ITCHY FEET TRAVELS

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Sept 8, 2025

Three times longer than the Battle of Stanlingrad. More than a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad. From April 5, 1992 to February 29,1996, for 1425 days Sarajevo was under siege. It is the longest siege of a capital city in modern times. The Bosnian Serb forces with support from Serbia blockaded the city. Daily assault took the form of artillery, tanks, small arms and at least 500,000 bombs. It all began with blockades on the street on April 4, 1992 followed by shelling.

In the Siege of Sarajevo Museum are records of the terror of those days. The voices of the people speak of the uncertainty of knowing if family members were alive or dead. They speak of discovering that those close to one had turned informers and enemies. Of children having to run between buildings to evade the snipers on their way to school. Of having to collect rainwater in buckets to avoid dying of thirst.  Of burning anything that would burn, including furniture and books to stay alive in the bitter cold of winter. Of buildings sporting signs that warn of snipers. Of expecting to be shelled anytime, anyday.

The stories of individuals are the most difficult to read, even when they are written in matter-of-fact words. Perhaps because they are written in such terms.

Vernes Cosic who at 23, was finishing his studies in Mechanical Engineering when the siege began. He joined the Bosniaks and was wounded five times in one year, returning to the frontline each time after recovering. He is alive today but suffers from epilepsy.

Adisa Busuladzic worked as a journalist reporting on the war in Sarajevo. He had the help of a colleague, a Croat citizen and managed to get out of Sarajevo with false papers. He returned in 1994 and in his words: People have desperate expressions on their face….It looked like horror, the ninth circle of hell. I saw a man by a pillar. He hugged the pillar and he was crying, just crying, he didn’t stop. On the Coast road we saw the corpse of a woman…one guy told us she was an elderly woman who had committed suicide. She could no longer bear the hell of the siege of the city.

In one display is a stack of journals written by a young girl, Hermina Jogun. She kept a journal of every single day of siege; it was what she needed to do to stay sane.

In another is a knife that was found in one neighborhood. Seemingly ordinary, it is the inscription that chills one’s blood. Such hatred and cruelty is almost beyond imagination.

Starvation knocked on the door before the UN took action. With the control of the airport, the UNPROFOR organized humanitarian relief in what became the largest airlift in history.  It involved more than 12,000 flights and more than 20 countries. A tunnel, completed in mid-1993, connected the city and airport, allowing supplies to get through until the beginning of 1995.

1995 saw joint international intervention and air strikes and it was on February 29 1996 that the last of the Serb forces were driven out.

More than 13,000 people were killed during the siege, including more than 5,000 civilians. The Bosnian forces, the ARBiH sustained about 6000 fatalities, while Bosnian Serb military casualties numbered a little over 2000.