Dignity in Jerusalem of Europe

• Published date: 29 August 2023
• Publication title: Ensign, The

THE Balkans is a compelling battle-hardened pocket of Southeast Europe, fractured by epic conflicts and duelling empires over the ages

After becoming the Ottomans’ westernmost outpost, the mighty Hapsburgs ruled the roost, swallowing the Balkans into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Long resembling a geopolitical fault line, Sarajevo has been the epicentre of strife. World War1 broke out after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. And then, just 30 years ago, as Tito’s communist Yugoslavia fell part, and so did basic humanity.

Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks, who had co-existed for generations in a multi-ethnic society, suddenly weaponised their differences. Sarajevo found itself trapped in the longest siege of any city in modern history, during which Serb forces, underpinned by the brute strength of the former Yugoslav army, rained fury down on a defenceless city from the wraparound mountains.

Unremarkable apartment-block facades are still speckled with unseemly blisters or large chunks of plaster gouged out like missing teeth, while others are sprayed with bullet holes.

Then there are the Sarajevo Roses, 200 petal-shaped craters in the pavement caused by shelling, which were embalmed in red resin as urban memorials.

From 1992 to 1996, the city smouldered under a blitz that killed 11,000 residents.

My grippingly compelling guide, Samra, remarked that dealing to the building scars is still a low priority for the city.

Sixty percent of Sarajevo’s buildings were destroyed.

My hotel was located in the heart of ‘‘snipers’ alley’’, where buildings sport battle wounds.

The Holiday Inn Hotel, where war correspondents were routinely based, has been rebuilt.

It was on our way to the Tunnel of Hope, snaking underneath Sarajevo Airport, that Samra soberly remarked how her father was still ‘‘missing’’. Like many other Bosniaks, he was most likely a victim of ethnic cleansing and consigned to a mass grave.

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