New Book Tells Stories of Kosovo’s Child Casualties of War

A new book entitled 'Hijacked Childhood' was published on Tuesday, containing interviews with 12 parents who lost their children during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo and in its intermediate aftermath, offering a powerful chronicle of the traumas that they suffered.

In the book, published by ForumZFD in Kosovo, an NGO that focuses on dealing with the past in the western Balkans, the stories are presented in an oral history format and are illustrated with photos of the children and their belongings including school bags, clothes, notebooks, pencils, crayons, rulers, toys and diaries.

Korab Krasniqi of ForumZFD, who led the project, said that the book provides a better understanding of the parents' lives and experiences and gives an opportunity to address wartime violence and trauma "as a way to engage in peacebuilding".

"They express dissatisfaction because they didn't have the opportunity to do more to save those who were killed or went missing from their families and they are asking for nothing more than justice, rehabilitation and recognition for those who are no longer with us," Krasniqi said.

In the book, Ajete Ahmeti recalls how her ten-year-old son Jeton was shot dead by Serbian forces when they attacked her village, Kutllovc/Kutlovac, in May 1999.

Her relatives and neighbours fled into a forest to seek safety in the nearby village of Rashan, but she refused to accept that her son was dead and leave his body behind.

"In order to reach the village Rashan, my brother-in-law said, 'Ajete let go of Jeton! He is dead. I am afraid that they will catch us all alive,'" Ahmeti says in the book.

"But I couldn't let go of him, I said, 'I can't, he is still alive.' I thought that he was still breathing," she adds.

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