July 24th

Today we visited the cemetery for the Bosnian Muslims who were killed in the genocide of the 1992-1995 war, with most of the victims coming from the massacre at Srebrenica, Bosnia, a Muslim enclave in the territory controlled by the Serbian army.  The site reminded me of Arlington National Cemetery, but then I remembered that these graves were filled with civilians, and all in a short three year period.  The site has a mosque as well as a small museum, with photos of the ethnic cleansing and genocide as well as stories of some of the victims.

After the Bosnian cemetery, we balanced the day out with a visit to a Serb cemetery a few miles away.  When we returned to Sarajevo, we lifted our spirits by wandering around, eating and shopping.  One of my friends here, Curtis, has also studied Arabic, and we were both looking forward to trying it out a bit in the old Muslim neighborhood where we are staying.  We asked one merchant if it is widely used here.  He relayed to us a story: he welcomed one customer with a standard greeting in Bosnian.  The customer then asked if he was Muslim, and upon learning that the merchant was Muslim, asked why he didn’t use the standard Arabic greeting “salaam al-Aykuum.”  The merchant responded that he considered himself a Bosnian first and a Muslim (Bosniak) second.  Why should he use a language brought from the Turks when he could greet someone in his native tongue.  Seeing someone who identifies as Bosnian is rare, and ultimately special, as it puts them seemingly apart from the conflict of the region, an embrace of civic, rather than ethnic, nationalism.

July 23

Our first morning in Sarajevo, we visited the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, the oldest Orthodox church in Sarajevo. There we talked to a friend of Mladen’s, also named Dragan, who is a native of Sarajevo and served in the Serb forces during the war.  He told a heart-wrenching tale of the transition of life in Sarajevo, beginning its celebrated pre-war multiculturalism.  Dragan’s best friend was Muslim, and their friendship survived the early stages of the war, despite the ethnic hostilities that were pulling the city apart.  Dragan aided his friend’s family, as well as other Muslims from his neighborhood into moving to the Muslim-controlled area of town.  Eventually his friend succumbed to the fanaticism of the war, calling Dragan a “chetnik” (term from WWII, fighters for the restoration of Serbian monarchy), and beat him.  There was no contact between the two friends until after 9/11, when Dragan’s friend’s father called Dragan to tell him his friend had been killed in Afghanistan.  His wish was that Dragan be called because he was the best friend he had ever had.  A month later, the friend’s father killed himself.  Dragan maintains a good relationship with his friend’s mother, as well as other Muslim friends, even sharing in religious celebrations, but things aren’t the same as they were before the war.

Despite the heavy morning, our group was able to bounce back at night, walking around the old town and enjoying the partying associated with the Sarajevo Film Festival this weekend.  The highlight of the night (for me) was when we came across the corner where nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, beginning the First World War.  Talk about a history geek-asm.


(Our internet in Sarajevo is pretty weak, so uploading pictures is a problem. Rest assured, more will come later)

July 22nd- Beginning of Sarajevo stretch

We were able to cross back into Serbia without incident, though they did nullify our Kosovar stamps on our passport.  We had to cross the old city of Novi Pazar of our list, only stopping for a bathroom break and snacks as we headed towards Bosnia.  The city and the surrounding area are famous for its old Orthodox monasteries and churches, and we were able to catch sights of them as we wound our way through the mountains.  The drive was long but very beautiful.  We stopped for dinner in Mokra Gora, at the tourist destination called Drvengrad (Woodentown).  A film director, Emir Kusturica, built the town as a set for his film “Life is a Miracle,” and it has been preserved as an idyllic tourist spot for its simple lifestyle, good restaurants, and picturesque views, and is a pretty awesome little place.

After another stretch of driving we crossed into the Republic of Srpska, an entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina.  It is Serb controlled territory and the site of some of the fiercest fighting during the war.  About 20 km outside of Sarajevo we were stopped by police who threw another curveball for the dialogue-rockslides on the route, of course.  There was really nothing else to do on the long detour but laugh (and open a bottle or two).  We arrived in the beautiful city of Sarajevo late at night, and will be here for the next five days or so.  Our hotel is in the old Turkish quarter, well preserved for centuries, and has a lovely old world feel to it.  Despite the cold and the rain, it’s probably my favorite city so far!

July 21st

We visited an organization called the Nansen Dialogue, an NGO that facilitates interactions in Kosovo between Albanians and Serbs.  They also work with refugees and IDPs, mostly Serbs, who fled Kosovo during the war, trying to return them to their property.  We wandered around the pedestrian area a bit more, and then returned to the bus.

Just outside of Pristina, we visited the monument to the Battle of Kosovo.  One of the reasons Serbia is intent on holding on to Kosovo is that it sees the region as the cradle of its civilization and history.  A key aspect of Serb history is the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.  The Kingdom of Serbia clashed against the invading Ottomans.  Both sides were nearly wiped out, but the Turks had reserves to call in, and won the battle, adding the Kingdom of Serbia to the Ottoman Empire.  Serbs view this battle with nationalistic pride.  The monument is a tall tower that offers a surrounding view of the beautiful landscape, and a guard is maintained due to vandalism by those opposed to Serbs.

Before leaving Kosovo, we stopped in Mitrovica, a northern city with a Serbian enclave.  The city is divided by the Iber River, and we stopped at a bridge guarded on both sides: Albanians to the south, and Serbs in the north.  Both sides have their own institutions and for the most part their own infrastructure, and the town is very symbolic of the division that defines Kosovo today.

We planned that evening to stay in Mokra Gora, a town in western Serbia.  However, plans rarely stay the same in the Balkans.  Apparently, when we had crossed in to Kosovo the day before, we received Republic of Kosovo stamps on our passports (despite asking the border police not to).  Since Serbia doesn’t recognize that entity and the border crossing is technically a “security checkpoint,” allowing us to cross back in to Serbia with the Kosovo stamp would be an act of recognition.  The option we were left with was to travel from Kosovo to Montenegro and enter Serbia from there, adding several hours to our already lengthy bus ride.  Despite the willingness of our professor to be arrested and creating an international incident, we decided to change our plans and stay in Montenegro for the night.  We chose an upscale hotel (gotta love that emergency fund from the university!) in the mountain town of Rozaje, pulling in late at night. Our bus got a lot of stares as we wound our way through the sleepy Muslim town, and exploring at night offered only quiet streets, but we were happy with our nice rooms and beds.

July 20th

Before leaving Nis, we were able to visit a small concentration camp from World War II.  During the war, the Crveni Krst camp held a total of 30,000 prisoners, mostly Communists, but also Jews and gypsies.  It was originally a fenced-in enclave with small guard towers, but after mass escape, the Nazis built high concrete walls with broken glass on top.  The camp served as an organizational camp, with its prisoners being shipped off to other parts of the Reich after a period.  Still, the remains testified to the horrors, with small quarters for up to 6,000 prisoners, piles of straw that served as the infirmary, and memorials to the 12,000 executed, both in the camp and in the surrounding hills of Bubanj in self-dug mass graves.  The main building now serves as a museum, with pictures of the prisoners, maps, artifacts, and artwork.  Our tour guide, the same from the previous day, had family in the camp, and gave us a detailed account of its history and the daily life of the prisoners.

We got back on the road and continued south.  Just before the Kosovo border, we stopped on the side of the road and walked to a little restaurant on a stream for an awesome lunch of traditional Serb food: bread, beans, salad, and skewers of pork and lamb, really tasty stuff.  At the border, we first got checked at the Serb checkpoint, by surly, no-nonsense police.  We then traveled about 100 meters to the Kosovar checkpoint, where the police talked with us in English and seemed pretty happy.  I even got a text from their cell service wishing me a pleasant stay in the Republic of Kosovo.  We continued on to Pristina, the capital.  We are traveling with one Albanian, Gino, who is very thrilled to be here and to use the language (I’m not sure how thrilled our Serb group members are).  Driving through, we passed a monument to Bill Clinton.  It’s nice knowing that we are in a place that actually likes Americans.  Kosovo, especially Pristina, is rapidly rebuilding, with many roads being recently paved and modern buildings springing up.  Our hotel was in a very nice residential area, and we could tell a lot of new money was being brought to the city.  However, the countryside remains relatively poor and underdeveloped.  Walking around the pedestrian area that night, there was little nightlife to speak of (though our taxi driver did offer us a connection for prostitutes).  It is a very interesting city, and I wish we could have spent more time there.

July 19th

This morning we bid farewell to Hotel Slavija and Belgrade and made our way south towards Niš, the third largest city in Serbia behind Belgrade and Novi Sad.  On our way, our un-air-conditioned bus broke down on the side of the highway.  After a short wait, we were on our way with a new, AC-stocked ride.  Nis is the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome.  He built a magnificent villa in the suburb of Mediana, the ruins of which are currently being excavated.  We continued on to what is known as Skull Tower.  After the second Serb uprising in 1809 against the Turks was crushed, the Sultan ordered the skulls of the Serbs to be built into a tower as a warning.  Most skulls were eventually taken down by family, but several still remain.

Upon arriving in Nis, we were welcomed by beautiful weather, an awesome hotel (a step up from Slavija), and a city that was a nice change of pace from Belgrade.  We had a delicious Serb meal, and spent the day exploring, including visiting the Turkish fortress in the city center.

Last Weekend in Belgrade

On Friday we visited another NGO called Veritas.  This organization concentrates on war crimes against Serbs in the Krajina region of Croatia.  This eastern region of Croatia is known as the military frontier, and is heavily populated by Serbs.  These Serbs declared their independence from Croatia in 1990, and the first violence of the wars started there.  The organization helped to convict Croats of ethnic cleansing in the region, with 400,000 Serbs leaving Krajina in ten years.  They also didn't have air-conditioning, and we opted not to pursue a thorough Q&A period.

We returned to the Belgrade Lady to meet with a member of the Democratic Party of Serbia, or DSS (note: different from the Democratic Party, DS, of which the two MPs we met earlier were members of).  This party was founded in 1992 as an opposition coalition against Milosevic.  They broke with the Democratic Party after his downfall, with the main issues being those of joining the EU and stance on Kosovo.  Both parties want the same thing: EU membership would be nice, and Kosovo should remain part of Serbia.  They differ on the prioritization.  According to our guest, DS would join the EU, even if it meant sacrificing Kosovo.  For DSS, if all of Serbia can not join the EU, then they will not be a part of it.  They would prefer it to remain a frozen conflict, and keep the status quo on trade relations with both the EU, US, and Russia.  This speaker was refreshingly honest (more open than the politicians could afford to be) and gave us a look at a different position on the issues inside Serbia.

On Saturday, most of us traveled to the museum for Josep Broz Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia from 1945 to his death in 1980.  The museum contained some of his uniforms, as well as pictures of his visits with diplomats from all over the world. The gifts he received, from furniture to weapons, were also on display.  We were also able to visit his resting place.

Today (Monday), a small group toured three cemeteries in Belgrade.  The first was a Jewish burial ground, and was very beautiful.  The second was for Partisans and Red Army soldiers killed during the liberation of Belgrade during World War II.  The third was the cemetery of note since the 19th century, and holds famous Serb and Yugoslav cultural, civil, and military heroes since then, including assassinated Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.