Travel Stories

Travel Stories >> Bosnia >> Oslobodjenje means "Freedom" in Bosnian…

Oslobodjenje means "Freedom" in Bosnian…

From April 5, 1992 to November 25, 1995 (when The Dayton Accord was signed) the city of Sarajevo of the former Yugoslavia was under siege. With the exception of the Siege of Troy, the Siege of Sarajevo may have been the longest in recorded history. Most of the major news agencies of the world had a dedicated soul stationed here to record what (s)he saw, felt, and heard and report back to a world that was hardly interested. Sarajevo, a beautiful alpine Balkan city and host of the 1984 Winter Olympiads, was isolated in its terror for three and a half years. While the innumerable war stories are horrifying, tragic, ironic, and on occasion even humorous, there is a place in this city that symbolizes the very spirit of the Sarajevans incarcerated in their own home.

Along a wide avenue which became known as "Sniper Alley" during the war, at the West end of town, sits what remains of the Oslobodjenje (say: oh-slow-bed-jayn-yeh) Building. Once a striking contemporary concrete structure topped by a large blue glass tower, this building has been the home of the Sarajevan daily newspaper, the "Oslobodjenje" for 14 years. First published on August 30, 1943, the daily is an award-winning paper on an international scale. Honored in 1963, 1976, and 1989 for the quality, integrity, and accuracy of both the reporting and the journalism in general, "Oslobodjenje" was chosen as the "Newspaper of the Year" by the British press in 1989. During the three and a half year siege of Sarajevo, the paper received the Scandinavian "Freedom Award" for "exceptional loyalty to truth and freedom", and the international "Oscar Romero Award" for maintaining the tradition of independence, objectivity, and courage in reporting under severe circumstances. For Sarajevans, this newspaper and this building became the symbol of strength and fortitude for the thousands of stranded citizens who had chosen to stay and defend their city rather than flee.

A young Sarajevan who fought on the front lines where the building is located, described the following. "During the war, the Oslobodjenje published EVERY DAY without fail. The building sat right on the front line and from the Southern hills it was punished day and night by Serb shells and snipers." So important was the need to publish news, to keep the city informed, and to work for what was right, that the journalists and publishers and editors worked through it all. The hills to the south of the building are still littered with the carcasses of gutted vehicles and shellpocked homes, and the "Warning! - MINES!" signs are strung on red and white ropes throughout those neighborhoods like strings of Christmas lights.

Sarajevans will tell you how the carloads of newspaper people sped in and out of the parking lot - under shelling and sniper fire - once every six days or so. The printing presses were in the basement and the employees came in to work for a week at a time, sleeping, eating, and living with the presses while the incessant shelling raged above them, waiting for the next team to come and relieve them. In a city forgotten, freezing without fuel, murdered while retrieving water for cooking and bathing, and starving for more than humanitarian beans and rice, the Oslobodjenje presses never stopped. The paper and ink were either smuggled in, or came in sporadically through international charitable organizations, or the UNHCR and UNESCO. Before the war, the daily was the size of the Wall Street Journal, both in terms of page number and size. During the war, however, the paper quickly became a slave to circumstances and although religiously never fewer than six pages, shrunk considerably. Although they suffered the uncertain and irregular availability of paper, ink, electricity, and fuel for the generators, "Oslobodjenje" managed to publish every day.

In the cold but busy streets of Sarajevo today, the rebuilding is taking place at a vigorous pace. Every day "new" coffee shops, retail establishments, mosques, and apartments are being reconstructed. An American who was here last June was astounded by the growth, as well as by the details (new streetlights, for example) she discovered while here in November, six months later. There is talk around town that there is a good deal of hesitance to reconstruct the Oslobodjenje Building. Some will remind you that, like with the Holocaust, we must never forget. We must never forget that Sarajevo was a forgotten city, and that its citizens survived in spite of their abandonment. Oslobodjenje means "Freedom" in the Bosnian language, and this building, which represented freedom for the Sarajevans, is a striking reminder that we should never forget.

(top)