Story from a squat in Subotica
The story was made during one of our visits to informal refugee squats in Subotica
July 2019
Railway station, Subotica. Around 40 people are placed in abandoned objects once used by the railway. The facilities they live in are more ruins than buildings where an illusion of a dignified life could be possible. Every five minutes, someone leaves with big empty bottles to get some water, necessary for basic hygiene. The majority are Afghani people, mostly younger than 25. They all have the same physical constitution: they are slim, very thin, and small, just like their chances of crossing the border and arriving in some of the countries of the EU. While talking to them, we found out that one boy from their group managed to cross the border more than a month ago. Just one. Some of them claim they tried to cross more than 50 times. They hang out on trains or make arrangements with someone to take them over in a truck, and that’s how they attempt to cross the border every day. In a smaller building next to this one, there are several families from Iraq and Iran. They set up tents all over the entire building, so they could have comfort. All in all, they are beaten up sometimes, but the Hungarian police have become “nicer”: they don’t beat them as much now, because apparently the complaints regarding the behavior of their law enforcement gave results, but now they break their phones and take all their money.
The abandoned farm near Horgoš. Seven or eight ruins of what used to be a wealthy estate. Every building is huge and with a different interior, depending on their original purpose. Each one of them is unbelievably cold. Some of the buildings have walls made out of animal droppings, indicating that they are more than a century old. All the buildings are empty, except for one, where there are fifteen teenagers. Most of them are between 15 and 17 years old. Some of them have been traveling for more than three or four years. Have they got any other childhood, another youth but this which wanders around? Despite their failure to reach Germany or France, they all radiate genuine enthusiasm. They are situated 2 or 3 kilometers away from the border, which they, like the previous group, try to cross every day. Some try twice every day. They will continue until they succeed, for there is no going back for them, that is evident in their every move. Right next to the building where they live are a bunch of rabbits of various colors. White, black, red, black, and white, as well as rabbits with different combinations of color. They jump around. One of the boys who tamed them told us in Serbian (he learned it because he’s been there for three years already): “When I took them there were two of them. Now there are over twenty.”
Text: Vuk Vuckovic
Photo credits: Milos Stosic
