"Bosnia...European and Turkish Cultures... " a Bosnia and Herzegovina Travel Page by tampa_shawn

Sarajevo is a picturesque town surrounded by green mountains.

The mountains are quite beautiful now, but made a deadly trap for the town people during the siege. The cities architecture reflect the diversity of community….European styled white houses with red roofs and flower gardens, next to Turkish Mosques with their obelisk-like Minaret’s and surrounded by stark communist block apartment houses.

Unfortunately, you cannot talk about Sarajevo without mentioning the Graves…they are everywhere.

During the siege this town of approximately 350,000, 18,000 of its residents were killed due to the sniper fire and mortars that reined down on the city from the hills above.

Out of necessity parks, playgrounds and soccer fields have been turned into graveyards. The graves are shocking for many reasons…(1) their sheer numbers; (2) their locations, often backing right up to homes in residential neighborhoods; and (3) that in a war that amounted to ethnic cleansing the people of different religions, Muslim, Orthodox Serbs, Catholic and Jewish are buried side by side….

“The truth is seldom pure and never simple” - Oscar Wilde

Pictured here a grave yard that backs up to the former Olympic Stadium

You cannot help but to admire the people here. With every story I heard I grew more in awe at how resolute they are.

The people of Sarajevo are hard to describe…at first they appear so European in their dress and attitude…But then over time you realize they are so much more…more passionate, more open, more loving than those of us from the United States or Europe can ever hope to be. They don’t think of themselves as individuals, they think and love as a community. I was blessed enough during my visit to be counted as family, it is an experience I will not soon forget.

There are TONs of great books about Bosnia. I read about 40…these were my favorite

1) Zlata’s Diary, A Childs Life in Sarajevo – Zlata is known as the Anne Frank of Bosnia. This upper middle class girl takes us on a heartwarming journey from skiing in the mountains and visits to Italy to living in fear of the constant sniper attacks during the siege on Sarajevo

2) Logavina Street : life and death in a Sarajevo neighborhood / by Barbara Demick ; photographs by John Costello. Amazing life of a normal neighborhood during the siege of Sarajevo

3) Sarajevo Survivors Guide – I’ve Quoted this several times on this page. Written by Bosnian’s for Bosnian’s. This really shows the Bosnia’s humor and according to my Bosnian friends accurately reflects life in Sarajevo during the siege

4) Fax from Sarajevo – by Joe Kubert – A friend keeps in touch from Sarajevo via faxes during the war

5) Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco – On the list because it is so unique and would really appeal to some. This is a comic book that shows life during the war

The key to my neighbor's house : seeking justice in Bosnia and Rwanda / Elizabeth Neuffer, this is not normally the type of book I recommend it’s a very thick book that studies Genocide. It reads like a doctors thesis but it gave me some amazing insights. I would recommending scanning the book, NOT reading it cover to cover

MOVES
1) No Man's Land by Danis Tanovic – This really is a dark comedy written by Bosnia’s on their life during the war. This book is a gem because it really does show the wonderfully dark sense of humor that the Bosnia’s have. I loved this film but if you haven’t been to Bosnia or known any Bosnia’s I’m not sure if you will really get how funny the firm is.
2) Shot Through the Heart – this is HBO original movie but you can rent it at almost any video store. A touching story of two life long friends in Sarajevo, both professional snipers who end up on different sides of the conflict
3 ) Welcome to Sarajevo – Fictional story that shows life during the siege from the outside media’s perspective