27 years with a bullet in his body, the survivor of the Suhareka massacre: I pretended to be dead, they caught me and threw me into the truck of the victims

2026-02-17 18:17:54Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

On the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Kosovo's Independence, one of the survivors of the Suhareka massacre, the last war in the country, has spoken out about the horror he experienced at the time.

Through a post on his Facebook, Gramoz Berisha writes that he recently discovered that he has been living with a bullet in his left arm for 27 years. An injury that occurred in the Suhareka massacre.

Berisha recounts details from the moment of the war, when he and his family, after gunfire, were taken and thrown into a truck where most of the victims were.

Although alive among the many victims, Gramliz managed to successfully escape from the truck along with several members of his family. But several others were trapped in the truck.

Berisha says that throughout all these years he had been treated for the wound in his left arm and the doctors had always told him that the bullet had exited his body.

But, three months ago, a sudden pain in his right arm, he says, took him to Stuttgart for a medical checkup.

Gramoz Berisha's full reaction:

27 years ago, when my mom and I jumped from the truck, I was injured in my left arm.

That wound had enabled me to play dead when they caught us at the pizzeria and threw us into the truck with the other bodies.

I have been treated for years for the wound in my left arm. All the doctors told me that the bullet had slipped and was no longer in my body.

27 years of pain, pride, absence, and efforts to find even a single bone of our family members, who failed to jump from the truck that carried them like corpses.

Me, mom Vjollca, and Shyhretja were the only ones who danced. The others went by truck. My sister Dafina, my brother Driloni, and my dad Sedat.

All 49 members of our family went. There were even survivors inside. There were even calls for help from the truck. But they didn't jump. They went. Only the three of us survived.

Three months ago I felt a terrible pain in my right arm.

Convinced that it had nothing to do with my past, since the wound was on my left arm, I went to the doctors here in Stuttgart. The examinations began. After taking some pictures, they started asking me questions:

— Have you been part of any robbery?

— Have you participated in any shootouts?

— Yes. I am a survivor… I also showed them the wound on my left arm.

Many doctors gathered. "A miracle," they repeated.

The doctors showed me that the bullet that had tried to take my life 27 years ago was in my right arm. The bullet had passed from my left arm to my right arm, without hitting any vital organs.

This was the miracle they called "ein Wunder".

I learned that all this time I carried with me the metal that I conquered — so that today I can enjoy the freedom and independence of Kosovo.


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