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The War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia: the Reckoning
Product Description The year 2012 marks the twentieth anniversary of the onset of the worst carnage to blight Europe since the reign of the Third Reich - the Bosnian War. A hurricane of violence was unleashed by Serbian President Slobodan Miloševic and his allies, the Bosnian Serbs, in pursuit of a 'Greater Serbia'. An infamous campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' demanded the annihilation of all Bosniaks, Croats and other peoples through either death or enforced deportation, with any trace of their existence destroyed. Such brutality was presided over and tolerated by the so-called 'International Community' including, perhaps most vividly in the popular memory, concentration and death camps in our lifetime. It was Vulliamy's accursed honour to reveal these camps to the world in August 1992, when he penetrated both Omarska and Trnopolje. The War is Dead, Long Live the War charts this discovery, but it is much more than a Vulliamy passionately bears witness to the Bosnian war's aftermath, revealing the human consequences as well as the trials and traumas of exile or homecoming. It is only now, through the eyes and memories of the survivors and the bereaved - and, in different ways, the perpetrators - that we can really understand the bloody catastrophe in Bosnia. The world moves on over twenty years, but in Bosnia, there has been no thaw in the hatred; no reckoning. The war may be over, but the war lives on.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
37 people are currently reading
1330 people want to read
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May 11, 2019
What happens after a genocide? As the immediate crisis ends and the television cameras shift their gaze, we tend to assume that somehow the people who suffered also move on. In all likelihood, one assumes, there will be some sort of reconciliation, apology and accountability that gradually lets people live normally again. The truth is much messier and less comforting. This book is the product of a labor of love by Ed Vulliamy, one of the journalists who uncovered the use of concentration camps by the Karadzic regime. During the war Vulliamy apparently developed a deep attachment to the Bosnians. This book is a reflection on what happened to the people from the camps whose lives intersected with his, taking him across Bosnia as well as its refugee diaspora.
The war in Bosnia did not achieve a just peace. While some number of war criminals were held accountable at The Hague, the Dayton Accords effectively rewarded genocide and ethnic cleansing. Today the victims of genocide must live among the same people who killed and raped their friends and family. There has been no reconciliation, no real acknowledgment and no apology. There is not even a monument to the victims at the death camp of Omarska. People have just been forced to move on and live in the same places that they were tormented, for lack of any other alternative. Despite this, many Bosnians have shown an incredible resilience and have brought a sense of life back to places like Kozarac and Prijiedor, from where they were intended to be eradicated forever.
This book is very relevant to my own interests. As such I found it very engaging, perhaps more than I would about a similar book about another region. Having said that I do feel that there is a powerful and universal message here. What happens to a people after the unspeakable has occurred to them? The Jews of Europe were fortunate at least to get an apology and have the world acknowledge their tragedy. Most people around the world must suffer their fate and then fight another uncertain battle to even be recognized as victims. This is the fate of the Bosnians. There is not a comforting conclusion to their story. Their future looks as uncertain as ever. Still, they continue to live as fully as they can. That's the ultimate message of this often painful book of survivor reflections.
We need more books like this. According to the logic of the news media, there was no pressing need to write it. There have been many tragedies and conflagrations since then, enough to fill the broadcast slots of 24/7 cable news. This necessary account could only have been written by someone who deeply cared about the Bosnian people and was concerned with their fate — enough to go back and see what became of them after the world moved on.
The war in Bosnia did not achieve a just peace. While some number of war criminals were held accountable at The Hague, the Dayton Accords effectively rewarded genocide and ethnic cleansing. Today the victims of genocide must live among the same people who killed and raped their friends and family. There has been no reconciliation, no real acknowledgment and no apology. There is not even a monument to the victims at the death camp of Omarska. People have just been forced to move on and live in the same places that they were tormented, for lack of any other alternative. Despite this, many Bosnians have shown an incredible resilience and have brought a sense of life back to places like Kozarac and Prijiedor, from where they were intended to be eradicated forever.
This book is very relevant to my own interests. As such I found it very engaging, perhaps more than I would about a similar book about another region. Having said that I do feel that there is a powerful and universal message here. What happens to a people after the unspeakable has occurred to them? The Jews of Europe were fortunate at least to get an apology and have the world acknowledge their tragedy. Most people around the world must suffer their fate and then fight another uncertain battle to even be recognized as victims. This is the fate of the Bosnians. There is not a comforting conclusion to their story. Their future looks as uncertain as ever. Still, they continue to live as fully as they can. That's the ultimate message of this often painful book of survivor reflections.
We need more books like this. According to the logic of the news media, there was no pressing need to write it. There have been many tragedies and conflagrations since then, enough to fill the broadcast slots of 24/7 cable news. This necessary account could only have been written by someone who deeply cared about the Bosnian people and was concerned with their fate — enough to go back and see what became of them after the world moved on.
May 22, 2019
Knjiga koju sam dugo željela pročitati, iako sam znala da je ono o čemu govori teško za čitanje.
Ipak, nisam je ispuštala iz ruku gledajući da svaki slobodan trenutak iskoristim za čitanje.
Važna mi je zbog dvije stvari. Jedna je ta što je napisao novinar koji me podsjetio na sve ono što novinar jeste i zbog čega je važan. On je, zajedno sa kolegicom u avgustu 1992. godine otkrio postojanje logora Omarska i na taj način uticao na sve ono što se dalje sa tim mjestom dešavalo. Ed je takođe bio i svjedok na nekoliko suđenja u Hagu, pa je i time izazvao neke dileme. Mnoge kolege su smatrale da je time narušio pravilo neutralnosti koju kao novinar treba imati. A on opet ima tezu koja kaže da u odnosu prema žrtvi ne možeš imati neutralnost.
Druga važna stvar je što je pisao o ljudima koji su logore preživjeli i o njihovim životima decenijama kasnije. O svemu što nose u sebi i o svemu sa čim se suočavaju. Dijele se na one koji su teško sve podnijeli odmah i na one koje je "stiglo" 2 decenije kasnije. Dijele se i na one koji o tome pričaju i na one koji preživljavaju držeći zatvorenim sve to u sebi. I toliko je sve dobro napisao da tu težinu ne osjetite i da vam svi ljudi o kojima piše postanu bliski.
Važna knjiga koju bi trebali mnogi pročitati, a znam da neće, nažalost.
Ipak, nisam je ispuštala iz ruku gledajući da svaki slobodan trenutak iskoristim za čitanje.
Važna mi je zbog dvije stvari. Jedna je ta što je napisao novinar koji me podsjetio na sve ono što novinar jeste i zbog čega je važan. On je, zajedno sa kolegicom u avgustu 1992. godine otkrio postojanje logora Omarska i na taj način uticao na sve ono što se dalje sa tim mjestom dešavalo. Ed je takođe bio i svjedok na nekoliko suđenja u Hagu, pa je i time izazvao neke dileme. Mnoge kolege su smatrale da je time narušio pravilo neutralnosti koju kao novinar treba imati. A on opet ima tezu koja kaže da u odnosu prema žrtvi ne možeš imati neutralnost.
Druga važna stvar je što je pisao o ljudima koji su logore preživjeli i o njihovim životima decenijama kasnije. O svemu što nose u sebi i o svemu sa čim se suočavaju. Dijele se na one koji su teško sve podnijeli odmah i na one koje je "stiglo" 2 decenije kasnije. Dijele se i na one koji o tome pričaju i na one koji preživljavaju držeći zatvorenim sve to u sebi. I toliko je sve dobro napisao da tu težinu ne osjetite i da vam svi ljudi o kojima piše postanu bliski.
Važna knjiga koju bi trebali mnogi pročitati, a znam da neće, nažalost.
August 5, 2024
Bardzo mnie bolała ta książka z wielu różnych powodów. Przez to, co się wydarzyło. Przez to, że "Nigdy więcej" dla polityków to tylko pusty frazes, używany, kiedy i jak jest wygodnie, najczęściej w odniesieniu do naszych, nigdy więcej naszych, ale inni to już co innego. Przez to, że właśnie dzieje się to w Palestynie i z dokładnie takich samych powodów świat odwraca wzrok, bo oprawcy, tak jak Karadzic czy Milosevic są eleganccy, wyszlifowani i dobrze się z nimi rozmawia, bo są cywilizowani.
Bolało mnie to, że w imię dziwnie rozumianej dumy narodowej i polityki historycznej czci się morderców, tylko dlatego, że wycierali sobie gęby ojczyzną, religią i narodem, i nie jest to tylko kwestia Bałkanów. Boli mnie, że w imie propagandy sąsiedzi wybijali sąsiadów, i znów: nie jest to tylko specyfika byłej Jugo.
I trochę mi głupio i przykro z powodu mnie samej sprzed 13 lat, dla której ta Serbia narodowa była jakaś godna podziwu i fascynująca, i romantyczna. I mam ochotę przenieść się w czasie i trzepnąć siebie samą w kark, za każde powtórzone "ojtam, tam wszyscy się nawzajem", bo było to niedouczone i po prostu wygodniejsze. Także tak. Nie bądźcie mną, czytajcie Vuillamy'ego i nie wchodźcie we wszelkie dyskusje spod sztandar whatabouteismu. Nie warto stać po stronie ideologii i polityki, tylko po stronie ludzi.
Bolało mnie to, że w imię dziwnie rozumianej dumy narodowej i polityki historycznej czci się morderców, tylko dlatego, że wycierali sobie gęby ojczyzną, religią i narodem, i nie jest to tylko kwestia Bałkanów. Boli mnie, że w imie propagandy sąsiedzi wybijali sąsiadów, i znów: nie jest to tylko specyfika byłej Jugo.
I trochę mi głupio i przykro z powodu mnie samej sprzed 13 lat, dla której ta Serbia narodowa była jakaś godna podziwu i fascynująca, i romantyczna. I mam ochotę przenieść się w czasie i trzepnąć siebie samą w kark, za każde powtórzone "ojtam, tam wszyscy się nawzajem", bo było to niedouczone i po prostu wygodniejsze. Także tak. Nie bądźcie mną, czytajcie Vuillamy'ego i nie wchodźcie we wszelkie dyskusje spod sztandar whatabouteismu. Nie warto stać po stronie ideologii i polityki, tylko po stronie ludzi.
Read
August 3, 2024obszerny material doglebnie traktujacy o czyms, co nadal jest dla mnie szokujace ze wydarzylo sie w europie u schylku XX wieku
June 29, 2014
In August 1992, journalists Ed Vulliamy and Penny Marshall revealed to the world the concentration camps in which the Bosnian Serbs, presided over by Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladic and others, kept their (primarily Bosnian muslim) prisoners in the service of ethnic cleansing. Twenty years on, Vulliamy attempts to make sense of what he found, and what has happened since to those prisoners - on both a personal and a political scale.
The book's subtitle is "Bosnia: the Reckoning", but it contains several chapters starting with the word "Unreckoning", because it seems very little reckoning has taken place among Bosnian Serbs. While some of those interned in the camps have returned to their homes, they must live among their Bosnian Serb neighbours, many of whom participated in the ethnic cleansing - in other words, raped and tortured them, not to mention murdering their friends and relatives. Other survivors have scattered to Europe, the USA and Australia, but remain haunted by what they left behind.
While what happened in the camps was at times horrific, Vulliamy does not dwell on this; instead, he is more interested in what is happening now. The survivors are at the heart of the book, and Vulliamy quotes them often - perhaps because they need to be heard, in the face of Serbian obstruction and international amnesia. It is their stories I will remember as the rest of the book fades, and their stories are the reason I encourage everyone to read this.
The book's subtitle is "Bosnia: the Reckoning", but it contains several chapters starting with the word "Unreckoning", because it seems very little reckoning has taken place among Bosnian Serbs. While some of those interned in the camps have returned to their homes, they must live among their Bosnian Serb neighbours, many of whom participated in the ethnic cleansing - in other words, raped and tortured them, not to mention murdering their friends and relatives. Other survivors have scattered to Europe, the USA and Australia, but remain haunted by what they left behind.
While what happened in the camps was at times horrific, Vulliamy does not dwell on this; instead, he is more interested in what is happening now. The survivors are at the heart of the book, and Vulliamy quotes them often - perhaps because they need to be heard, in the face of Serbian obstruction and international amnesia. It is their stories I will remember as the rest of the book fades, and their stories are the reason I encourage everyone to read this.
September 5, 2012
This book is a must for those who need to know what really happened to the Muslim people in Bosnia just a very short time ago whilst the world stood by and let it happen. It is really well written,clear and precise whilst not losing the humanity of the stories that need to be read and witnessed...to discover how loving we are, we must discover how unloving we are...maybe i am reading it to throw more light on the shadow aspect of humanity...in any case, I will finish it and tell more people to bear witness and not stand idly bye whilst other atrocities happen to our fellow man...and woman
January 23, 2021
Extremely well written book dealing with a very difficult subject. The author introduces you to survivors of the Bosnian war and specifically survivors of the Omarska and Trnopolje concentration camps. For anyone not familiar with the Bosnian war, the author provides a summary of why it transpired but the main focus is on the lives of the victims of ethnic cleansing. The author along with another journalist by the name of Penny Marshall are credited with exposing the camp and were part of the team that captured some of the iconic photos of emaciated men standing behind barbed wire we saw on the news in the 90s. Many of the men and women that survived now live in other parts of the world but many return to their former towns in Northwestern Bosnia in an attempt to rebuild despite being surrounded by the people responsible for persecuting them. In their stories, the reader sees their pain but also their resiliency.
There are some difficult themes the author discusses, One is the relative indifference in the west to the existence of the camps not only in the 90s but today. There is an idea of mutual culpability among all the groups fighting and that each suffered equally despite eyewitness and forensic evidence pointing out that one group suffered far more. The camps themselves are not memorialized but today function as remodeled offices. Another theme is the lack of reconciliation, which is troubling given the flawed agreement that ended the war. Finally, survival as the victims want to ensure people know the are still here despite their pain and loss.
Finally, the author has two chapters he calls Intermissions, in which he discusses the Holocaust. He is extremely careful in not comparing the Holocaust with the Bosnian experience. The Holocaust remains unique in history given the policy and infrastructure apparatus dedicated to carrying it out. After consultation with the Jewish community, the author discusses how the Bosnian camps echo the Holocaust with his closing Afterward discussing an event where survivors of both came together to discuss their experiences.
There are some difficult themes the author discusses, One is the relative indifference in the west to the existence of the camps not only in the 90s but today. There is an idea of mutual culpability among all the groups fighting and that each suffered equally despite eyewitness and forensic evidence pointing out that one group suffered far more. The camps themselves are not memorialized but today function as remodeled offices. Another theme is the lack of reconciliation, which is troubling given the flawed agreement that ended the war. Finally, survival as the victims want to ensure people know the are still here despite their pain and loss.
Finally, the author has two chapters he calls Intermissions, in which he discusses the Holocaust. He is extremely careful in not comparing the Holocaust with the Bosnian experience. The Holocaust remains unique in history given the policy and infrastructure apparatus dedicated to carrying it out. After consultation with the Jewish community, the author discusses how the Bosnian camps echo the Holocaust with his closing Afterward discussing an event where survivors of both came together to discuss their experiences.
Read
October 28, 2024incredibly difficult to read (for obvious reason), but excellent
March 7, 2026
A heart wrenching book that lays bare the final enduring cruelty of denying such a tragedy occurred even knowing the exact people that committed it.
August 25, 2022
One of the most moving and important books I have ever read and imagine will ever read.
February 7, 2020
Rarely put down a book this early. Not enjoying at all. One sided perspective and repetitive
September 22, 2022
Całkowite kompendium wiedzy o obozach koncentracyjnych w trakcie wojny w byłej Jugosławii. Znakomite opisy bestialskich wydarzeń, dla których, tak naprawdę, trudno znaleźć właściwe słowa. Vulliamy jest wyjątkowym dziennikarzem - reporterem wojennym, który postanowił zgłębić losy osób, które spotkał na swojej drodze, co doprowadziło go do wielu państw na różnych kontynentach. Trudno dziś o lepsze zapiski tragedii, która działa się na Bałkanach w latach 90. i trwa do dziś. Lektura obowiązkowa.
June 17, 2023
Vulliamy chose not to include graphic accounts of the violence experienced by the victims of genocide/"ethnic cleansing" except as context, as he wanted to instead focus on the victims as individuals rather than only the crimes committed against then. He succeeded; no detail included was unnecessaril. Yet what he has written about is one of the most intense depictions of attrocity that I have read, probably because he spends no time on trying to convince you that concentration camps are bad or prioritising making readers feel bad about what happened over his portrayal of the people that he's come to understand.
The character of the victim is complex and difficult to portray, as it carries with it many assumptions. A victim is presumed to be innocent, as otherwise they would deserve their fate, and innocence carries with it an assumed righteousness. A victim is also powerless, otherwise they would not be a victim, and therefore any strength is cause for suspicion. A survivor (as much an archetype as the victim) is an almost victim who avoids the shame of being afflicted by their circumstances, thereby betraying a secret prejudice that many hold, that to be a victim is a shameful thing. As with victims, to be a survivor is a double-edged sword: emphasising the strength of character to overlook the horror of trauma, as though this negates the impact.
Throughout my life I have witnessed in many manifestations the inability to recognise that an event can be so horrible, and so traumatic, that it has shaped the direction of someone's life and coloured their experience thereafter. Many people find this to be an admission of weakness, as though it's shameful to be affected by your own life circumstances. Others find it insulting. The common theme, though, is the assumption that it's impossible to be affected by something without allowing yourself to be defined (and subjugated) by it.
In The War Is Dead, Long Live the War, Vulliamy walks past all of this by commiting to understand each person featured in this book with honesty and compassion, and by understanding the shape of each person's life. He portrays each person as a fully-realised individual with a complex life that has been intruded on and violated by circumstances beyond any one individual. He finds a remarkable balance between understanding that the attrocities committed against a group of people are carried out individually, one at a time, over and over again - while never losing sight of the wider circumstances in which the Yugoslav war happened and was allowed to occur.
I truly appreciate the strength of character that Vulliamy has shown in his endeavour to understand every person in this book and portray their challenges in navigating a life disrupted by war, torture, rape, displacement and genocide. This book understands that survival is not a passive action, and seeks to understand the dimensions of these choices. Attention is paid not only to the crimes committed during war, but also to Serbia's continuous denial of the attrocities committed and what impact this has had on their victims as they attempt to continue onwards with their life. While acknowledgement would not reverse actions of the past, the refusal of Serbia to engage with what happened has a continuous impact on the victims, an aspect that is looked at closely.
My one criticism is in reference to the Holocaust. It wouldn't be possible to discuss genocide in Europe without considering it, and anyone discussing such a complex topic as genocide and its effects on those who suffered would look to the past to understand the present. Nevertheless, he writes as though with a fear of diminishing the horror of the Holocaust by acknowledging what happened in Bosnia as genocide, which I find distasteful. I assume that Vulliamy didn't want to step on any toes, or to somehow cheapen the Holocaust by implying that anything could be compared to it. In some respects I understand why he would feel the need to do this: there are Holocaust deniers who seek to intentionally do just that, so due dilligence is the responsible approach when speaking about about such an important subject. Regardless of his intentions, it comes across less as due diligence and more like an unexamined fear that any comparison would be an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
There were genocides before the Holocaust and since; the first concentration camps were not constructed by the Nazis, as Vulliamy himself acknowledges. None of this diminishes the significance of the Holocaust. A book that thoroughly demonstrates how the issue of who is allowed to be a victim is a contentious matter should be more mindful of the implications of seeking permission from one victimised people before acknowledging the genocide of another.
It is in many people's interest not to label anything genocide, as to do so would require intervention under international law. This was the case in Bosnia; what happened was not called genocide by authorities, and therefore there were no outside legally binding forces demanding that someone interfere. The lack of reflection about why it was that he felt the need to seek permission from Holocaust survivors before accepting what happened in Bosnia as genocide stands out to me as an oversight in anotherwise incredible book about victimhood and the politics of survival.
The character of the victim is complex and difficult to portray, as it carries with it many assumptions. A victim is presumed to be innocent, as otherwise they would deserve their fate, and innocence carries with it an assumed righteousness. A victim is also powerless, otherwise they would not be a victim, and therefore any strength is cause for suspicion. A survivor (as much an archetype as the victim) is an almost victim who avoids the shame of being afflicted by their circumstances, thereby betraying a secret prejudice that many hold, that to be a victim is a shameful thing. As with victims, to be a survivor is a double-edged sword: emphasising the strength of character to overlook the horror of trauma, as though this negates the impact.
Throughout my life I have witnessed in many manifestations the inability to recognise that an event can be so horrible, and so traumatic, that it has shaped the direction of someone's life and coloured their experience thereafter. Many people find this to be an admission of weakness, as though it's shameful to be affected by your own life circumstances. Others find it insulting. The common theme, though, is the assumption that it's impossible to be affected by something without allowing yourself to be defined (and subjugated) by it.
In The War Is Dead, Long Live the War, Vulliamy walks past all of this by commiting to understand each person featured in this book with honesty and compassion, and by understanding the shape of each person's life. He portrays each person as a fully-realised individual with a complex life that has been intruded on and violated by circumstances beyond any one individual. He finds a remarkable balance between understanding that the attrocities committed against a group of people are carried out individually, one at a time, over and over again - while never losing sight of the wider circumstances in which the Yugoslav war happened and was allowed to occur.
I truly appreciate the strength of character that Vulliamy has shown in his endeavour to understand every person in this book and portray their challenges in navigating a life disrupted by war, torture, rape, displacement and genocide. This book understands that survival is not a passive action, and seeks to understand the dimensions of these choices. Attention is paid not only to the crimes committed during war, but also to Serbia's continuous denial of the attrocities committed and what impact this has had on their victims as they attempt to continue onwards with their life. While acknowledgement would not reverse actions of the past, the refusal of Serbia to engage with what happened has a continuous impact on the victims, an aspect that is looked at closely.
My one criticism is in reference to the Holocaust. It wouldn't be possible to discuss genocide in Europe without considering it, and anyone discussing such a complex topic as genocide and its effects on those who suffered would look to the past to understand the present. Nevertheless, he writes as though with a fear of diminishing the horror of the Holocaust by acknowledging what happened in Bosnia as genocide, which I find distasteful. I assume that Vulliamy didn't want to step on any toes, or to somehow cheapen the Holocaust by implying that anything could be compared to it. In some respects I understand why he would feel the need to do this: there are Holocaust deniers who seek to intentionally do just that, so due dilligence is the responsible approach when speaking about about such an important subject. Regardless of his intentions, it comes across less as due diligence and more like an unexamined fear that any comparison would be an insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
There were genocides before the Holocaust and since; the first concentration camps were not constructed by the Nazis, as Vulliamy himself acknowledges. None of this diminishes the significance of the Holocaust. A book that thoroughly demonstrates how the issue of who is allowed to be a victim is a contentious matter should be more mindful of the implications of seeking permission from one victimised people before acknowledging the genocide of another.
It is in many people's interest not to label anything genocide, as to do so would require intervention under international law. This was the case in Bosnia; what happened was not called genocide by authorities, and therefore there were no outside legally binding forces demanding that someone interfere. The lack of reflection about why it was that he felt the need to seek permission from Holocaust survivors before accepting what happened in Bosnia as genocide stands out to me as an oversight in anotherwise incredible book about victimhood and the politics of survival.
June 1, 2020
Edin Kararic: "I didn't come here clinging to the bottom of a truck, to make money. I was brought here from a fucking concentration camp. I don't have to be a better person just because I live in your country - but remember this: I would die for a friend, and in the unlucky circumstances, coming to Britain, I've found friends who helped me, and who I'd die for, and that makes me a lucky man."
Thomas Buergenthal: " Many a night, I'd gazed into the direction of the crematorium to find it spitting smoke and fire kindled by the bodies of thousands of human beings. Suddenly I noticed a flock of birds flying high above the snow-covered camp. They were the first birds I had seen since I had been brought to Auschwitz. They were another sign that the crematorium had been shut down. For many years, birds had stayed away from Auschwitz because of the contaminated air. I looked away from the crematorium. I didn't think of the people who had died in it. I only felt a sense of victory, and something inside me said: 'I beat you again'"
Velic: "We have these words in Bosnian, Ed, which so far as I know the Croats and Serbs do not use: "Inat", which is a certain form of willpower, and "Toprak", which is more than just your family home. It's the earth upon which it is built, and to which - like the pigeons on that roof - we must return."
'Someone said: "There is a difference between a living person and a dead person, and there's a difference between a dead person and a missing person." This is very true,' he says.
"When you're in the camp, you don't have time to be scared. Well, not after the first few days, when you're terrified. So that what happened in there started to become normal. You think that's how life is: beating, pain, killing, and fear. And you get to think that if this is how life is, then it doesn't matter whether you live or die. A guard hits with the butt of his rifle, and it doesn't matter. Someone gets taken out and killed, it doesn't matter; you hear screaming and it doesn't matter, because if you let it, you're finished."
"His trauma is for the most part altruistic, his suffering that of others, which he takes unto himself because he is a good man" ... "His survival is defined by the loss of other people: and the deep humanity of the man makes it especially hard for him to understand the cynical mercilessness he has witnessed and fought against."
Thomas Buergenthal: " Many a night, I'd gazed into the direction of the crematorium to find it spitting smoke and fire kindled by the bodies of thousands of human beings. Suddenly I noticed a flock of birds flying high above the snow-covered camp. They were the first birds I had seen since I had been brought to Auschwitz. They were another sign that the crematorium had been shut down. For many years, birds had stayed away from Auschwitz because of the contaminated air. I looked away from the crematorium. I didn't think of the people who had died in it. I only felt a sense of victory, and something inside me said: 'I beat you again'"
Velic: "We have these words in Bosnian, Ed, which so far as I know the Croats and Serbs do not use: "Inat", which is a certain form of willpower, and "Toprak", which is more than just your family home. It's the earth upon which it is built, and to which - like the pigeons on that roof - we must return."
'Someone said: "There is a difference between a living person and a dead person, and there's a difference between a dead person and a missing person." This is very true,' he says.
"When you're in the camp, you don't have time to be scared. Well, not after the first few days, when you're terrified. So that what happened in there started to become normal. You think that's how life is: beating, pain, killing, and fear. And you get to think that if this is how life is, then it doesn't matter whether you live or die. A guard hits with the butt of his rifle, and it doesn't matter. Someone gets taken out and killed, it doesn't matter; you hear screaming and it doesn't matter, because if you let it, you're finished."
"His trauma is for the most part altruistic, his suffering that of others, which he takes unto himself because he is a good man" ... "His survival is defined by the loss of other people: and the deep humanity of the man makes it especially hard for him to understand the cynical mercilessness he has witnessed and fought against."
January 24, 2026
Some books impress you. Some books make you reflect. This one leaves you wrecked. The events, testimonies, personal stories, interviews, photographs, but more than anything, the bare facts, left me speechless innumerable times, enraged quite often, on the verge of tears, hopeless and, yes, dejected by the world back then and by the world of today, as one can see that not much has changed. Or, we haven’t learned a thing.
Ed Vulliamy, a Guardian and Observer journalist based in Rome at the beginning of the 1990s, was asked to “keep his eyes peeled” on Yugoslavia while there. Quite unexpectedly, he became a chronicler and documenter of its disintegration: the war, the concentration camps, and the atrocities committed by Serb forces against the Bosnian population. And then the war’s aftermath: irresolution instead of proper reckoning, forgetting and erasure instead of justice, denial instead of an admission of guilt on the part of the perpetrators.
I had to put the book down on numerous occasions, not only because of the brutality of the events it describes, although that too, but because of the anger provoked by the inaction of global powers who could have intervened and didn’t. Because political interests always prevail, and because survivors, scarred for life, are forgotten, betrayed, and lost, both in war and in peace. A necessary read.
October 12, 2023
Do tej pozycji podszedłem jak do reportażu na temat wojny w byłej Jugosławii - przyczyn jej wybuchu, przebiegu itd. Otrzymałem jednak książkę sięgającą głębiej, wprost w serca ofiar, a także łapiącą za serce czytelnika.
Ed Vulliamy był reporterem wojennym, który odkrył dla świata obozy koncentracyjne, stworzone w celu eliminacji muzułmańskich Boszniaków i katolickich Chorwatów. Na długie lata niejako związał się z ofiarami przesiedleń i czystek etnicznych, odkrywając zbrodniczą działalność Serbów. W swej książce skupił się na braku rozliczenia współczesnej Serbii z własną historią i hipernacjonalizmem. Cynizm europejskich i amerykańskich polityków utrudnił pojednanie, jeśli w ogóle możemy o takim mówić, w przypadku gwałciciela i kata oraz jego ofiary, którzy po latach często ponownie mieszkają na jednej ulicy.
Mocna książka, odkrywająca kolejne czarne karty nie tak odległej europejskiej historii.
Ed Vulliamy był reporterem wojennym, który odkrył dla świata obozy koncentracyjne, stworzone w celu eliminacji muzułmańskich Boszniaków i katolickich Chorwatów. Na długie lata niejako związał się z ofiarami przesiedleń i czystek etnicznych, odkrywając zbrodniczą działalność Serbów. W swej książce skupił się na braku rozliczenia współczesnej Serbii z własną historią i hipernacjonalizmem. Cynizm europejskich i amerykańskich polityków utrudnił pojednanie, jeśli w ogóle możemy o takim mówić, w przypadku gwałciciela i kata oraz jego ofiary, którzy po latach często ponownie mieszkają na jednej ulicy.
Mocna książka, odkrywająca kolejne czarne karty nie tak odległej europejskiej historii.
October 12, 2021
A really illuminating and interesting account of one of the darkest periods of human history. Vulliamy’s account is sometimes unbelievable in its barbarity and the frank honesty and respect employed in dealing with some truly awful subjects make this a genuinely compelling read. This is certainly a very contested period and series of events and the author does not shy away from this nor does he hide his feelings on the matter, trying hard to stay out of the political swamp of it all and focus instead on the human impact of the Yugoslav wars. This book is wonderful in the way that it tackles this subject matter and is one that I’ll be returning to many times during my studies
October 27, 2022
O obozach koncentracyjnych, machinie zagłady które miły miejsce u schyłku wieku, w którym to świat opłakiwał ofiary niemieckiego przemysłu śmierci. O rewizjonizmie historycznym Serbów, etnofaszyzmie i wkroczeniu Realnego. O ignorancji i paternalizmie zachodu. O idiotycznych koncepcjach „zabliźniania ran”, których ceną jest wtórna wiktymizacja. To się działo przecież chwilę temu.
August 27, 2025
Niezwykle poruszająca książka, która skupia się nie tylko na samej wojnie w Bośni, ale przede wszystkim na istnieniu obozów koncentracyjnych. Autor nie ogranicza się do opowiadania historii – pokazuje także współczesne życie i doświadczenia osób, które je przeżyły.
Lektura wstrząsająca, ważna i absolutnie potrzebna.
Lektura wstrząsająca, ważna i absolutnie potrzebna.
January 22, 2025
Very short, but even this description could spoil the book.
It is a good and informative book.
However, I find that it was weak in the middle and the author’s chronicle of his experience therein weakened the overall experience.
Possibly just not for me.
It is a good and informative book.
However, I find that it was weak in the middle and the author’s chronicle of his experience therein weakened the overall experience.
Possibly just not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 11, 2019
The most traumatic book I've ever read (to date). FULL STOP
The statement stands for itself. No reckoning with this reading...ever.
The statement stands for itself. No reckoning with this reading...ever.
March 25, 2021
I thought it was incredibly interesting how closely related the author was to some of the survivors of the genocide and how connected he was to discovering the camps and speaking out on the matter.
June 5, 2023
Review to come.
August 29, 2013
Ed Vulliamy’s latest book adds to the ever growing list of books about Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia however, this effort adds a new dimension to what is already out there.
To get the gist of what this book is going to be about the most important word in the title is the word ‘reckoning’ - that is to answer or give account of one’s actions or when past actions will be atoned for. Specifically, it is about the Serb’s lack of reckoning.
Like Laura Silber’s book The Death of Yugoslavia this book takes the same ‘the Serb’s are the bad guys’ stance but puts forward the arguments by the some of the Serb’s while in the dock at The Hague. Arguments put forward by other people such as Noam Chomsky who have already questioned what Vulliamy saw and whether THAT ITN footage is real or not are here too. Its not just the questioning of the camps but also the questioning of the Holocaust too.
Note that I have mentioned the Holocaust because the topic does pop up a few times as the author has contrasted the concentration camps and the reckoning process with that of the concentration camps of Omarska and Trnopolje.
The book is quite engaging and deserving of its 4 stars but I would recommend you also read Laura Silber and Misha Glenny’s book too.
July 28, 2014
Ed Vulliamy has successfully communicated the enormous complexities (ethnic, political, moral...) of the Bosnian war in a very readable book. Of course it is harrowing in parts, but not overly so - he acknowledges that people find it difficult to read about the horrors experienced in this and other human catastrophes, and so lays off doing so, without cutting any corners on the scale and utter devastation caused by this ethnic war. (On the other hand, if you do want to read about the unthinkably ghastly methods of murder and torture inflicted on the Bosnian Muslims, he has written about that too: Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia's War). However, he approaches the war from a 'human' perspective, by recounting what he has learned by first hand observation of the war, as well as the stories of survivors with whom he has built real and long-standing relationships in the two decades between the war and the publication of this book.
This book really moved me, and I have immense admiration for Ed Vulliamy, whose unreserved dedication to justice for this terrible black mark in very recent history is inspiring and worthy of widespread recognition. I could go on, as this book gave me much to think about in terms of broader questions of ethics, in addition to the war itself. However, I will stop here with a very, very strong recommendation to all to read it.
This book really moved me, and I have immense admiration for Ed Vulliamy, whose unreserved dedication to justice for this terrible black mark in very recent history is inspiring and worthy of widespread recognition. I could go on, as this book gave me much to think about in terms of broader questions of ethics, in addition to the war itself. However, I will stop here with a very, very strong recommendation to all to read it.
June 24, 2012
"If strangers had come and put us in a camp, that could have made sense in their heads at least," recalls one survivor. "But when you put faith in your school friends, classmates and teachers, and they turn against you and want to kill you - then the world falls apart."
The book is Vulliamy's attempt to grapple with the personal and historical legacy of Omarska. At the heart of the book are the survivors. Vulliamy is interested in how the Bosniak men and women who endured the concentration camps at Omarska, Trnopolje and elsewhere have continued their lives accompanied by so much pain. What he finds among the Bosniak communities he visits is a people still in mourning. "What time does is sharpen the worst memories," says one survivor. "But if I were to have too clear a picture of the details, I would kill myself or go mad."
The book is Vulliamy's attempt to grapple with the personal and historical legacy of Omarska. At the heart of the book are the survivors. Vulliamy is interested in how the Bosniak men and women who endured the concentration camps at Omarska, Trnopolje and elsewhere have continued their lives accompanied by so much pain. What he finds among the Bosniak communities he visits is a people still in mourning. "What time does is sharpen the worst memories," says one survivor. "But if I were to have too clear a picture of the details, I would kill myself or go mad."
January 14, 2016
Another book where a star rating isn't appropriate because this isn't fiction and it cannot be compared with my other reads. But even so, how could it not be 5 stars?
This is not a book to enjoy, it is a book that educates. It made me cry repeatedly, it made me ashamed of my own ignorance and it made me question the values of my own country. The author's personal Involvement and passion for the cause of the Bosnian people screams from every page. It didn't attempt balance but that is the whole point of the book, that equivalence is not appropriate in an uneven contest.
This book has fundamentally and irrevocably changed my view of these events. It has also changed my perspective on the current refugee crisis. How often does a book do that? Powerful indeed but not a book I would recommend reading in public while wearing mascara.
This is not a book to enjoy, it is a book that educates. It made me cry repeatedly, it made me ashamed of my own ignorance and it made me question the values of my own country. The author's personal Involvement and passion for the cause of the Bosnian people screams from every page. It didn't attempt balance but that is the whole point of the book, that equivalence is not appropriate in an uneven contest.
This book has fundamentally and irrevocably changed my view of these events. It has also changed my perspective on the current refugee crisis. How often does a book do that? Powerful indeed but not a book I would recommend reading in public while wearing mascara.
July 26, 2016
It is an important book because it also shows what can happen when authority breaks down, when leaders and or governments sanction, in spoken or unspoken form, lawlessness, murder and cruelty and rape - there always have been and there always will be certain segments of the population who will take advantage of this "openings", who will commit unspeakable crimes to those who in previous days were neighbors, work mates or even "friends".
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