In this edition of Sweet Travels, you will hear a conversation with Hasan Hasanović, whom Mischa and Simone met in Sarajevo in September 2019. Hasan was 19 years old when the city of Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995. Hasan, along with his father Aziz and his twin brother Husein, decided to flee. They joined „the column“: between 10,000 and 15,000 Muslim men, mostly unarmed civilians, setting out on a 100-kilometer march to escape the massacre of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The terrain was mountainous and littered with minefields, and many Serb soldiers lay between Hasan and safety. The Serb forces could see the gathering men from their positions on the hills, and opened fire. ‘They didn’t care that we were unarmed. Their primary concern was that we were Muslim, and they wanted us dead.’ In the confusion Hasan became separated from his father and brother. He would never see his father or brother again.

Hasan Hasanović now works for the Potocari Memorial, where thousands of victims are buried. He talks about his life in the village and how the war got closer and closer to his village and life. He speaks about the “death march”, which he chose together with his father and his twin brother as an escape route. Hasan also speaks about the role of the international community in the events in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s.

Playlist:
Arany Zoltán – Poljem se vija
Damir Imamović – Uzbrdo je mene bole none
Damir Imamović – Kada moja mladost prođe
The Cranberries – Bosnia