To mark Holocaust Memorial Day and the 30th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica, Dr Sheila Osmanovic visited Kingswood on 8 March to share her experience of growing up during the Siege of Sarajevo and the events that led to the atrocity at Srebrenica. Sheila told her story with humour, passion, and honesty, telling us about events as she saw them.
Sheila started her presentation with a history lesson as few in the audience would know much about the Austria-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, and much less about a small piece of land sandwiched between them that is Bosnia.
Bosnia though time
In the 14th century, the Bogumils voluntarily adopted Islam and became part of the Ottoman empire. Their territory expanded from the Adriatic to the Danube, and they were granted a high degree of autonomy, but they had to battle to retain it. Between 1621 and 1827, they fought some 27 rebellions against the Vizier in Belgrade, who was seeking to extend his authority over them.
Following the First World War, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, and Bosnia became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After the Second World War, Yugoslavia emerged as a socialist state with Bosnia one of six republics.
The country was headed by Tito, who had led the patriotic resistance against the Nazis. Then, nobody cared about ethnicity or faith and there were more mixed marriages in Sarajevo than anywhere else in Yugoslavia. Sheila recalled that: “People cared for each other, making sure that children at school did not go without”.
Bosnia was the most ethnically diverse of the six Yugoslav republics, with the population made up of:
- Bosniak (Muslim) (51%)
- Serb (Greek Orthodox) (31%)
- Croat (Catholic) (15%)
Following the death of Tito, each republic sought to become an independent nation and the seeds of ethnonationalism were sown.
Tension arose as Yugoslavia collapsed. Serbia and Croatia sought to expand their territories to incorporate those areas within Bosnia that were predominantly Serb or Croat, respectively. Amongst Serbians and Croats there was a feeling of entitlement to Bosnia, where the Muslim majority had since Ottoman times owned much of the land. Ethnic cleansing occurred as neighbour turned on neighbour.
The Siege of Sarajevo
Under the guise of a military exercise, Serbian forces moved artillery to encircle the city of Sarajevo. Even though the world’s press had started to gather in the city in expectation of war, the eruption of open warfare came as a shock to the people in the city. How could this be happening here?
An anti-government demonstration followed, which was dispersed by a sniper killing six people. The police asserted control and arrested the sniper. The troops stationed in Sarajevo were able to defend the city, but with no armour or artillery they could not break the siege.
In the city, a 13-year-old Sheila discovered that some of her friends had decided they didn’t want to be friends with her any more. There was no water, electricity, or gas, and the city became an open prison.
The price of basic food stocks rocketed: £50 for a kilo of flour. Her mother traded a diamond ring for a kilo of coffee.
People continued to work to keep basic services going, men and women risking the daily commute along “sniper alley”. The community settled into their new normality, which was anything but normal, but were sustained by the hope that the world would save them.
By the time she was 17, like most teenagers Sheila was looking to her future and planning her education and college. She sought permission to leave the city. The process of obtaining permits to leave was tortuous, with many forms to complete and authorisations to obtain.
It all took so long; too long, and the deadline was missed. She would have to wait another year then start again. Her father, who had been working for a high-up government official, took the opportunity to explain his daughter’s difficulty to his boss, and arrangements were made for her to be evacuated with members of the Jewish community in what would be the last convoy out.
Once away from Sarajevo, there were more profound shocks for Sheila, such as just going to a supermarket and seeing shelves filled with fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish. It was overwhelming to think how her family would still be struggling. Then came the realisation that the world would not be coming to the rescue; that “the world just didn’t care at all”.
The Siege of Sarajevo was lifted a year later. It had lasted 1,426 days, with 1,541 adults and 1,601 children killed.
The War in Bosnia
Sheila presented the litany of atrocities committed as a series of images showing concentration camps and large-scale killings across towns and cities such as Omarska, Dretelj, Trnopolje, Keraterm, Visegrad, Foca, Zepa, and Manjaca. The horror and the scale of the atrocities committed needed no words.
Srebrenica had endured attacks since June 1994. The UN had negotiated peace and sought to demilitarise the entire region by 5 May 1995. Safe havens were established with lightly armed Dutch and Canadian troops.
In July 1995, the city was attacked again and 28,000 people ran to the UN base seeking protection. More than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were executed and nearly 25,000 women, children, and elderly people were forcibly deported.
Events in Srebrenica amounted to the biggest war crime to take place in Europe since the end of the Second World War.
In 2007, the International Court of Justice agreed that the Srebrenica massacre constituted genocide. Two years later, the European Parliament declared 11 July as a day of remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
Following the war, Bosnia was portrayed as a failed state unable to remain a nation. The international community supported the ethnic division and sought to divide Bosnia into two, three, or four parts.
At the Dayton peace conference, the Serbs and the Croats made sure that their voices were heard but Bosnians were largely ignored. It seemed no one wanted to preserve the ethnic diversity of Bosnia. The Dayton agreement was signed but there was no satisfaction; for many in Bosnia today it is unfinished business.
Sheila shared a clip from Bosnia’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, sung by Fazla, where the director has to hurriedly try to cut out his protest as he turns his back on the audience to sing:
“The whole world's pain in Bosnia tonight
I stay here to challenge and to fight
And I'm not afraid to stumble and fall
I'll never stop to sing, they cannot take my soul.”
Sheila’s presentation ended with a quotation from the 13th century Islamic poet, Rumi:
“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop.”
Sheila then gave a passionate lament on the loss of a society where different faiths and nationalities could live and work together, sharing what they had, until it was swept away and destroyed by nationalism.
Author’s note:
Over the past 10 years, the village of Kingswood has provided a platform for those whose lives have been touched by extreme hatred and prejudice to share their stories. The first guest told of growing up Jewish in Nazi-controlled Europe. That generation has now largely passed, but sadly it seems that the ongoing failure of the United Nations to prevent crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide will ensure that there will always be some to share their experience of events that led to genocide.
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