Blog 01: Back to Bosnia

Back to Bosnia

During the last week of April my son and I traveled through large parts of East and Central Bosnia. I traveled back to Bosnia for the first time since I left the Bosnia in 1995. The country was then a war-thorn area, destroyed by the civil war which resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and  more than 2 million displaced people due to ethnic cleansing, which was nearly 50% of the population of 4.4 million. The Bosnian war was characterized by bitter fighting, indiscriminate shelling of cities and towns, massacres, ethnic cleansing and systematic mass rape. According to the World Bank estimates, about 60% of all houses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, half of the schools, and a third of the hospitals were damaged or destroyed.

This story tells the dark side of Bosnia and my personal experience and view before and during my stay in Bosnia in 1994-1995 for the Dutch Army. Nor this story is far from complete nor it is an objective story. This story is based on my personal views and experience and opinions which are sometimes (too) personal, influenced by the media and politics, orchestrated by the Army, influenced by culture, breeding and education and maybe sometimes only feelings which are highly subjective.

In 1994 I have had the opportunity to follow the safe way in the Dutch Army to serve as conscripted soldier in the Netherlands but I couldn’t walk away due to all the horrible stories in the media regarding the destructive war in Bosnia and Croatia. Joseph Stalin stated that ideas are more powerful than guns and because he would not let his enemies have guns, why should he let them have ideas (or keep their lives)? This monster was the cause of million deaths, but his shadows still existed when the civil war in Bosnia started in the early nineties. Fascinated by the high-tech and science fiction like Iraq war in the early nineties which was highly orchestrated by the (Dutch) politician and media as a clean war, I started also to follow the news about the Bosnian war. However it became true that this war (as all wars, including the Iraq war where the media and politician hided the killings by using a well-orchestrated media war) was so bad because the target wasn’t a dictator and his clan, but only civilians, fathers, mother, kids and even babies weren’t safe.
I cannot remember exactly which pictures, media shots, newspapers or articles triggered me personally but I can remember pictures from the ethnic cleansing of Ahmici, Vukovar in Croatia, Stupni Do, Bijleljina and Zvornik. These stories were so sad that I was triggered to do something and I wasn’t the only one who was finding a way out. One of my former secondary school classmates traveled to Croatia and fought during several months against the Serbs around Osijek and Vukovar where the Serbs killed and massacred high numbers of civilians. I have chosen a more legal approach and when I started with my training as conscription soldier to volunteer in Bosnia I wasn’t alone, hundreds of Dutch conscripted volunteers made exactly the same decission and together we served in Bosnia in addition to the professional Army as drivers, cooks, medics, technicians, engineers, plumbers, guards, electricians, power technicians and telecom specialists. Due to the high amount of volunteers who just finished their studies, the other armies and NGO’s named us “Kid Bat” due to the relatively low age of all these volunteers.

 Destroyed Mosque in Ahmici

 Removal of the murdered civilians after the massacre of Ahmici

Refugees after ethnic cleansing

One of the best documentairs about the "Death of Yugoslavia" is made by the BBC.

Part 1 The Death Of Yugoslavia: Enter Nationalism

Part 2 The Death Of Yugoslavia: The Road to War

Part 3 The Death Of Yugoslavia: War of Independence

Part 4 The Death Of Yugoslavia: The Gates of Hell

Part 5 The Death Of Yugoslavia: A Safe Area

Part 6 The Death Of Yugoslavia: Pax America

 

 

The picture below shows Trogir, Croatia where we arrived in 1994 the day before we should drive to Bosnia. The difference between this iddylic coast of Croatia and the next day in war thorn country of Bosnia couldn't be bigger.

End of May 1995 I left Bosnia during an extremely tensed period with an increased pressure on the enclaves (Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde) and where large amount of UN soldiers were taken hostage by the Serbs.

During my holiday leave I was in Austria (and just fallen in love so this period was really an emotional roller coaster) and from my holiday location I followed the horrible stories about the fall of Srebrenica on tv and in the newspapers.

I will never forget these days in Austria............

During and after our present trip through Bosnia I will publish more about the dark but also the bright side of Bosnia.

Today the shadows of the war are more and more leaving the Bosnian country so a more bright site version of our trip in today's Bosnia can be find here: https://thebrightsideofbosnia.blogspot.nl/