Blog 06: The Bosnia "Safe Havens": Tuzla

The Bosnia "Safe Havens": Tuzla

Tuzla is one of the most multicultural cities in the country and managed to keep the pluralist character of the city throughout the Bosnian War and after, with Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and a small minority of Bosnian Jews residing in Tuzla. The name "Tuzla" is the Ottoman Turkish word for salt mine and refers to the extensive salt deposits found underneath the city.  

 Entrance one of Tuzla's Salt mines (1994)

 

UNPROFOR was actively using this salt during snow fall to optimise the road around Tuzla for both UNPROFOR and the locals.
During the Bosnian war the town was the only city not governed by nationalist authorities. After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence the city was besieged by Serbian forces, however the city wasn’t heavily shelled and destroyed like Mostar and Sarajevo. The most serious incidents were the battle between poorly armed local forces loyal to the Bosnian government and Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) Motorized Brigade in the city of Tuzla that took place on 15 May 1992. The incident occurred at the road junction of Branska Malta as the JNA was undergoing an agreed-upon withdrawal from the city, but they also took all the weapons that belonged to the National Guard. An estimated 93 members of the JNA and Serbian reservist (from the surrounding areas, who joined military) were killed by the attack of Bosnian Muslim militia's and in explosions of all the military materials that were loaded onto trucks.

The following movie shows this attack.

 

Tuzla in 1994

After several days of Serbian shellings on Tuzla, on 25 May 1995 and the birthday of Marshall Tito, an artillery shell fired from Serb's positions on the Ozren mountain (130 mm towed field gun M-46) hit the central street and its promenadeon in the Tuzla city centre and killed 71 people and injured 200 persons in what can be seen as one of the deadliest single shot artillery attacks ever. A memorial plague of this massacre can be found in the Kapija area.  

memorial plague Kapija

During the war, Support Command which was based at Lukavac, hired translators for communication with the authorities. Several times I acted as guard to bring them home or to pick them up in Tuzla. I can remember that we brought back one of these translators during a complete blackout in the city. I can confirm that driving and walking in wartime in between these Sovjet-style apartment towers in a city without any electricity feels like being in the most isolated place on earth.

Tuzla Today
Today the city is a typical product of the old communistic era and the cityscape is predominantly Yugo-era apartment towers. For lots of people Tuzla may not appear to be the prettiest destination in Bosnia due to its industrial setting and Soviet appearance.

 

 

But, dig deeper, and you’ll see the beauty and a lovely old town. The old-town area has a certain modest charm in summer and spring weekends when the street cafes & restaurants are crowded during lovely weather.

In the summer also the beaches of the Pannonica salt lakes are full of merry sunbathers.