YIHR
The bombing of Guernica and the siege of Sarajevo:
Reflections
Alma Masic, Director, Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (Sarajevo)
I have two associations with Guernica: First, the event itself. The attack and systematic destruction of
the town Guernica on April 26, 1937 by German and Italian warplanes on behalf of the nationalistfascist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Of the around 6,000 persons then living
in the town (many among them refugees), it is estimated that between several hundred and 2,000
persons were killed, and more that two-thirds of the houses completely destroyed. Three days after
the bombing, the town was taken over by Franco’s troops. The event has become a symbol of modern
warfare with systematic destruction of towns and terror against defenseless civilian populations.
Second, Pablo Picasso's famous painting "Guernica". After the destruction of the town, Picasso was
commissioned by the Republican Spanish government to make a painting. After the bombing, he
chose Guernica as a theme and finished it three months after the attack. It was first exhibited in Paris,
and then went on tour around Europe and the Americas. Picasso refused to have the painting
exhibited in Spain until democracy was restored and Guernica, the painting, finally made its way to
Spain in 1981. The monumental painting, illustrating the suffering of the civilians, was Picasso's way of
showing the world what had happened in Guernica. Today, the painting is a worldwide incarnation of
the memory of the bombing of Guernica and an universal illustration of the horrors of war and the
terror against civilians.
These two dimensions of Guernica have specific echoes for me related to the war in Bosnia and
Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995, and especially the siege of Sarajevo, the town where I currently
work.
The systematic terror against civilians was also one main characteristic of the Bosnian war and the
siege of Sarajevo is one of the most brutal illustrations: during three and-a-half years, from April 1992
to February 1996, the town of Sarajevo was besieged and exposed to systematic shelling, killing more
than 11,000 persons, among them 1,500 children. Just as Spain is in the grip of coming to terms with
its history of dictatorship, so too are we, in Bosnia - two decades after these events - trying to decide
what to remember, how, and why.
In early April this year, we commemorated the 20th anniversary of the siege of Sarajevo, which
brought back a rush of painful emotion. How can we remember this history without re-opening
wounds? Can we harness it to build a safeguard against future wars? Currently, Youth Initiative for
Human Rights - Bosnia and Herzegovina, in consortium with several other foundations and public
institutions, such as FAMA, an independent creative agency, the Theater Festival MESS (a public
institution) and Foundation “Education Builds BiH” has created a Virtual FAMA Collection that helps
people learn about the siege. This collection (www.famacollection.org) brings home the human scale
of events, places and experiences of the Siege of Sarajevo ’92-’96 by communicating collective
memory with a personal face. As a virtual bank of knowledge, it aims to bridge the digital divide
between a culture of remembrance and today's real-time quest for knowledge. Through this interactive
website which is an introduction to the development of the Museum of the Siege of Sarajevo, we hope
to provide a record of life under the siege in Sarajevo and create a tool to educate future generations.
YIHR
The second correlation - Picasso's painting - to me, is an illustration of cultural resistance against
nationalist and fascist aggression. This cultural resistance is also very important for the siege of
Sarajevo where the challenge was not only how to resist the aggression militarily, but also how to
resist the daily terror, mentally. Cultural resistance in this context meant, despite and because of this
daily terror, that cultural activities were developed – plays and theatre festivals, film festivals, concerts,
"Miss-Sarajevo-Under-Siege-elections." The purpose of these events was to show the aggressor that
our history, culture, and traditions could not be destroyed, and also to attract the world’s attention to
this battle for survival. This cultural resistance from inside the country was also supported from
outside. For example, in 1993, Susan Sontag staged a production of “Waiting for Godot” in besieged
Sarajevo. A special section at Virtual FAMA Collection is dedicated to cultural resistance because we
believe that culture is a powerful tool of resistance, and one in which we all can participate.
Though the bombing of Guernica and the siege of Sarajevo are separated by time, place, distance,
and of course, context, both these events have lessons on how to resist and remember. These
lessons matter not only for Spain or Bosnia, but for all of Europe today.