What little help Mikhailovich's men got came from the US. For some reason, the Serbs seem to remember that over Roosevelt or Clinton's betrayal.
We rent out our church hall to a Roman Catholic organization on a regular basis. One of their members recently traveled to Serbia and visited the hometown of our priest. He was amazed at the warm reception he received. They showered him with many gifts to "take home to America."
Yes, it puzzles me too.
Some churches had a parish function and made shoeboxes for the refugees. Others made them as a teen night activity. The rocor church simply collected and I will never forget the tables piled to the ceiling and the 4 trips with a huge van that we had to make to get it all out of their hall. The Russians here donated a small fortune in new coats, blankets, and clothing for children.
Anyway I was a liason with Fr. Aleksandr Vlajkovic at Saint Sava in Wakefield, Ma. He and I emailed back and forth and after several trips to Serbia he told me what the Serbs said about us then. He said they asked him continually how the Americans felt about them now. Living in tents, they never once expressed hatred or anger at us. It did amaze me at the time.
The huge container we helped to fill, the second one, had many cards from Americans in it. It cost over a grand in shipping to send the stuff from Seattle, and some people, one priest here for instance, made donations, often of several hundred dollars. I personally put a paper icon ( Fr. Dane gave me a stack of them to use) on each box, and liberally put them in pockets of coats, etc.
I don't think they can dislike America because we also helped them a great deal - it seems another huge supporter of the container donations was a Lutheran church close to Saint Sava in Wakefield, for instance.
I think it has been much harder on the Serbs living *here*. I remember a man at our church - you recall we were attending a Serbian church then - coming back from Belgrade and standing up after liturgy to talk to us. He said he saw people digging through trashcans for food in Belgrade. At any rate, not being Serb at all, it was very painful for me to hear stories like these, and to see our priest and his wife on tv being interviewed - with Popadija crying and crying. (My oldest daughter was very upset to see her kuma on tv crying.)
There is an interview on the St. Sava site with comments from some of the parishioners. I think they and people at the church we were attending then had and still have serious difficulties with the bombing. Poor Fr. Aleksandr had to go there and personally witness the tent camps. It must be forever scorched on his memory. If you ever have the chance to meet him sometime, please give him my love.