Bosnia-2024

 

Photos - https://link.shutterfly.com/XlFVwOphBRb

              An 8-hour scenic bus trip takes me from Nova Sad, Serbia to Sarajevo, Bosnia, which was on the ancient Silk Road route. Rather than spend my October 2024 enjoying the beautiful, fall colors of scenic Western North Carolina as planned before our flood, I am viewing the fall colors of mountainous Bosnia. I smile as an unleashed family cow strolls across the road in front of our bus. Compared to one of our states, Bosnia is similar in size to West Virginia. Their cost of living is 44% that of the USA. They have their own currency, as does Serbia, and it’s not accepted in other countries. Sarajevo is known for three major events in modern history.

1.    --   Hosting the 1984 winter Olympics

2.      -- Location of the assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand which was the impetus for starting WWII. 

3.      -- The longest siege of a city in modern history, nearly four years.

My guesthouse is located next to the old town and near a mosque, as I discovered the next morning, awaking to the broadcast of the 6:00 a.m. Muslim call to prayer. Sarajevo is a mixed city of Bosnians, Serb-Bosnians’, Muslim and other. Eighty five percent of the Jewish community were killed during WWII. After the civil war of the 1992 - 1995, only 250 Jewish remained. Yet, in the old town, churches of Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim and Jewish once all shared space.

A funky 4-hour tour in a Yugo automobile was a fun way to learn Sarajevo history, with my Dutch guide who has a master’s degree in Balkan history. The Yugo car was made in Yugoslavia and sold in the USA in 1985 – 1992. Americans know it as the most unreliable car in history. For Eastern Europeans, it was an affordable car and very popular. My guide bought his 1988 Yugo recently to do tours as a source of income. Sure enough, midway through the tour, the car would not start. With his coaxing under the hood, the engine came back to life. I had fun driving the car. First gear was elusive, requiring just the right touch.

An afternoon 2-hour walking tour highlighted their well-preserved old town. I was surprised at the large number of Turkish souvenir shops and restaurants, bringing back memories of my tour to Turkey last year.  Many buildings had bullet holes remaining from the siege of the city, often left as reminders of the terrible years.

              The next day was a sobering 4-hour tour by a survivor of the 4-year siege of the city, who was 14 years old when the siege began in 1991. Prior to the siege of the capital city of Sarajevo, the Serbs had attacked and burned many villages in Bosnia that were mainly populated by Bosnians. Those refugees traveled to Sarajevo for safety.  Then Sarajevo was bombed for 4 years by Serbs, with those refuges trapped inside the city. Quite confusing but, a third of Sarajevo citizens/residents were of Serbian descent. Many  had inter-married with Bosnians. Those Serbs had to decide whether to remain in Sarajevo and be bombed or, join the aggressor Serbs and kill their friends and neighbors. There was no real way to tell them apart by appearance. Only their last name would reveal their heredity. The Serbian attackers were from Serbia and also Serbians living in other countries in the region. On average, 340 bombs per day were fired at the city. But some days could be zero or, as many as 3,000 bombs per day. Sarajevo is surrounded by mountains so the Serbs maintained positions in those mountains and snipers would randomly at its citizens. The street in front of the hotel inhabited by foreign journalists was named “sniper alley”. But most streets in the city were dangerous and could be hit by sniper fire. Many of the Serbs/snipers had fulltime jobs in Serbia or, in the region. They would take their weekends to come to Sarajevo to see how many citizens they could kill over the weekend. This was a situation of Bosnia being attacked by their own army that 8 – 10% of their income went to support. It was the Yugoslavia army that was majority represented by the province of Serbian. The army had all the weapons. Prior to the attack, the Yugoslav army forcefully took the weapons from Bosnia. 95% of the Generals were of Serbian descent. Compare it to one of our states attacking another of our states.

              Imagine four years with no electricity or running water. Spending most of your time in a basement or windowless garage. Walking 4k to the spring at the brewery to collect water. Dodging sniper fire when you went outside. Even so, they eventually find a way to open schools four hours a day in a dark basement or windowless room. Hoping you did not go down the wrong alley on the way to school and lose your life.

              The U.N. was stationed at the airport as monitors but were not allowed to take sides. They were able to escort many of the refugees out of the city. The city was starving. They U.N. provided rations, often expired leftovers from the Vietnam War and such poor quality that the dogs would not eat the cans of meat.

              After two years, Boasian miners completed a ½ mile tunnel at the airport that would get them outside the city to a farming region to buy food from farmers. Imagine being 14 and trying to find your way in a dark, curvy tunnel that varied in height. The tunnel was destroyed after the war but a 25’ section of this tunnel was re-built for tourists, which is far safer (with lights) and stronger than the original.

              Bombing by NATO forces of critical Serbian positions finally brought an end to the war. Many say NATO waited too long to intervene. In 1999, NATO was much faster to intervene when Serbia attacked Kosovo by launching a 78-day bombing campaign on Serbia to end the genocide. Eventually, many of the Serbian generals went on trial at the Hague for war crimes and were sentenced to many years to life in prison for their crimes.