Belgrade bombings hit close to home for Hudson student

By Jon Echternacht

The conflict in Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians seems a million miles away from the quiet countryside near Hudson. But it is as close as grandma's house for one young Hudson student and his family.

Mark Krtich, a 15-year-old Hudson High School sophomore, is just one generation removed from Belgrade and the horror of cruise missiles and bombs landing in and around the city. His grandparents, an uncle and cousin live in Belgrade, a town he visited just last summer.

"I feel bad for them," he said of his relatives stuck in the middle of the situation. "It is totally wrong for NATO forces to be bombing the Serbs."

Mark's father, Sam, is from Belgrade. He immigrated to the United States in 1972 and became a United States citizen in 1978. Mark's mother, Vicki, is also a Serb who came to the U.S. in 1960. Mark was born in St. Paul and has spent most of his life in Hudson.

Last July, Mark vacationed in Serbia visiting with relatives and traveling through the country. He didn't notice any particular hostilities except on one occasion.

"I went to a resort area on a lake that sits right on the border between Serbia and Albania," he said. "When I walked by an Albanian neighborhood, I heard shots fired. It was scary."

When TV anchorman Dan Rather opened his broadcast from Belgrade last week, he was standing in a spot Mark had visited.

With relatives in harm's way while he enjoys the benefits of safety in his home in the U.S., Mark is fraught with mixed emotions. "I am fortunate to be here," he said. "But when I was there last summer, I liked it.

"Their life is hard, but they live it much better than we do in this country," he said.

Mark also realizes if he lived in Serbia he would be eligible for its military draft in two months when he turns 16. "Some of the friends I made there are now eligible for military service and may have been drafted by now," Mark said.

Sam believes the Serbian military is taking men who are in their 20s and 30s now, but if the conflict continues, the army may dip down to take younger men. "There are seven men in my family in Serbia, and five have been taken into military service," he said.

Sam also said he has become AT&T's best customer, making numerous calls to Belgrade to check on his parents and brother. "So far everybody is OK," he said. "But it goes on a daily basis." Some of the recent bombing took place about 10 miles from the part of Belgrade where his relatives live.

Mark said he doesn't talk as much to his relatives because his command of the Serb language isn't as good as his father's.

What bothers Mark and his family is that all Serbs are being made out to be the bad guys in the current conflict. "I can't believe the United States is doing this to Serbia," said Vicki.

"It's an undeclared war on the families of Americans," said Sam.

Mark said his fellow students at HHS ask him about the situation. "I explain it to them this way: Imagine if the people of Mexican descent decided they wanted to take Texas back from the United States. Imagine if they said we want Texas for ourselves, and they got together and started killing the police. The government of the United States would probably call the Army in to crush them. That is what has happened in Kosovo with the Albanians," Mark said.

Sam pointed out that most people don't realize Kosovo is a Holy Land for the Serbs. "There are many ancient monasteries of the Serbia Orthodox Church in Kosovo," he said.

Sam said there was a strong demonstration among the Serbians against President Slobodan Milosevic in 1996-1997. "If the United States and NATO wanted him out of power, that was a perfect time to get behind the demonstrators and do it," he said.

Vicki is saddened that Belgrade was deteriorating even before the bombing started. "When I took the bus out of town last summer, the edges of the city look like a slum," she said. The influx of some 1 million Serbian refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and United Nations sanctions against the country has taken its toll on the city.

Sam said the city had a population of about 1 million when he left in 1972. He said 50 years of rebuilding after World War II is being destroyed by the current bombing.