These Lovers Died in a Hug Because They Wanted Freedom, Not Hate
The Bosnian Romeo and Juliet
Should you liberate your hometown if the fellow nationals siege it? What if your girlfriend belongs to the enemy nationality? What if you two planned your future there but now you can expect a bullet every time you step out into the street?
Love can’t conquer all.
Admira and Boško had been dating since 16. You could see them together at parties and on summer vacations. In their twenties, they were already planning a family in Sarajevo, Bosnia (a republic of the former Yugoslavia, Southeastern Europe).
But in 1992 armed men cut the streets with invisible lines. Firing across the valley, they divided the couple’s hometown into “us” and “them”. The multicultural city of four religions turned into a shooting ground between two armies: the Army of Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serbs) and the Bosniak army (the Bosnian Muslims).
People went to work with a constant threat someone would kill them from a building across the street or a surrounding hill. War brings out the worst in people.
