Danube-Networkers
The Danube in my heart
Text: Ana Jurenić
Zagreb, a warm late autumn evening, November 18 2009. I walk out of the University of the Third Age at the Public Open University Zagreb. It's situated in Vukovar Street - one of the longest streets in Zagreb. On both sides the street is lined with closely placed candles, a river of memories. In the eastern part of my homeland sits the city on the Danube River, our sorrow and our pride - Vukovar. This is the Day of peace and tolerance, a sad anniversary - the day when the defense of the city had fallen during the war-torn year of 1991. Numerous lit candles in Vukovar, countless tiny flames were floated down the Danube River towards its estuary. Thousands of lights in hope that Vukovar is never repeated anywhere else in the world.
I ride on the blue Zagreb tram over the Sava River
Bridge towards my home whilst remembering those hard days when warning
sirens drove us to hide in our bomb shelters. However, as something good always
springs out of evil as if to spite it, thus it happened that a group of
Austrian doctors invited a group of young inhabitants of Zagreb into their
homes. My then thirteen year old daughter spent a few weeks with a wonderful
family of a Vienna pediatrician. She got to know
this beautiful city on the Danube River and grew to love two sweet little boys,
their mother and their dog Novak. She celebrated one of her most wonderful
Christmases in a traditional family of her hosts. A necklace of river pearls, a
Christmas gift given to her that year, still means a lot to her to this day.
After her return to Zagreb, a river of letters followed, as well as a return
trip to Vienna. These wonderful people helped her to weather the war.
Today, countless candles are burning throughout my homeland, little lights of
remembrance and hope. Innumerable drops of water
had flown down the Danube River through Vienna, and further on, all the way to
Vukovar. Each drop reflected the flame of one candle wile this grand river ran
on towards its delta and into the sea. In our home, in the memory box, river
pearls threaded into a necklace shone especially brightly.
