The lives of Palvala and Navenka and their two teenage daughters, Maya and Irena changed forever as the first gunshots sounded over Sarajevo...
Irena remembers life in Sarajevo before the civil war, "I was a happy kid, carefree, a comfortable lifestyle, worrying about silly little things, kids worry about - what shoes I was going to get and marks at school ..."
But on April 10th 1992 life changed irrevocably for Maya, Irena and their parents. The whole family attended a peaceful protest rally which had been organised by the people of Sarajevo. Serbian tensions were high and Palvala recalls what happened, "They began to shoot people from the overlooking Holiday Inn. It was really frightening to realise somebody’s out there who want to kill you." Irena remembers, "I felt my parents lying on top of me - realising that they were prepared to sacrifice their lives to save us. You think,‘what if they're shot? - they’re my parents, and I want to protect them just as much - but I'm a child.’ "
Maya and Irayna were evacuated to relatives in Belgrade. Initially they thought it would be for a week or two, but it was three months before Novenka and Palvala were able to speak to their children again. Palvala was injured by shrapnel. His wife risked her life daily for the next three months driving to the hospital with food. Novenka is tearful as she recalls the awful conditions and separation from her children, "Shelling, flames, no food, no water, no electricity, - we had nothing. Why? I ask myself why?" Her husband is only too relieved that the children had been sent away, "We were lucky, because lives were nothing - they were just killing people. We had to live for our children. We had a reason to survive."
Meanwhile in Belgrade, Maya and Irena only heard about their father's injuries from a friend who'd seen Palvala, covered in blood, being interviewed on television. They did not know whether their parents were alive or dead until, with the aid of a sympathetic doctor, Novenka managed to use a phone at the hospital. Irena explains, "We just wanted a little glimpse of sanity and safety, so the nicest things you could talk about were everyday things - are you brushing your teeth properly? It was so unusual and so precious at the time."
Palvala needed further treatment which wasn’t possible in Sarajevo. Undercover of a Jewish Society, he and his wife were evacuated out of Sarajevo. After an arduous and dangerous 32 hour journey they reached safety in Croatia. They weren’t allowed to stay. The country, it was said, was too overcrowded. Eventually the family were reunited at Budapest Airport. Pavlova was on crutches; Irena remembers how her father tried to greet them, "He stood up and tried to walk without his crutches. It didn’t work. His legs hurt him. It was a really sad moment."
Novenka’s voice is quiet and sad as she remembers being reunited with her daughters, "It was very very emotional. They were completely different. They were not the children who left Sarajevo. They grew up so quickly. They were so serious." Palvala is more optimistic, "I was happy - at least we were out of the problem. We were going somewhere where we could find security and peace ...."
The family came to Britain and have lived in Essex for the last seven years.
