My book

“This book depicts my way of life, the journey of my soul. From the early days of my childhood in Tuzla, at the time of socialism in Yugoslavia, through chapters taking place in Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade, Milan, Rome and to newest one in Los Angeles where I live now, my life is a great adventure full of remarkable people from the insanity and grandiosity of the jet set world, to my encounters with ordinary people whom I treasure with their big hearts and open optimism. Life was sunshine and rain, roses and thorns, love and pain, big things and magical little things that make life unique and irresistible. ”

Diana

I came to this world, in the hot Tuzla summer, the next to the last day of July – I was bornthrough a piercing scream and brought a lot of joy to mom and dad. It was the time when we all lived in the brotherhood and unity of our country called Yugoslavia. Then, everything was different, more innocently relaxed, and with a lot more laughter. At least so to me it seemed. We all loved our President Tito, celebrating his birthday as the national holyday with massive receptions and great jamborees, we roasted lambs when celebrating Day of our Republic, we donated carnations on May 1, and we drove our national pride cars – Yugo and Mini Fiat…and were admitted to national youth group the Pioneer Association. We all were more or less equally poor, yet rich in spirit and joy. Nobody in the surrounding countries really understood our way of communism, and neither did we. But we were happy. We preferred the Italian city of Trieste over Communist USSR, we loved jeans that were massively in vogue, and the concept of God was unknown, which was enforced by our government. Yet those who kept Holy Spirit in memory were worshiping God in secret. The rest of us – we believed in Tito. He was enormously adored and respected – from the line of beautiful and famous women, to the President of the United States of America, and he was everybody’s and nobody’s. And at the time we were all so-called non-aligned, just like the Non-aligned movement created by Tito, so no one could really confine us in a narrow category – we, the Yugoslavs, were out of the box, exceptional. No matter how much socialism was negatively labeled, it had a lot of nice sides and I believe that whoever had an opportunity to experience it in its fullness, will agree with me. This is why today when I visit Belgrade, once the capital of Yugoslavia, now the capital of Serbia, and someone tells me – this is not your country, I cannot possibly understand that and would be ready to fight. For me, it has always been and will remain one country – Yugoslavia.

The conflicts that have occurred in the meantime, which twisted the fact that Belgrade and my native Tuzla are now two separate republics, are not part of my consensuses and memories. For me, that was and remains unacceptable. Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade….These are cities of my childhood that belonged to all of us, regardless of the nationality. I have always equally loved and will love them going forward – with so many of my dear friends and so much experienced beauty, joy, and laughter. My footsteps are forever printed in the asphalt of their streets, just as they are printed in my memories. Humans are made to build bridges and destroy walls, to bridge irreconcilable differences, not to divide and hate…and for what purpose and why?!

Serbien-Croation Version

“Ova knjiga je moj životni put, putovanje moje duše. Od prvih dan djetinjstva provedenih u Tuzli u vrijeme socijalizma, preko Sarajeva, Zagreba, Beograda, Milana, Rima do Los Angelesa gdje trenutno živim. Moj život je velika avantura prepuna zanimljivih ljudi, slavnih i manje slavnih lica, svjetskog jetseta, ali i običnih ljudi velikog srca. Bilo je tu i sunca i kiše, ruža i trnja, ljubavi i bola, velikih stvari i čarobnih sitnica koje čine život jedinstvenim i neodoljivim.” Diana U knjizi se nalaze i mnoštvo fotografija koje cijeloj priči daju vizualni pečat. Uvodni dio iz knjige “Diana-moja priča”

LIČINKA I LEPTIR

Jednog toplog ljeta u Tuzli, predzadnjega dana mjeseca srpnja, došla sam na svijet velikim krikom i donijela radost mami i tati. Bilo je to vrijeme kada smo živjeli bratstvo i jedinstvo u zemlji koja se zvala Jugoslavija. Sve je tada bilo drugačije, opuštenije i s puno više smijeha. Barem se meni tako čini. Svi smo voljeli Tita, slavili njegove rođendane, priređivali velike sletove, bili primani u pionire, okretali janjce kada bi se slavio Dan republike, poklanjali karanfile za 1. maj, vozili stojadine ili fiće, odlazili na izlete u prirodu. Svi smo manje – više bili jednako siromašni, a opet bogati duhom i veseljem. Niti jedna od susjednih država nije razumjela naš komunizam, a nismo niti mi. Više smo voljeli Trst od Rusije, traperice su nam bile najveća moda, a Bog nam je bio nepoznanica. Oni koji su Ga ipak nosili negdje u sjećanju, s Njim su razgovarali potajno, da nitko ne zna. Mi ostali vjerovali smo u Tita. Njemu su se svi klanjali, od lijepih i slavnih žena, do predsjednika Amerike, a on je bio svačiji i ničiji. Tako je to kada si nesvrstan. A mi smo bili ti nesvrstani i definitivno nas nitko nigdje nije mogao strpati.

Koliko god bio negativno etiketiran, socijalizam je imao i puno lijepih strana, vjerujem da se svi koji su ga ikada okusili u svojoj punini mogu složiti sa mnom.

Kada danas dođem u Beograd, nekad glavni grad Jugoslavije, a sada glavni grad Srbije, i netko mi kaže – to nije tvoja zemlja, to nikako ne mogu razumjeti. Zbog toga bih bila u stanju i potući se. Za mene je to uvijek bila i ostat će jedna zemlja – Jugoslavija. Sukobi koji su se u međuvremenu dogodili, koji su Beograd i moju rodnu Tuzlu smjestili u dvije odvojene republike, nisu dio moje svijesti i sjećanja. To je za mene bilo i ostalo neprihvatljivo. Zagreb, Sarajevo, Beograd, to su gradovi mog djetinjstva koji su pripadali svima nama, bez obzira na nacionalnost. Jednako sam ih voljela i volim. Tamo je toliko mojih prijatelja, toliko proživljenih ljepota, radosti i smijeha. Moje su stope zauvijek utopljene u asfalt njihovih ulica i žive u sjećanju. Ljudi su stvoreni da grade mostove i ruše zidove, da spajaju nepomirljivo, a ne da se razdvajaju i mrze. Čemu to i zašto?!

Knjiga je napisana u suradnji s Danijelom Gašparović.