The Aftermath – My Photos of Sarajevo from 1996

I arrived in Sarajevo in July of 1996, only a few months after the siege ended. Here are some photos I took around town and travelling through the country. One of the first sights of the destruction was my parents’ weekend house on the outskirts of Sarajevo. The house was destroyed in 1993.

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Excerpt from the book – my Mom’s letter from 1993:

“Sanja, the house is gone. Completely. Last night. It took a direct hit from the hill on the opposite side, the one you could see from the living room window (and remember how everybody admired the view…?). The bomb was a massive one. It went straight through the roof into the living room. The bedrooms above the garage are still partially there, or at least that is how I am imagining it. Neighbors who saw it told us that there are a lot of wooden beams lying around, and that we should somehow collect them. We would probably have enough to heat us through the winter. 
But, it is way too dangerous to go there. We asked them to pile the wood up in the garage for now, if the garage is still usable and dry. They are nice people, they’ll do it for us. We told them to take some wood for themselves, too. 
So, you see, in only one second, some idiot destroyed what we had been building for twenty years. I wonder if the person is now happier knowing what he did. I would want him to know that Alija and I did not even blink when we heard the news. Yes, we are sorry that we lost it, but, compared to all the other tragedies, human as well as moral, this is nothing.”

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