SARAJEVO, MAY 2ND AND 3RD, 1992. VICTIMS, INTERPRETATIONS, MANIPULATIONS Cover Image

SARAJEVO, 2 .1 3. MAJ 1992. GODINE ŽRTVE, INTERPRETACIJE, MANIPULACIJE
SARAJEVO, MAY 2ND AND 3RD, 1992. VICTIMS, INTERPRETATIONS, MANIPULATIONS

Author(s): Merisa Karović-Babić
Subject(s): Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Security and defense, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Centar za istraživanje moderne i savremene historije Tuzla
Keywords: Sarajevo; siege; May 2nd and 3rd; 1992; crimes; civilians; shelling; snipers; Skenderija; Territorial Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (TO RBiH); Yugoslav People's Army (JNA); Dobrovoljacka Street;

Summary/Abstract: Ignoring the historical context of the events in a city that had been under siege for nearly a month, the debates surrounding May 2nd and 3rd, 1992, which exclusively focus on the deaths of members of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) at various locations in the city, including Dobrovoljacka Street, continue without interruption. The citizens of Sarajevo killed during those two days are nowhere mentioned, and their memory is not included in the official memorialization of the city's siege. Furthermore, within the interpretation of the events on Dobrovoljacka Street, there is a noticeable continuous strategy aimed at connecting all the deceased JNA members at the end of April and the beginning of May with the events on Dobrovoljacka Street, effectively camouflaging the previous attacks on the city and the involvement of the JNA in them. Therefore, it was important for us in the first part of our work to point to documents from the Command of the 2nd Military District related to the participation of the JNA in digging artillery positions around the city, their role in the division of Sarajevo's districts along national lines, the relocation of weaponry to „safer areas “ where the Serbian population constituted an absolute ethnic majority, the initiation of the attack on the city, the first casualties in April, as well as the shelling and the burning of residential, cultural-historical, religious, economic, and other facilities in the city. All events that preceded the actual siege of Sarajevo, starting from the autumn of 1991, including the war in Croatia and the subsequent occupation of Bosnian cities, contributed to the perception of the JNA as an enemy force by the citizens of Sarajevo and all pro-Bosnian forces. The shelling of Sarajevo with weaponry and armaments previously positioned on the hills and mountains around the city, in particular, intensified the animosity towards the JNA from the citizens of Sarajevo.

  • Issue Year: VI/2023
  • Issue No: 10
  • Page Range: 260-282
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Bosnian