Memorials in Sarajevo

July 9^th=- 10^th

Visited today the “Tunnel Museum”, a small memorial to the only connection between the besieged Sarajevo and the outside world. The secret tunnel ran from the basement of one house to another for 800 yards, passing beneath the airport runway – which was controlled by the UN – and allowing for the transport of fuel, food, medicines, and arms to defend the city. It was also a way to get some of the seriously wounded and ill to get better treatment. Today this small private museum is run by the family that owns the house on the “safe” side and it is their continued mission to bring awareness to visitors by allowing them into their home and learning about the tunnel and its use. Because of a new airport runway, only about 20 yards of the tunnel can be visited today, but it is enough to give one an impression of what it was like to go through it during such a time of crisis.

Earlier that day we heard that there was a march passing through Sarajevo of about 2500 people, mostly women, who were going by foot to Srebrenica, on the eve of the commemoration of a horrible massacre in July of 1995. These cold-blooded killings were the only ones to be recognized as Genocide by the Hague Tribunal, even though many other slaughters like these happened in Bosnia during the war There was little information about this event, so we could not find the marchers, whom we wanted to join at least for part of their journey and pay our respects.

July 11 was declared a Memorial Day all over Europe, and the day before a solemn mood took over Sarajevo, with the television only playing classical music or showing some programs related to the massacre. We watched one quite disturbing film, probably made by English or American TV, which covered in great detail and with many interviews and graphic images of women and children fleeing or being chased out of the NATO base that was supposed to protect them. There were also harrowing images of Bosniak soldiers arriving to safe places after escaping through the forests the brutal shelling of the Serbs.

Being here for this commemoration added another  layer of emotional complexity to our visit to this city and its tragic history.