Sarajevo

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More background info: Sarajevo entered the 20th century history books literally with a bang: when the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot dead near the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo in 1914 – which triggered the outbreak of World War One. A new museum by the bridge commemorates the events today. It is, however, a relatively minor dark tourism destination compared to the sites related to the more recent war in Bosnia & Herzegovina, of which the siege of Sarajevo was one of the most significant elements. In fact, it was the longest such siege in modern history and the worst since WWII.

The siege started shortly after the declaration of Bosnia-Herzegovina's independence (following the previous secessions of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia). The Yugoslav central government under Slobodan Milosevic opposed the new independence, and inside Bosnia the Bosnian Serbs formed their own "Republika Srpska", intended to become part of a Greater Serbia – effectively seizing about half of Bosnia-Herzegovina's territory. Sarajevo, the capital, was right on the dividing line.

Before the war, its population included about 30% Serbs – and one of them was the notorious Radovan Karadzic, a doctor at a Sarajevo hospital before the war, who became president and military commander of Republika Srpska. Its military inherited much of the Yugoslav army's arsenal – and received direct support from the remaining Yugoslav military – whereas the Bosniaks were seriously underequipped. However, they outnumbered the Serbian aggressors, and the city centre with its narrow streets was too difficult to capture outright. And so the Serb forces (under the command of General Mladic – cf. Srebrenica) surrounded Sarajevo and cut it off from the outside world. Tanks, mortars, rocket launchers etc. were deployed in the hills overlooking the city and they pounded it relentlessly and almost indiscriminately for the next few years.

Almost every house in Sarajevo sustained some degree of damage, even hospitals and cultural treasures, such as the National Library, were targeted. In addition, the city's civilian population was directly targeted by snipers. In total, over 10,000 Sarajevans were killed during the siege, including some 1500 children.

The worst incidents were the two "markale massacres" of 1994 and 1995, when Serbs fired artillery shells into an open market, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of innocent civilians.

After the second markale massacre in August 1995, NATO reacted by launching air strikes against Serb positions – which eventually forced the Serbs to the negotiating table. The Dayton Accords effectively ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the siege of Sarajevo was officially declared over in early 1996.

During the siege, the population not only had to live through the hell of constant shelling and threat of sniper fire, but also that of food shortages, and electricity and water supplies being as good as cut off. But they held out, partly through internal ingenuity and assets (e.g. the Sarajevo Brewery was able to provide drinking water from its own supply), partly through supplies brought into the city through mainly two channels: UN food rations flown in to Sarajevo airport, held by UN forces, and, more spectacularly, through a tunnel dug under the airport connecting the city to the outside world and Bosnian free territory. The Sarajevo War Tunnel is often seen as the most heroic and admirable achievements of the Bosniak Sarajevans during the siege.

Remarkably, their persevering resistance also included a continued cultural life, including underground theatre performances. In fact, the prestigious Sarajevo film festival was founded while the city was still under siege in 1995. Schooling also continued underground. It is truly remarkable how the city coped with the situation – while it now seems almost incomprehensible that the outside world did so little for so long to help.

After the war, the city underwent extensive reconstruction – but still many scars from the war remain very visible in many parts of the city (see war ruins). What is also still visible is the fact that the division of the country's population is still very much a fact of life, even though it also underwent a significant shift, with the Serb population now at a much lower proportion than before the war. As soon as you venture out of central Sarajevo, however, esp. past the "Welcome to the Republic of Srpska" signs, you see that the conflict continues as a kind of linguistic war. The Serbs use a different script, which is largely identical to the Cyrillic alphabet, so place names on signs are written in both that and the Latin script used by Bosniak Muslims. Often, however, you see the Latin script equivalent sprayed over – and occasionally re-sprayed on. But at least in this graffiti war fought with spray cans rather than guns, no one gets physically hurt. But witnessing this does underscore the presence of the continued tensions in the country.

Most tourists are steered past this, of course, esp. those who only come to see the picturesque Old Town. But for the dark tourist, the psychological element of Bosniak vs. Serb confrontation only just about kept at bay is quite palpable. You also notice it in the choice of language in the descriptions of the war, in brochures, tourist guides and memorial plaques: the agreed terminology amongst Bosniaks is quite clear and outspoken. Here the war is commonly referred to as the "Serbian aggression", and the opponents as "Serbian criminals", e.g. on the memorial plaque at the ruined National Library. Conversely, the heroism of the Bosniak Sarajevans is routinely emphasized – probably rightly so, but occasionally it is at least narrowly bordering on glamorization, e.g. on the guided tour of the war tunnel. Little wonder that the Serbs who still live in Sarajevo mostly keep to their own quarter – in what is commonly referred to accordingly as "Serb Sarajevo", a new town in the south-east of the city which is part of Republika Srpska – marked by those "Welcome" signs (even though the border is otherwise not so visible), but served by a separate public transport network.

It all just reminds the foreign visitor of how recent this crazy war was, how fresh the (architectural) wounds are, and how fragile the "resolution" of the conflict really still is. It's not least because of this element that Sarajevo is today one of Europe's foremost dark tourism destinations.

 

 
What there is to see: Lots. The main dark attractions of Sarajevo which are also well commodified and marketed for tourism are given their own separate entries here: