We crossed the bridge to the left bank where the massive Sarajevska Brewery sits. It is THE watering hole for the town, and an important lifeline during the siege - its natural spring gave Sarajevans the opportunity to fill up on fresh water - but they had to dodge sniper fire to get there.
Inside the brew pub was enormous but cozy with its dark woods and brick ceiling. Ron enjoyed a premium lager while Kelly tried the special dark ale, both which cost 3.50 BKM, or $3CND (eat your heart out, anywhere in Vancouver!).
We then backtracked to Hapsburg Sarajevo and entered the Gallery 11/07/95. A little background info here: back when the Bosnian Serbs took over Bosnia during the war of 1992 - 1995, the UN moved in Dutch peacekeepers to try and help out some of the civilians who were being victimized, most of whom were Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniaks. The UN, being the super functional organization that they are instructed the peacekeepers that they were only to feed the victimized, not defend them. The Bosniaks were trying to flee the town of Srebrenica before the Serbs came and took over, but the peacekeepers roped off a safezone for about 5000 of them. The Serb forces moved in and had told everyone that they were going to escort the Bosniaks out of town, so they asked the women to stay and instructed the men between the ages of 12 - 77 to follow them. What happened next was the greatest mass murder in Europe since the Holocaust. Bosniak men were lined up and shot, stabbed or had their throats slit and pushed into mass graves. Many women never found out what happened to their fathers/husbands/brothers/sons. Estimates range between 7,000 - 8,000 Bosniak men were slaughtered, with mass graves still being uncovered today, along with exhumations, identification and proper burials. The two men who coordinated this atrocity are on trial at The Hague in the Netherlands, which still drags on now. The Gallery is a two room exhibit that features black and white photos of some of the women and children, bones and remains of the murdered, and other bleak images. The first thing you see when you step off the elevator is the names of the dead.
Another sobering thing to see around town is known as a Sarajevo rose - a distinctive mark and splatter pattern left by a shell shot from the hills. We saw many of these.
One thing that the world has done, possibly to try and make itself feel better about that whole siege, has been to give the city of Sarajevo public art, apparently most of which Sarajevans hate. We crossed through a park that houses a gift from Italy - a bronze statue of a naked man doing jumping jacks with an overly polished member. Thanks, Italy. In the same park but out of view of naked Guiseppe were a bunch of old Bosnian gents playing giant chess. With their cheers and jeers, it reminded us of the old guys who play bocce on Commercial Drive.
Continuing west bound, we then came upon another atrocity that rocked the city, in the Markhale Market. It's a modest market but during the siege it was where people woudl buy their produce. 2 seperate bombings, one in 1994 and one in 1995 killed almost 100 people and made the international community finally give their heads a shake and pay attention to what was happening to the civilians, which long story short, helped end the siege and war. Futher west there is another Sarajevo rose in the ground, and this one a bit famous. On May 27th 1992, Sarajevans were waiting in line to buy bread when a shell hit the line up, killing 26. This lead to a Sarajevan cellist to brave future shellings and sniper fire and set up his cello and play on that spot for 26 days to honour each casualty of the bomb. See also "The Cellist of Sarajevo".
Heading into more modern Sarajevo, we passed by McDonalds. In North America, who cares, but this is the first McDonalds in the city and opened in 2011 after being delayed 4 years. There were concerns that Sarajevans would abandon their local foodstuffs in favour of the greasy American burgers and nuggets. People lined up for miles to try McSlop, but the furor died down a few weeks later and Sarajevans went back to their delicious local dishes.
We then came to a park that showed one of the more devistating public memorials - The Memorial to the Children of Sarajevo. The glass sculpture represents a sand castle that will never be finished, and the basin shows the footprints of children, in honour of the nearly 1600 children who were killed during the siege. Beside the fountain are some steel pillars with the childrens' names inscribed on them.
At our westernmost point was what was known as Sniper Alley - a busy intersection that would get you sniped if you hung out longer than 5 seconds. At one side of the street is the Holday Inn Hotel, where the first shots of the siege were fired. On the street in 1992 people gathered for a peaceful protest, when Serb forces were instructed to openfire on the protestors, killing 6, and marking the beginning of almost 4 years of a city under siege.
Our final stop was to a bridge just beyond the hotel which is now named after the first 2 casualties of the siege, but is more famously known as the Romeo and Juliet bridge. A Bosnian Serb and Bosniak were in love and hoping to flee the city for a better life when they were sniped on the bridge while making their escape. He died instantly and she, mortally wounded crawled up to her beloved and died clutching his body. The two corpses stayed on the bridge for many days afterwards as people were too afraid of sniper fire to retrieve them.
No comments:
Post a Comment