Life in the New: Basta

BASTA
Many Serbs have managed to find their way back to their lives after the Second World War, but not all of them.

VIKTOR
Don’t complicate things. Just get straight to the core. Say that they slaughtered us during the war.

BASTA
Yes, but he already knows that.

VIKTOR
You are wrong! He doesn’t have a clue. Younger generations don’t know about it. That’s why they didn’t get frightened and took up arms.

BASTA
Young people don’t know, but their fathers certainly do.

They say it is best to avoid politics as a conversational topic when first meeting Serbs. They say that it can escalate quickly.

VIKTOR
Go to the core and spare them unnecessary stories. You ran away because you got frightened by the Ustaše flag 50 years ago. And then, you can easily carry on with your account.

BASTA
That’s right! Jadovno, Jasenovac. Croats committed the greatest genocide against us Serbs during the Second World War.

VIKTOR
Five hundred thousand people, at least.

BASTA
In Jasenovac.

The initial question was straightforward: “How long have you lived here?”.

The late February sun is warm against the grey concrete walls of the staircase-shaped building in Blok 62. It is setting fast toward the horizon outside Basta’s workshop at the bottom of the building, a workshop that is hard to spot with the naked eye. The shop sign is a giveaway, albeit a faded one with red lettering saying “Обућар” – shoemaker.

A white sheet of paper with the opening hours hangs on the front door. The first thing catching the eye are spools with sewing threads of various colors. The wall is lined from top to bottom with wooden section shelves, old sickles hanging as decorations on the wall. And a picture of Vladimir Putin.

It’s not the only one. Posters and calendars, side by side with imagery of famous and infamous people in the realms of sport, religion, and politics, are sporadically hung up on the wall. It is the grown-up’s version of the boy’s room – except the band posters are swapped out with pictures of generals, presidents, and orthodox patriarchs.

Inside, Basta sits behind the counter while his friends Viktor, Dejan, and Bojan keep him company, taking up the few chairs available in the limited space. It’s not a busy day; they drink beer, smoke, and chat. Basta is continuing the story of how he, as a Croatian Serb, came to move to Belgrade.

BASTA
I came here because of the war that broke out in Croatia. In 1991, the Ustaše government came to power. They wanted to exterminate us.

VIKTOR
They wanted to slaughter us.

BASTA
They destroyed us! They deprived us of the right to use our [Cyrillic] alphabet, language, and culture. We were third-class citizens. They wanted to exterminate and uproot us and form their Independent State of Croatia. That’s why I moved here.

VIKTOR
A new state without Serbs.

Basta is standing up behind the counter. He got to Belgrade unscathed and is now content with his life situation. He points through the shop’s window when asked about his connection to the neighborhood.

BASTA
This place here? Novi Beograd?

BASTA
I love Serbia a lot! We, people from the other side of the Drina River, have always said that Serbia is our mother, which is true. She has accepted us, but my heart remains in Lika, where I was born. Still, I feel well here. People love me, respect me.

DEJAN
He has found himself here.

VIKTOR
There are a lot of shitty people here, too.

BASTA
People are people. Nobody is perfect. And still, nobody is that bad that you can’t cope with them.

VIKTOR
You need to modify yourself to be adaptable.

BASTA
One should always balance and not be afraid to do this or that. You have to be good and understand people.

VIKTOR
And, certainly not taking off your panties.

BASTA
That’s right!

During our conversation, one customer comes by to pick up his black penny loafers, to which Basta has given new life. The owner lives in the same building.

BASTA
I’ve been here for many years. I’m used to it, and I have less work to do than I would have in the old town. However, I wouldn’t move since I’m now in those years of my life where I have to be more serious, smarter, and prudent. I still care about my work.

VIKTOR
If he were younger, he would have moved.

BASTA
If I were younger, I would.

BASTA
You know what else annoys me? What definitely annoys me is the city crowd–

VIKTOR
Noisy, noisy, noisy.

BASTA
–when the traffic clogs up, and you have nowhere to park your car.

VIKTOR
Here, hold this cigarette.

Basta is a cobbler who stuck to his last. Back in Croatia, he worked in the footwear factory Josip Kraš in Karlovac with a workforce of nearly 3500 people. He learned the craft and later got a job as a clerk at a housing company, where he stayed for about four years. Then the war broke out.

He puts on his glasses and willingly demonstrates his trusted 86-year-old Singer, a sewing machine he emphasizes more than once that is not for sale.

“It’s his right hand,” Viktor interjects, while Basta contemplates that he might sell it when he retires.

BASTA
I am a hard worker.

He stitches the backstay to the upper of a shoe, proceeding to sew a piece of leather to show off his machine. Despite being a hard worker, he always finds time for his company. He and his friends gather in his workshop every day.

BASTA
Do you know when our pleasure time is? My company, to be more specific, Viktor, Miro, me, and some other fellows; we go to lunch every weekend. Sometimes we order fish, barbeque, sarma, or a lamb roast.

BASTA
We organize it up, and when Saturday comes, we get guzzled.

FACTS:

The Ustaše was a revolutionary fascist group that exterminated between 200.000 and 500.000 Croatian Serbs in Croatia during World War II.

They established the largest concentration camp, Jasenovac, in Yugoslavia during the war. They systematically killed Jews, Roma, and Serbs to make Croatia “racially pure.” They expelled thousands of Serbs and forced thousands to convert to Catholicism.

The Ustaše, as a unified entity, ceased to exist after the war. Today, their name is a blanket term for Croatian ultranationalism, or is used to diminish political opponents.

Prints from Life in the New

View the price list for prints from my ‘Life in the New’ book project here.