Bosnia-Hercegovina

	Kupres, destroyed mosque.  A depressing and common sight in nearly every part of Bosnia where Muslims formerly lived.  In this case, Muslims were driven from the town by the Croat majority, who have now blanketed the town with Croatian flags.  The minaret of the mosque had been blown off, and the inside ransacked.
	Church at Medjugorjie.  Scene of an apparition of the Virgin Mary to six local children in 1981, this spot near the Croatian border has become a major Roman Catholic pilgrimage site.  As I watched the crowds inside the church singing hymns (including a large contingent from the American Midwest), I wondered how many were aware of the atrocities committed just dozens of kilometers away (see above) by their co-religionists.
	SFOR truck.  A common sight on roads throughout Bosnia.  I found relatively little other traffic, and compliance with traffic laws virtually nonexistent.
	Neretva Canyon, near Mostar.  This picture gives some idea of the incredible natural beauty of much of Bosnia.  Some of the villages between Mostar and this canyon were nearly totally destroyed in the recent war, bearing only spray painted messages of ethnic hatred on bombed out rubble.
	Sarajevo, three views of Bašcaršija, the old Turkish (Ottoman) section.  At one time  considered among the most charming and lively places in the Balkans, Sarajevo suffered heavy damage at the hands of Serb paramilitaries during a siege which lasted from April 1992 to December 1995.  The Bašcaršija is centered on the Begova mosque (top photo), completed in 1544.  The surrounding quarter of narrow lanes and twisting streets is divided by craft, eg, one block for silversmiths, another for copper goods, etc.
	Sarajevo, graveyards.  Many towns in Bosnia are ringed by graveyards filled with victims of the recent war - in some cases, all that is left of former towns is their ring of graveyards.  Recalling that these victims were by and large the graves of ordinary civilians - it is estimated that up to 3,000 children were murdered during the siege  - was profoundly depressing.  Most of the graves in the bottom are of Muslims, who suffered the most from "ethnic cleansing".  Whereas Sarajevo's population was formerly a rich mixture of Serb, Muslim, Croat, and Jewish, it is now predominantly made up of poor Muslim refugees from the eastern and northern parts of Bosnia who survived the ethnic cleansing there.
	Sarajevo, Miljacka River and Gavrilo Princip Bridge.  It was from this bridge that the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914, precipitating WWI.
	Sarajevo, mosque.  This mosque by the Miljacka River has been recently restored, and gives some impression of the beauty Sarajevo had before the war.  The line on the hills above where the trees begin mark the former front line, from where Serb paramilitaries fired into the city.
	Sarajevo, Grbavica.  This outlying district was directly on the front line for most of the war, a Serb pocket almost surrounded by government forces.  These buildings were further damaged in March 1996 when fleeing Serbs destroyed the few remaining intact apartments in order to deny them to Muslims, who were permitted to return under terms of the Dayton Accords.
	Sarajevo, Grbavica.  In the building at right in the top photo, I saw several refugee families living on broken shards of glass in the shattered stairwell, presumably refugees from some part of Bosnia which had been ethnically cleansed of its former inhabitants.  The bottom apartment building was built for the 1984 Olympics and is directly across the street from a (destroyed) stadium.
	Sarajevo, Oslobodjenje building.  Oslobodjenje was one of several daily newspapers in Sarajevo, but the only one to keep publishing during the war.  For a time it published from the basement of this building, which lies on the major east-west artery through the city, known during the war as "Sniper's Alley".
	"Sarajevo Rose".  These mortar craters are ubiquitous on the streets and sidewalks Sarajevo, mute testimony to the helplessness of the city's residents during the years of siege.
	Vrbas River, near Travnik, central Bosnia.  It would be easy to mistake such a scene of pastoral tranquility for somewhere in Austria or Switzerland if one weren't aware of the tragic history of this corner of the Balkans.
	Travnik, view.  This town is famous as the birthplace of the writer Ivo Andric, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961.  Travnik was a Muslim stronghold during the recent war, and although it had been flooded with refugees, showed few signs of physical damage.
	Prozor, view.  This town in central Bosnia lies in a particularly fertile agricultural area.  "Prozor" means window in Serbo-Croat.
	Gornji Vakuf.  This town was near some of the worst atrocities committed in the recent war, yet was within hailing distance of a British military base.  The town has been completely destroyed.

[ Home ] [ Up ]