''Selami i poljubci s fronta''
Salaams and Kisses from the Front

Summary/Abstract: The analysis of private letters of the Žiga family, of the spouses Mahmut Efendi and Čamila, has shown a neglected aspect in domestic historiography, i.e. The everyday family life, specifically the life of the woman who in wartime reality assumes the guardian role over it. Although each person had their own war story,Čamila and Mahmut’s letters were a clear view of priorities, struggles and everyday lives of a couple in love separated by war. This had also affected the girls who had the protection and attention of their father before the war. Their longing for their father and failing to understand the causes of separation is a clear indication of the child’s perspective of war. Čamila’s everyday life had changed tremendously, but in addition to caring for her two daughters, Neziha and Subhija and war-born son Muhamed, she tried to maintain the illusion of a ‘normal’ life. Her orders of clothing and footwear, as well as painting of the house in the midst of the war clearly attest to this. In addition to the common problems associated with the distribution of shared income with Mahmut’s brother, Salih Efendi, Čamila had struggled with jealousy and emotions that were not influenced by the war. It was a similar situation with Mahmut who wrote to his beloved wife on a daily basis, and regularly expressed his love by sending salaams and numerous kisses at the end of the letter. The preserved letters clearly show that the war affected all members of the Žiga family in so far as it concerned them personally. For them, the war began on the day Mahmut Efendi was recruited and ended upon his return home. Mahmut Efendi rarely wrote to his wife about the war, but the letters between him, his brother Salih Efendi, Čamila’s brother Ismet and other friends on fronts were a reflection of the personal experience of the new reality surrounding them. While the friends who remained in Sarajevo tried to inform Mahmut about the situation in his hometown, those who were recruited not only wrote about the survivors and the dead in the battle, but also about the novelties they had seen for the first time in the foreign world.

• Details
• Contents