The recent decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to not hold Serbia directly responsible and accountable for the genocide that occurred in Bosnia-Herzegovina is troubling and disappointing. The decision strengthens the cynical perception […]
Humankind will be able to recall July 11th and 12th in 1995, remembering the genocide that was committed in the United Nations safe area, Srebrenica, by the criminal hordes controlled by Ratko Mladić. Shortly after […]
1. The Mural from Vozuca On the wall of an abandoned house in Vozu!a near Zavidovi!i a poem was discovered. Above the poem a message: Here it is still autumn and it is raining. I […]
After the Second World War, Samokovlija dedicated one of his stories to his mother, Sara, with these words: “I’m happy that she died before the war and did not experience the horrors to which we […]
To a dear friend and a member of the Sarajevo Shakespeare Society – (Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1992-3, and beyond) “Nermin Tulich, a young Sarajevo actor, lost both of his legs in the artillery attack on the […]
(TV interview: Question: “Then Bosnia is lost, Mr. Secretary?” Answer: “Oh, no, no; we are doing everything we can; no, no…” – Spring 1993) Turning back (in anger?) and seeing clearly: yes, then Bosnia is […]
For M.H. This town, catching up to us, clasping us to its arms and around our necks – we watch it from above. We are Caesars of the moment, breathing in Sarajevo’s breath: human bodies, […]
The girls of my youth, nausicaas The girls of my youth, dianas, danaias, lolitas they are only in their forties, but they are already gray haired, creased foreheads, wrinkled hands those “ladylike ones behind the […]
Prologue – Svetlana Broz “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift.” – Anonymous “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi The Schools for […]
Bosnia has always had a special place in the heart of Bosnian Franciscans through the centuries of their activities. They felt it deeply as their homeland and their home, and they have never questioned it […]
As you pour yourself a scotch, crush a roach, or scratch your crotch, as your hand adjusts your tie, people die. In the towns with funny names, hit by bullets, caught in flames, by and […]
Trains are the finest metaphor for present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina. Three and a half years after Dayton the imaginary state is still slumbering between the covers of the famous Accord, and life is for the most part […]
The “Hasanaginica” (Hasan Aga’s Wife) is a folk ballad written in the ten-syllable heroic epic line. It first came to the attention of West Europeans when it was published by the abbot Alberto Fortis, in […]
What gleams white in the green forest? Is it snow, or is it a swans? If it were snow it would have melted by now; And swans would have already taken to flight. No, it […]
Sometimes … I catch my inquiring look in the mirror: I see, not just another, but a completely unknown and utterly unsympathetic man who stares at me. In those lineaments I try to find something […]
At a roundtable on the topic of “Yugoslavia in World War II in 1941,” held in Belgrade on July 2nd and 3rd this year [1991], I asked for the floor after your presentation. I searched […]
If I were to be born again and could choose, I would choose neither this language, nor this vocation Neither this sign of faith, nor this faith without hope. I would not accept murderers teaching […]
Question: How many countries are in Europe? Answer: Three Question: Which three? Answer: The European Union, EU candidate countries, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Milošević is convicted by the court, but the judge does not know […]
Make me die This moment, God. Only leave My eyes Behind. So they can watch –on Piazza Duomo– the women going by. Translated by Omer Hadžiselimović and Ann C. Bigelow – © 2007 Omer Hadžiselimović […]
(We interviewed Susan Sontag in Sarajevo on April 10, 1993, during her first visit to the Bosnian capital under siege. We sat on plastic chairs in front of the main entrance of a building whose […]
