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Sarajevo: A War Journal
Originally written as columns from Oslobodenje, Sarajevo's only newspaper to operate throughout the siege, this collection vividly describes a life in which unspeakable horrors are daily occurrences. While witnessing the gradual destruction of his city, Dizdarevic emphasizes the heroism of Sarajevo's citizens as they try to survive. Recipient of the International Prize from Reporters Without Borders.
193 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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June 9, 2011
In light of Friday's rioting at the Romania/Bosnia-Herzegovina Euro qualifier in Bucharest over the Romanian fans' excruciatingly inappropriate 'Free Mladic' banner, some unrelated notes before the review...
My first true understanding of what had happened in Sarajevo came somewhere around the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the siege. I was 17 and they were running a story on the evening news and I have no idea what it said. Not a clue. The only thing I remember is that it was the first time I'd ever seen anything that truly broke my heart. It was an image of a bombed out, bullet-riddled wall on which someone had spray painted (in red) "Welcome to Hell." What did I know of Hell then? For that matter, what do I know of Hell now? How was I, an upper middle class white kid from the suburbs in an exceptionally multi-cultural city in Canada, supposed to understand anything about what it's like to live under the constant threat, if not fear, of losing EVERYTHING? Home, family, country, life.
It occurs to me, years later, that this event, and the timely reading of Leon Uris' Mila 18, which I had read a few months before, have informed the studies I have undertaken. I don't study revolution and conflict because of its capacity for political change, I don't think. I think I study it because it is the closest I will ever come to understanding how people are able to survive such monstrous things. It's not about the political processes, it's about the people who refuse to submit.
In any event, there's a sad hopefulness to Zlatko Dizdarevic's writing and an almost comic observation of things out of place in an environment like Sarajevo in the 90s. Like a watchmaker's shop being open. His bemusement at the fact that "there are still people here who are interested in knowing what time it is, and that there are other people who might actually know" and his shared spring tea and cake with complete strangers lends a gravity to the writing that no amount of description of shelling and sniper attacks can. And there is also plenty in the way of adaptation that makes the reader uncomfortable, whether it is meant to or not. Most notable of these examples is a note about a girl and her dog playing in the street as if nothing is happening as a mortar shell demolishes a building 300 metres away. The book is not (and rightfully so) without anger and frustrated rhetorical questions. And it's not without the tragedy of children attempting suicide and ten people being killed being considered a good day.
It's a fast read, but by no means an easy one.
My first true understanding of what had happened in Sarajevo came somewhere around the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the siege. I was 17 and they were running a story on the evening news and I have no idea what it said. Not a clue. The only thing I remember is that it was the first time I'd ever seen anything that truly broke my heart. It was an image of a bombed out, bullet-riddled wall on which someone had spray painted (in red) "Welcome to Hell." What did I know of Hell then? For that matter, what do I know of Hell now? How was I, an upper middle class white kid from the suburbs in an exceptionally multi-cultural city in Canada, supposed to understand anything about what it's like to live under the constant threat, if not fear, of losing EVERYTHING? Home, family, country, life.
It occurs to me, years later, that this event, and the timely reading of Leon Uris' Mila 18, which I had read a few months before, have informed the studies I have undertaken. I don't study revolution and conflict because of its capacity for political change, I don't think. I think I study it because it is the closest I will ever come to understanding how people are able to survive such monstrous things. It's not about the political processes, it's about the people who refuse to submit.
In any event, there's a sad hopefulness to Zlatko Dizdarevic's writing and an almost comic observation of things out of place in an environment like Sarajevo in the 90s. Like a watchmaker's shop being open. His bemusement at the fact that "there are still people here who are interested in knowing what time it is, and that there are other people who might actually know" and his shared spring tea and cake with complete strangers lends a gravity to the writing that no amount of description of shelling and sniper attacks can. And there is also plenty in the way of adaptation that makes the reader uncomfortable, whether it is meant to or not. Most notable of these examples is a note about a girl and her dog playing in the street as if nothing is happening as a mortar shell demolishes a building 300 metres away. The book is not (and rightfully so) without anger and frustrated rhetorical questions. And it's not without the tragedy of children attempting suicide and ten people being killed being considered a good day.
It's a fast read, but by no means an easy one.
April 9, 2018
“Personally, I am delighted to hear the news that Sarajevo isn’t under siege. That means I can go wherever I want whenever I want; that I’m carrying fifty liters of water every other day just to entertain myself; and that if I manage to have a meal only every other day, this is not because there is not food but because I don’t want to eat any more than that. Furthermore, it reassured me to know that all the people killed in the last few days were not killed from shells fired from the hills; they simply committed suicide for their own pleasure.�
Biting - and in today’s world of Syria and Burma and #fakenews, just as damning, if not more so. I don’t know if we’ll ever learn.
A masterful example of journalism beyond any I’ve read before: its power and its role in preserving humanity. You can take everything away from a person but not the truth.
Biting - and in today’s world of Syria and Burma and #fakenews, just as damning, if not more so. I don’t know if we’ll ever learn.
A masterful example of journalism beyond any I’ve read before: its power and its role in preserving humanity. You can take everything away from a person but not the truth.
December 1, 2018
I only picked this up because my copy of Logavina Street hadn't arrived yet, but it ended up being the perfect book to read on the plane to Sarajevo. It is intensely geographic on an extremely local scale - I read it with a Google map of Sarajevo open on my phone and every chapter I had something new to mark on it. By the time I landed in Sarajevo, I not only had a deeper understanding of the day-to-day of the siege, but I felt like I knew the layout of the city already!
I only wish the book had been longer. It stops in 1993 when the siege was still going strong, and in one of the final chapters, there is a truly chilling reference to Srebrenica being made a safe zone.
I only wish the book had been longer. It stops in 1993 when the siege was still going strong, and in one of the final chapters, there is a truly chilling reference to Srebrenica being made a safe zone.
August 19, 2021
This book is a collection of essays by a journalist living in Sarajevo during the war. They are about everyday existence in a city under continual bombardment and vividly describes “the carnage and destruction caused by the Serbian bombing�. They reflect “the undeniable spirit and the refusal of these people to give in and let war ruin their lives.� The essays are very well written and extremely unsettling. It only goes from April 1992 to January 1993; however, the author has written another book of essays titled “Portraits of Sarajevo� which picks up from January 1993. I have ordered it and am looking forward to reading it.
August 1, 2019
No matter how much I read or watch about this war....I cannot comprehend it. The horrors and atrocities overwhelm. It's a very dark place to go. And I'm simply an outsider trying to understand that which is incomprehensible.
October 27, 2009
After reading the prelude and the introduction (neither by the author) I was ready to put the book down and never pick it up again. The reason? They were extremely biased, full of propaganda and based purly on the writers (of that component of the book - not the actual author of the book)feelings on what was going on at the time in Sarajevo. I guess from my perspective I should have kept in mind that Sarajevo was still under seige and the conflict/s in Bosnia hadn't ended when the book was published and first printed.
It did improve when the actual authors writing started. As you moved through the days and his "journal" which was published at the time in a Croatian paper (and later in other world papers), you could almost see him moving through the stages of grief, at the end he was almost at total acceptance of that was how things were going to be (Sarajevo under continuous seige). The best point the author made after the prelude and introduction was state that in Sarajevo, those defending the city from within were made up of all those races and religions that called Sarajevo home (including Serbs of Orthodox faith which the introduction places under the "all serbs are bad" mentality). I think that the multiculturalism within the city is one of the reasons it remains so today (it is a beautiful place if you ever get the chance to go) and the reson so many people stayed behind.
Overall it did not do much to improve my knowledge of the conflict and how it was like to live in Sarajevo during the conflict and for that reason would not recommend it. If you are looking at a historical "non-biased" book to read try The Death of Yugoslavia instead and go and experience the city for yourself if you can.
It did improve when the actual authors writing started. As you moved through the days and his "journal" which was published at the time in a Croatian paper (and later in other world papers), you could almost see him moving through the stages of grief, at the end he was almost at total acceptance of that was how things were going to be (Sarajevo under continuous seige). The best point the author made after the prelude and introduction was state that in Sarajevo, those defending the city from within were made up of all those races and religions that called Sarajevo home (including Serbs of Orthodox faith which the introduction places under the "all serbs are bad" mentality). I think that the multiculturalism within the city is one of the reasons it remains so today (it is a beautiful place if you ever get the chance to go) and the reson so many people stayed behind.
Overall it did not do much to improve my knowledge of the conflict and how it was like to live in Sarajevo during the conflict and for that reason would not recommend it. If you are looking at a historical "non-biased" book to read try The Death of Yugoslavia instead and go and experience the city for yourself if you can.
October 20, 2015
The thing to keep in mind when you pick this book up is that it is a series of newspaper articles that were written during the war. It's angry, at times it's unpleasant, and fingers get pointed. But the author also goes out of his way to stay as hopeful as possible and he doesn't dwell on the nasty details. He tells the stories he sees around him, which means highlighting the positives of the city he clearly loves.
The strength of this book is the honesty. The author doesn't hide his feelings. He doesn't hide his hope, or his bitterness, or the need to point fingers. In a document such as this, honesty is incredibly valuable. There is no playing to the international community to look good here, there is no trying to take the higher road, just an honest record of what it was like to live in that situation. Especially in a situation where lying was systematic and pervasive.
The strength of this book is the honesty. The author doesn't hide his feelings. He doesn't hide his hope, or his bitterness, or the need to point fingers. In a document such as this, honesty is incredibly valuable. There is no playing to the international community to look good here, there is no trying to take the higher road, just an honest record of what it was like to live in that situation. Especially in a situation where lying was systematic and pervasive.
January 10, 2011
Honest day to day account of living in a modern conflict zone. An important and recurrent theme highlighted in the book is the failure of UNPROFOR and that the goals of international organizations are rarely aligned with that of that of the victims.
The ability of UNPROFOR to act was severely hampered by the bureaucracy of it being a muli-national effort. While it can be understood from a high level perspective their strict rules of engagement so as not to embroil themselves in one side of the conflict, I wonder what the individual soldiers of the task force felt at having to show such apathy.
The ability of UNPROFOR to act was severely hampered by the bureaucracy of it being a muli-national effort. While it can be understood from a high level perspective their strict rules of engagement so as not to embroil themselves in one side of the conflict, I wonder what the individual soldiers of the task force felt at having to show such apathy.
May 11, 2008
These are wonderful brief essays. My only "complaint" is that it's hard to read through the book for long stretches at a time, because it's so easy to find a stopping point and set it aside. Which means it's very good for situations when you only have a few minutes to spare.
June 7, 2010
Rotten plums and shots at citizens. Makes you think, though, as this book chronicles the tragedy of Western non-involvement, when and how far it's okay to step in. Who, then, should save Dafur?
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