Zlata Filipović is a Bosnian author who gained international recognition for her diary, “Zlata’s Diary,” which she wrote during the Bosnian War. She was born on December 3, 1980, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of writing the diary, Zlata was a young girl, and her diary entries provide a poignant and personal perspective on the impact of the war on civilians, particularly children.
“Zlata’s Diary” was first published in 1993 when Zlata was just 13 years old. The diary gained widespread attention for its powerful and moving account of the war’s impact on daily life, as well as its impact on Zlata’s personal experiences and emotions. The book has been translated into numerous languages and has been used in educational settings to help students understand the human side of war.
Zlata Filipović and her family eventually fled Sarajevo to escape the war. After the conflict, she continued her education and went on to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. While she has kept a relatively low public profile in recent years, her diary remains an important document in the history of the Bosnian War and its effects on civilians.
Zlata Filipović Quotes
1. “Unfortunately, I have realized that we cannot completely erase all the evil from the world, but we can change the way we deal with it, we can rise above it and stay strong and true to ourselves.”
— Zlata Filipović
2. “Boredom!!! Shooting!!! Shelling!!! People being killed!!! Despair!!! Hunger!!! Misery!!! Fear!!! That’s my life! The life of an innocent eleven-year-old schoolgirl!! A schoolgirl without a school, without the fun and excitement of school. A child without games, without friends, without the sun, without birds, without nature, without fruit, without chocolate or sweets, with just a little powdered milk. In short, a child without a childhood.”
— Zlata Filipović
3. “My diary became more than a place to record daily events. It became a friend, the paper that it was made of was ready and willing to accept anything and everything I had to say.”
— Zlata Filipović
4. “War has crossed out the day and replaced it with horror, and now horrors are unfolding instead of days.”
— Zlata Filipović
5. “…choose to deal with inhumane situations in a humane way, we can turn the world around and create positive lessons for ourselves and for others.”
— Zlata Filipović
6. “It looks to me as though these politics mean Serbs, Croats and Muslims. But they are all people. They are all the same. They all look like people, there’s no difference. They all have arms, legs and heads, they walk and talk, but now there’s “something” that wants to make them different.”
— Zlata Filipović
