interviews with immigrants Justine

Curiosity about the West
NAME : Milinkov
SURNAME : Ljubomir
DATE OF BIRTH : April 23rd 1938
IN : Sovac, Serbia
DESTINATION COUNTRIES : The United States & France
JOB : Artist
DATES
1962 : Departure to France
1967 : Departure to the United States
1972 : Exhibition in Louisiana
1973 : Exhibition in New-York
1982 : Return to France
1990 : Cover for a UNICEF book
1994 : Exhibition in Paris
2002 : Exhibition in New-York
Official website
http://sazelmad.free.fr/demos/milinkov/

Ljubomir Milinkov was born on April 23rd 1938 in Sovac ( Serbia ). He decided to come to France in 1962 ( he was 24 years old ) for several reasons. First, at the time there was Tito's dictatorship in Yugoslavia. Tito was a communist and stayed in power until he was 87 years old. He set up the personality cult and he had his opponents killed. Moreover, only one party was authorized. Ljubomir left his homeland so that he could have more freedom and rights. The second reason is curiosity about Europe. In fact, Ljubomir wanted to discover the western way of life and more particularly French culture. For example, he was interested in literature. The journey hitch-hiking from Serbia to Paris took 6 weeks. He stayed there 5 years. He was an artist in Montmartre and learnt French on the job. He didn't meet any problems and felt fully integrated. « I've been very well welcomed » he said. In 1967, when he was 29 years old, he took a plane and settled in New-York to acquire spiritual enrichment and a new vision of painting. « The United States is very different from France, but I enjoyed living in those two countries and I managed to get by in both » he said. The Serbian political refugee worked in restaurants as a waiter to earn money because he was broke. He obtained American Nationality after 5 years. In 1972, he came back to Paris, married a French woman and they had two children. He then obtained French nationality. He returned to Serbia after 25 years of absence. « My life has been eventful but I don't regret anything » he said to conclude the interview.