I guess

Reconciliation

Reconstruction

Forgiveness

Maybe the key is to stay out of all

this history, and hopefully for all of us

a brighter future to see.

                                (Pascal from Rumilly)

          ................................................................................

Imagine...

a young man of maybe 25 years,

an evening outside, in a café near the river Danube,

maybe with his girl-friend,

maybe a little child playing around them.

They can sense that something is in the air...

but nevertheless they are enjoying the evening,

they are young and they enjoy their life.

Imagine...

a man, still young, still 25 years,

only some days, then weeks later

- everything changed;

a civil engineer before, a soldier now,

fighting with home made weapons

somewhere in an besieged city,

somewhere near his home.

What happens to this home, 

to the girl-friend, to the child

- to any friendship, to any child

in this city?

What will happen to any house and home?

Imagine...

a man in the middle of his life,

war is over, but memories remain

- not lifes; many of them are lost...

Life, however, goes on

in a city, rised from ruins.

A marriage, children, two boys

growing up in a new time

growing up in a city that

has changed its face,

in a city

full of wounds.

Two boys leading ordinary teenage lifes,

leaving their father in despair

over their taste of music and clothes,

like ordinary teenagers do to ordinary fathers.

and also to this father, 

a civil engineer who remained in the army

... a man who remained and must remain

while young people, tourists, grown-up children

can leave to see other parts of the world

- of a world that is waiting for them.

Imagine... a life, an entire life, made up of 87 days.

                                                           (Anke from Wilhelmshaven)

      (written Wedn., 5th of May, during our reflection of the educational trip to Vukovar)