Zlata's Diary

Part 1: Preface and Introduction (VII-XXX)

Reading Check

1. Dublin, Ireland (ix)

2. The piano (xxiii)

3. Anne Frank (xxi)

Short Answer

1. She wrote and continues to write as a way to get events and ideas out of her head, to externalize her experiences without judgement, and to maintain a sense of control amid chaos. (xiii)

2. Since its release, she feels her diary no longer belongs just to her but also to history. People use it in ways that surprise her: as a record of history, a reminder of strength in the face of unimaginable horror, and as a tool to remember simple things such as birthdates. (xiv)

3. She describes Zlata as mature for her age, strong, and coping better than many refugee children. She attributes this to both the close knit ties of Zlata’s family and friends and to the objectivity that recording the war as an observer has given her. (xxvii-xxviii)

Part 2: September 1991-January 1992

Reading Check

1. Keeping up with schoolwork (2)

2. The family’s vacation home and a historical landmark (4)

3. She gets sick. (12)

Short Answer

1. Mention of the war occurs amid typical day-to-day entries about school, ominously following an event in which Montenegrin forces enter Bosnia, and Zlata’s father is called up to serve in the police reserves as a precaution and then popping up unpredictably in tense entries, as when Zlata describes news footage of fighting in Dubrovnik. The fear of war keeps everyone home at New Years, a somber reminder that something is not right (18).

Part 3: February 1992-July 1992

Reading Check

1. Armed civilians kill a Serbian wedding guest and wound a priest. (24)

2. Snipers shooting at the bridge (41)

3. To keep the family together (35-36)

Short Answer

1. Maja turns 18, the age of adulthood and a special occasion worth celebrating even during the time of war. As the family and neighbors honor this tradition and make the moment special by cooking the best food they can and exchanging gifts, they assert that their spirit is not broken and hold out hope for Maja’s future. (53) 

2. Because Anne Frank named her diary “Kitty,” Zlata names her diary “Mimmy,” revealing that Zlata is aware of her role as a childhood victim of war and recognizes that her experience is worth preserving for history.

Part 4: August 1992-October 1992

Reading Check

1. He dies; the war speeds up his death. (71)

2. Mirna, her best friend (86)

3. Zlata’s Diary (90)

Short Answer

1. The circle creates a sense of close camaraderie and shared responsibility among the neighbors, who look out for each other as the war rages. However, the war-imposed circle also cuts the family off from the rest of the world, making supplies scarce and contact with family in nearby neighborhoods limited. News travels so slowly that people find out after the fact when people have died or been wounded, as in the case of Uncle Halim. (71)

2. Celebrating birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions such as weddings and anniversaries allows family and friends to create a sense of order and control in spite of the chaos of war. (80)

3. The Serb/Chetnik occupation of Grbavica destroys that sector of the city and forces residents out either as political prisoners destined for concentration camps or as refugees. While Zlata’s mother and their neighbor Nedo hear no word of relatives living there and worry about them, family friends Lalo and Alma manage to escape. (86; 90)

Part 5: November 1992-March 1993

Reading Check

1. They burn their own furniture. (122)

2. Her mother’s close friends (93; 105)

3. UNPROFOR (125)

Short Answer

1. Because there is no gas and only sporadic electricity, the family must save their wood (though available on the illegal market, wood requires foreign money to buy). They also collect rainwater, layer their clothing for bedtime, sleep all together on a mattress in the kitchen, and rely on candlelight to conserve lamp oil. When Zlata’s father gets frostbite from cutting up the wood in the basement, the family stays with her grandparents, who still have access to gas heating. (99; 112)

2. Zlata’s uncle Braco and his wife and children have been living in Otes, near the airport that the UN maintains as “neutral” territory. However, to put pressure on the UN presence, Serbian forces set out to raze the city completely. Zlata’s family all manages to escape, her uncle by swimming the river with his best friend, who dies in the process.

Part 6: April 1993-July 1993

Reading Check

1. The local sniper who shells the nearby bridge (133)

2. Her aunt Seka’s eviction from a family friend’s empty apartment (141)

3. A swimmer in cold water (155)

Short Answer

1. Upon seeing piles of good food and luxury goods for sale on the black market, Zlata remembers the looted stores she saw at the beginning of the war and wonders if these are the stolen items, now being sold for foreign money that “ordinary” people cannot access. She wonders how people could sell their fellow citizens out like that and feels the war has turned the country against itself and made it unrecognizable. (138)

Part 7: August 1993-December 1993

Reading Check

1. Three months (160)

2. Nedo (167) and/or Samra (171)

3. The French Defense Minister, Francois Leotard (195)

Short Answer

1. The metaphor of politicians “playing games” and filling in the map with “crayons” reveals the extent to which Zlata views the ethnic and political conflicts of the war as utterly absurd and childish in light of the suffering, loss, and devastation it has brought. For someone whose life is hanging in the balance of peace talks that keep falling through, it feels as though, like children, the politicians are blinded by their own needs and have somehow forgotten about the greater good for all of Bosnia. (165-67)