5/23/2020

Headline, May 24 2019/ ''' '' TRAGIC BOSNIAN TIMES* '' '''


''' '' TRAGIC BOSNIAN 

TIMES* '' '''




TODAY, DESPITE THE CONCLUSIONS OF TWO International Courts, Serb politicians vie to deny that an act of genocide took place in Srebrenica.

THE CHRONICLES OF BOSNIA'S suffering in the 1990s that have reached the world and the Western readers have mostly been written by outsiders or exiles.

Now the wartime stories of two Bosnian authors, Frank Sehic, and Hasan Nuhanovic, have arrived in translation. Their experiences and - and their books - are radically different from one another's.

WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT IN 1992 Mr. Nuhanovic was a mechanical-engineering student in Sarajevo, Mr. Sehic was studying to be a vet in Zagreb.

Because his family did not flee in time, Mr. Nuhanovic ended up in Srebrenica, the Bosniak [Bosnian Muslim] enclave that was besieged by Serb forces, eventually he became a translator for the UN.

For his part, Mr. Sehic signed up to fight, and lead a group of 130 soldiers in his native Bihac area, which was also surrounded by Serbs.

Mr. Sehic revisits the experience in ''Under Pressure'', a book of powerful semi autobiographical vignettes, mostly, [but not only about the conflict].

Whereas Mr. Sehic is now an established poet and novelist, Mr. Nuhanpvic is an activist.

He made legal history when he successfully sued the Dutch government because its contingent of  UN troops had handed over his family to Bosnian Serb forces, who murdered them when Srebrenica fell in 1995.

But ''The Last Refuge'' is not directly about that massacre of some 8,000 Bosniaks. Instead, it is a grimly fascinating account of how, after first fleeing to his father's ancestral village, Mr. Nuhanovic's family made it to Srebrenica, and of everyday life there.

That sounds mundane. It is not. The narrative is crammed with details that only someone who lived through that hell could know. By filling in piece of the jigsaw, the book will   -like the memoirs of Holocaust survivors  -help future readers understand the bigger picture.

Mr. Nuhanovic recounts other stories besides his own. In stark contrast to Mr. Sehic's debauches, hundreds of starving Boasniaks, led by s small numbers of armed men, raid surrounding Serb villages for food.

As Kravica on  Orthodox Christmas Day in 1993, one explains they found a feat laid out ready to eat. There was shelling and shooting outside the house, and the roof was on fire. But, the man says, ''all of us started attacking the cake with our fingers.I was stuffing myself with whipped cream like a madmen.''

Later, when some NATO- planes began dropping food and a massive pallet smashed the roof of a home, [unhurt inhabitants] ''didn't mind at all.'' After all, ''mending a roof was much easier than finding food for your family.''

Mr. Nuhanovic's gripping, beautifully translated book may help counter the denials, but as important in its way is his frank acknowledgement of the impact of a horrid war with all its sufferings.

''The Last Refuge'' and ''Under Pressure'' record history, sufferings, injustices, killings, barbarity. and a shame, that future generations will find very hard to comprehend and live with.

The World Students Society thanks The Economist.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of Bosnia, and then the world.

See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - for every subject in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:

''' Books & Beams '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

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