Overall, the book is an excellent description of wartime conditions and a good introduction for those wanting to learn about the war in Bosnia, a war which saw some of the worst atrocities committed since the Second world war. It is particularly great to see more literature on a topic that I was struggling to find information on just a few years ago. Would thoroughly recommend this. Looking forward to part 2 !
It seems fitting that my very first blog post was in 2012 on the topic of the Srebrenica genocide, and it's July and my 'first' new post is also on the same topic. Coincidence or what? I was recently scrolling down twitter, (it seems almost endlessly these days), nothing new. When I came across a post by a publishing company advertising a new book by a writer named 'Hasan Nuhanovic'. Reaction 1 = BALKAN OMG. Reaction 2 - BOSNIA (YAY). Reaction 3 - HISTORY OMG. Reaction 4 = WHY THE F*CK WAS THIS NOT AROUND WHEN I WAS WRITING MY DISSERTATION?!?!?I recognised the face and name from somewhere. After a few minutes of racking my brain, it came to me, Hasan Nuhanovic was the Bosnian translator guy from the very first documentary I watched on the Srebrenica genocide. Srebrenica: a cry from the grave (1999). I still remember the horrific images from that documentary to this day, though I watched it in 2010! The cries of the mothers of Srebrenica mourning their husbands, brothers, sons, fathers. The images of a smugly grinning Ratko Mladic handing out chocolate bars and confectionary to unknowing, innocent (most likely starving) children at the UN protected safe zone of potocari, promising them safety and a lifeline. The horrifying, piercing cries of Ramo Osmanovic forced to beckon his own flesh and blood to their deaths 'Nermin I'm here', 'Come down, Nermin! There is nothing to fear'. The scenes, carefully edited away in this documentary truly were 'scenes from hell' as described by a judge in The Hague years later. The desperate, sallow complexion of a young Hasan Nuhanovic (I always remember thinking he looked very intelligent), a thinning figure with glasses who was working with the UN, translating away...here he was in this twitter publishers picture, looking healthy, having battled/still battling to gain justice for the victims at Srebrenica, for his own family...determined to relay the conditions that were felt by ordinary human beings during the horrific wars in Yugoslavia and the state humanity was pushed to.
Hasan's memoir (part 1) starts with brief descriptions of his life as a University student in Sarajevo and university life may seem normal but we start to see brief allusions to the situation e.g. students in dorms segregated ethnically, Muslims beginning to wear Fezzes by way of identification, inter ethnic animosities, the first stirrings that things are heating up in Bosnia. The story moves quickly, fast paged (a fast paced page turner is what makes this book so easy to read). We then read about how the Nuhanovic family becomes 'refugees' moving from their home in Vlasenica (fearful it is going to be attacked) - to Stoborani from where they get to the mountains and forests of Eastern Bosnia in a bid to both run away from war and survive. in one poignant part of the book Nuhanovic writes: 'The war flies, reaches you in a second and brings fear along with it. It runs through walls, over mountains and rivers. It enters your mind, your heart and your soul. It sits there and refuses to leave'. I think this sums up the the feeling some refugees have.
Throughout the book Hasan Nuhanovic recounts detail so vivid It has you feeling as if you are in those Bosnian forests and mountains with him, feeling that dull aching sensation of starvation as you walk for hours on end, while adrenaline is pumping through your body while you're hanging off a cliff edge or walking over dead bodies with the stench of blood, sweat and fear in the air, fear of being surrounded by the 'Chetnik' enemy and ultimately shot to death. On one hand you can sense the beauty of the lush, green, rugged landscape he is depicting with its cool springs and picturesque hills yet this is juxtaposed with the coldness of the landscape and the ensuing gloominess of violence all around, wit bodies being strewn, blood staining the narrow paths on the hills. In on part, Hasan ironically talks about reading a copy of 'Wuthering Heights' whilst war is going on around him and being transported mentally to the scenic hills of the Yorkshire moors. Again, emphasising the unnatural nature of events that seem unreal and out of place. Its a raw, necessary depiction of life in wartime Yugoslavia.
The memoir focuses a lot on the theme of hunger and starvation and I guess this harks back to the main aim of genocide, the total annihilation of a population. One way this was done was through starving a population to death in the areas of Srebrenica and surrounding, clearing Drina valley of Muslims. In one part, Nuhanovic talks about seeing a document (later/non verified), a plan designed with the help of the military, medical academy in Belgrade, which talks about depriving the Muslim populations of salt, necessary for survival. Nuhanovic talks frankly about the lack of provisions, the bartering of food, extended family turning on one another as hunger turns humans literally delirious. Families resorting to pinching meagre bits of meat from one another, the use of powder from fire extinguishers as raising agent for flour. Food meant for cattle being used for human consumption, again leading to its own issues. Muslim families, being forced to accept any form of food, unknown meat, pork lard to cook food due to the scarcity of cooking oil. The dire lack of salt, as some families turn entrepreneurial crushing up slabs of rock salt meant for roads and selling it off to desperate families. Then later, the UN ends up parachuting in food supplies, nothing amazing, tinned, powdered MRES provisions. In one part of the book, Hasan takes a bite of a brown substance expecting it to be a bit of chocolate, this doesn't turn out to be the case. Again illustrating the desperate, precarious nature of the situation. This all takes a toll as sons turn on their own fathers, family against family, individual against individual, individuals take on an almost wild, animalistic form.. all for survival.
