Join me as I pay my respects to those who suffered under The Siege of Sarajevo that wreaked havoc there from 1992 to 1995…
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About Frank’s Photography
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Sarajevo Arrival and Taxi Ride
My first impressions came during my taxi ride from the bus station to my hostel. Along the way, I observe what seems like typical European workaday city life as well as a curious mix of modern architecture and drab, lifeless communist-era buildings.
By the way, the running up the meter taxi scam is par for the course here. It’s ok to be angered by it, but don’t be too quick to judge in a place where the effects of the war still linger and many are just trying to survive another day.
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Siege of Sarajevo Map
Map of Sarajevo, showing Bosnian territory nestled in the valley of the city proper and the Serbian forces in the surrounding hills. It seems inconceivable that these very same hills hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1984, only eight years earlier…
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Important Sarajevo Siege Sites
The Holiday Inn
Visible reminders of the siege are not hard to find.
By the way, my guide and new friend Faruk said that collecting the tails from the mortar fired grenades was a form of playful competition between him and his friends during the siege.
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Sarajevo Foothills
A visit to the surrounding hills makes the profound vulnerability of Sarajevo eminently clear….
Much of the destruction remains to this day…
Surrounded by hills in every direction except for a narrow slot to the West, there was nothing beyond the reach of artillery and no street safe from the line of sniper fire…
Notice the Muslim cemetery marked by hundreds of white pillars…
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Sarajevo Siege Tunnel
The Siege Tunnel, built under the airport runway, was the only way that food, medicine, fuel, weapons, information, and people entered (or exited) the city.
Faruk pointing out the name of his cousin, who was killed at the age of thirteen…
Sarajevo Mine Fields
To this day, landmines are a very real danger for those working and visiting the surrounding hills and countryside. In fact, a farmer was killed here just the week before my visit…
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Olympic Bobsled Track
Try to imagine spending your childhood under constant threat of being killed, with little to nothing to eat, no electricity, no running water. Try to imagine that your summer fun was getting to the only swimming hole in the river that was shielded from the snipers’ many lines of fire… and where trying to outwit the snipers was turned into a game.
The bobsled track, once a proud symbol of global unity, became a fort and artillery position in the hands of the Serbs…
Sometimes laughing is the only way to not cry…
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Srebrenica Gallery
At Faruk’s recommendation, I visited the Srebrenica Gallery, a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching memorial museum and multi-media exhibition dedicated to preserving the memory of the Srebrenica Massacre that occurred nearby.
Although no photography was allowed inside, I was able to capture the invitation that welcomes all visitors as you take the elevator down to the exhibition. Being a witness to the horrors of war, evils of genocide, and the insanity of religious and ethnic division forever transformed me as a human being in ways that I still struggle to put into practice.
My visit inspired me to go to Srebrenica the very next day… in order to see, touch, and feel for myself: Srebrenica (as a Witness).
Thank you, Frank. Your last words were perfect — the “struggle to put into practice” actions that will do good because of what has been witnessed. It is a struggle for all of us, but an essential one — desperately essential.
Cheers to you and all who haven’t given up hope for humanity, Gerald.
I visited Sarajevo before the war, long before around mid sixties; it was beautiful then. War is evil, we cannot accept it as something normal for human beings!
Alas, we still have an enormous amount of work to do, Stella.
The horror is still intense in me. I followed it constantly and was involved in raising humanitarian aid for victims from Australia. Thank you for this post Frank!
And deep respect and heartfelt gratitude for your ongoing peace and justice work, Ina. For anyone reading this, please check out Ina’s blog at https://inavukic.com/
Such a powerful post. And it just doesn’t stop. At some point people will write similar posts while visiting Ukraine, etc. 😥
Oh, Jane. Alas, such gut-wrenching and heartbreaking violence is being perpetrated in so many places even as we speak. Thanks & Peace.
Wow – such a powerful post, Frank. It reminds me of the story I heard that the tennis player Novak Djokovich in part learned to play tennis in a drained swimming pool because that was the only safe place to play.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Wynne.
I didn’t intend my post to come across as choosing sides. As should be clear from my other essays filed under “Religion” and “Politics”, doing the right thing is almost never a matter of choosing sides.
I don’t know Djokovic personally and therefore am not quick to judge or pigeonhole him as many are quick to do to suit their prejudices… as patriot, nationalist, puppet, hero, martyr, uniter, divider, others, all the above?
I just hope that he uses his platform to build bridges, not walls.
Frank, the siege of Sarajevo is yet another reminder of the evil that lurks within our being that makes such barbarity possible. I wish I knew the answers to ending violence and war. I know only that change must begin with me. I look forward to reading your next post on Srebrenica. Blessings <3
Indeed, Rosaliene.
As you say, the change must begin with me.
Thanks & Peace.