Just 8 years after the magnificent Olympics in this city darkness fell. War drums sounded in the beat of the grenades that constantly demolished the city. On the 6^th April 1992 the first knife was stabbed into the back of Sarajevo. It would be narrow minded to say that after 1001 nights of constant seizure under heavy mortar, that the people of this city suffer. Thousands have died and thousands will. Two million grenades and a countless number of shells are bringing the wonders of this city to extinction.

The daily number of the deceased is 20 and perhaps 20 more of insufficient food and water. Food is hard to find and water even harder. Every day the people of Sarajevo carry thousands of liters of water over long distances and many die on the way. The silent enemy quietly cleans the city of people. Parks are turned to grave yards, playgrounds to massacres, and beautiful buildings to faggots. Even the air cannot be breathed for it is filled with gunpowder and smoke. Down the Miljacka flows blood, instead of rain mortar falls, instead of flowers hatred and pain blossoms. Everybody is by them selves, on their own path, like a shattered army. Closed off from every direction, the city is turning into a cage, and everyone is serving a penalty for a crime we didn’t commit. Everyday is a fight for survival, a battle that we are all slowly losing. The meaning of war enters a totally different dimension. The leaders are only thinking of the realization of their crooked plans, and not caring for the losses. "It’s just a statistic of war" some say, but the people who say that are very shallow. Did we have to show our faces to the world like this, bloody, dry and saddened. What had happened to the smiles from 10 years ago, what had happened to the harmony of cultures for which Sarajevo was an example? Where did it all go? Not even love can save Sarajevo now.

It all disappeared with the smoke of this flame that constantly burns...

Sarajevo, February 1998

Three years after the darkness, Sarajevo awakens and blinking steps into the sun. Many have fallen as martyrs for the freedom we have today and they shan’t be forgotten. And now, after the Dayton peace accord signed on the 15^th December 1995, we breathe the clean, fresh air of peace and slowly renew the ravished.Along with a large-scale repair of residential and office buildings a plan of the development of the city as a world metropolis is being made. In this plan is included the expansion of the city southwestwards towards the third river of the region where Sarajevo should be situated. With this expansion Sarajevo would be a rare city which has access to three rivers. Also the development of additional recreation centers, which would replace the old ones that were turned into graveyards during the war, is being planned and somewhat realized. A lot has disappeared during the war; many statues, buildings, museums, but the saddest of all is the people. Thousands of people, predominantly women and children, have fallen on the bloody soil of Sarajevo and have added another drop of death into the ocean that has drowned this country. Many parks, groves and pastures have been turned into endless graveyards, and it is grievous to see the tombstones on which the engraved dates are of little difference. And apart from death, more than 100,000 citizens were driven out of their homes and far from their land. Genocide of the highest degree was just allowed and beheld by ignorant eyes. And apart from being driven out, escape was often a big cause of the expatriation. But the escape was harsh and often more dangerous than the life in the besieged city. But still people succeeded, and when at last they jumped over the wall they faced a tough road.

But now after the war the expatriated face an even harder road. 1998 was proclaimed “the year of return” when a large number of refugees should return. Until 1998 some 28,000 people of the 53,000 announced returned, but that is just half and what’s worse is that only half have announced their return. A big obstacle is that 45% of the houses of the refugees are damaged or destroyed. In addition, some people have settled down in others’ dwellings, for instance refugees from other Bosnian cities, as well as cities from neighboring countries (Kosovo, Sanjak, etc.). All of this adds to the fiasco of this action as well as peace in general. But the show must go on, and it is planned, or should I say we hope that everyone will return by the year 2000. After 4 years of destruction and suffering, one cannot just stand up and carry on. Much work and effort has to be invested from both sides if this city is to get up on its feet. Bonds have to be built, people have to come together and at the end, buildings have to be rebuilt.The political situation isn’t stable. It will take a long time for the parties to settle down. It is hard to say that it is all over. The evil done to this city must not be forgotten and the felons must pay for their actions. But all in all, we must carry on...