Sarajevo - A Road Less Walked

Hello, this is especially for Deepuben & Kellar.

Having just traveled through the Balkans, and stopped over in Sarajevo-, I was really overwhelmed by this area, especially Sarajevo City. I was fortunate enough to stay with someone on the peninsular of former Serbian territory- near the river (and also the Canadian Embassy, and the other side of the river from the national galleries), and got to speak with a Bosnian (Serb i think) about the war, the past and what went on during those times.

His insight gave me the chance to hear another side of the situation and the stories that came over to us via the western Media.

The Balkans have always been a trouble region historically, (since Roman times) and the boundaries between civilizations, religions, tribes, politics have been played out here. However, in no other city that I’ve seen has there been such a diverse mixture of people and their faiths.

The city is inter dispersed with Mosques, Synagogues, Churches (Orthodox & Catholic) and they are not isolated to their own areas of the city, they are literally next door to one another. The people of this area had lived together (in harmony despite their differing faiths) in such a way that people were just people, it didn’t matter what faith or beliefs you had, everyone was your ’brother’.

The "Nationalism" factor was whipped up in such a way and manipulated to turn these people against ’themselves’. I know this is an immensely complex situation with many factors, but the sudden switch in peoples minds that was played by the Politicians above is incredible. One example i remember, is how the plaque of Gavrilo Princip- (the guy who assassinated Franz Ferdinand and triggered WW1) had been ripped up during the conflict. However, beforehand he’d been remembered as a hero for helping liberate the country from Austrian rule. This twisting and re-writing of history that was played so cleverly by the politicians involved gave them an immense power of the people.

It’s very hard for me to correctly express what I felt when I was there. Something just took my breath away - climbing the hill above Sarajevo and looking down and the hillside...then as your eyes adjust, so slowly make out the grave stones that are all over the hillsides-...then you focus on the buildings, and notice how they are still poker-marked with shrapnel & bullet holes-...

Ham