It is encouraging that there are also those leaving Germany and settling in Bosnia and Herzegovina, able to see a bright future for themselves. N1 found such an example in the Livno village of Golinjevo, in the south of the country, where a German family of 6 is making a new life for themselves. 

A year ago, Sussane and her four children replaced their life in Leipzig, Germany, with a peaceful life in the village of Golinjevo near Livno. In 2018, they stayed here as tourists, and they say it was love at first sight. The freedom, nature and beauty of this place were decisive in their decision to move.

“We fell in love with this place, with the people, and we decided to stay here so that our children can grow up in a free, happy and in healthy environment,”  mother Susanne Marielle Goepel told N1. 

The children have been attending primary school for a year, learning the language. Everything they lacked in Germany, they found here, they say. Ten-year-old Karl and his two-year-younger brother Max admit that they miss their friends, but they do not hide their enthusiasm for their parents’ decision. 

“People here are much nicer, and what I'm very happy about is that there are no aeroplanes here like in Germany, because we lived near the airport, so we were constantly exposed to noise. We are much freer here and the air is better,” said Karl Goepel. 

“We play and spend a lot of time outside in the air, we bought houses here and it's interesting,” said Max. 

For the first couple of months, they lived in a caravan, and then Sussane and her husband bought two old stone houses and built a new one, which they should soon move into. And while waiting for the arrival of her husband, who works as a dentist in Germany, Sussane started an agency through which she helps other families from Germany to settle in Bosnia and start their own businesses. 

“I want to work in tourism, strengthen the economy, bring people back to this country and work together on rebuilding it. That's my vision. It may be difficult, but when people see that there is potential here, that jobs are being created, of course, they will want to come,” Susanne Marielle Goepel told N1. 

Life in nature and freedom, she says, makes their life more complete and beautiful. In one year of living in Livno, they did not encounter any inconvenience. 

Despite numerous warnings and advice from friends not to do that, that life in Bosnia cannot be better than the one they had in Germany, Sussane believes that her children have a safe future here and that they will not regret it in the end.