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The Targeting of the Holiday Inn

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Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War

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Abstract

Throughout the siege, rumours were abundant that the Holiday Inn was a ‘protected space’, by dint of either a deal between warring armed groups or the presence of the international media. This chapter focuses on the targeting of the Holiday Inn, analysing the extent to which the hotel was directly targeted by besieging Serb forces and to what extent it enjoyed a protected status during the siege. It also addresses the dynamics of the armed conflicts that took place in the immediate vicinity of the hotel and the impact of constant sniper fire in and around the hotel.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Author’s interview with Holiday Inn (Sarajevo) employee, June 2015.

  2. 2.

    Robert Donia, Sarajevo: A Biography, p. 315.

  3. 3.

    Peter Andreas, Blue Helmets and Black Markets: The Business of Survival in the Siege of Sarajevo, p. 74. See also Paul Harris, More Thrills than Skills: Adventures in Journalism, War and Terrorism, p. 182.

  4. 4.

    Peter Maass, Love Thy Neighbour, p. 122.

  5. 5.

    Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, I Miss It So, p. 179.

  6. 6.

    The Spectator, London, 23 January 1993, p. 12.

  7. 7.

    Author’s interview with Kevin Sullivan (UPI), April 2015.

  8. 8.

    Author’s interview with Janine Di Giovanni, July 2013. See also Janine Di Giovanni, ‘Life During Wartime: Remembering the Siege of Sarajevo’, Harper’s Magazine, April 2013, pp. 82–87 and (by the same author), The Quick and the Dead: Under Siege in Sarajevo, London: Phoenix House, 1994.

  9. 9.

    Author’s interview with Zoran Kusovac (Sky News), March 2015.

  10. 10.

    FAMA, Sarajevo Survival Guide in Suada Kapic, The Siege of Sarajevo 1992–1996, Sarajevo: FAMA, p. 130.

  11. 11.

    Author’s interview with Džemal Bečirevič (UPI/Washington Post), April 2015.

  12. 12.

    General Sir Michael Rose, Fighting for Peace: Lessons from Bosnia, London: Harvill Press, 1998, p. 102.

  13. 13.

    The Guardian, London, 21 August 1992, p. 7.

  14. 14.

    Ibid, p. 7. Although most of the journalists staying at the Holiday Inn claimed they had no knowledge of Muslim (Bosnian government) snipers in the Holiday Inn, most acknowledged that they never ventured beyond the fifth floor of the hotel. Writing for Harper’s Magazine in 2013, Janine Di Giovanni recalled that when she first checked into the Holiday Inn, she was instructed by a member of staff not to go up to the seventh floor of the building. ‘The seventh floor’, she said, ‘was where the Bosnian snipers defending the city were positioned’. See Harper’s Magazine, April 2013, p. 84.

  15. 15.

    UNPROFOR (SMO Sector Sarajevo), ‘Senior Military Observer’s End Month Report: November 1992’, 1 December 1992, File Ref: 11008965, p. 1.

  16. 16.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 14 November 1994, p. 1. See also The Herald, Glasgow, 14 November 1994, p. 7.

  17. 17.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 27 November 1994, p. 12.

  18. 18.

    Lisa Smirl. ‘Not Welcome at the Holiday Inn’, Spaces of Aid, 2 February 2014. p. 4.

  19. 19.

    Author’s interview with Sabina Ćosić (Reuters), June 2014.

  20. 20.

    Stanislav Galić was the commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija corps until August 1994, whereupon he was replaced by Dragomir Milošević.

  21. 21.

    For a short (and fascinating) account of how the Sarajevo Fire Service endeavoured to deal with the results of daily shelling (including an account of how they dealt with large fires in the Marindvor area, including the Holiday Inn and the UNIS towers), see Kreševljaković (ed.), I oni brane Sarajevo, 1998, pp. 65–72.

  22. 22.

    UN-ICTY Case No. IT-98-29-T, ‘The Prosecutor V Stanislav Galić’, 3 April 2002, p. 6508.

  23. 23.

    AFP, Paris, FBIS-AU1311171894, 13 November 1994. p. 1.

  24. 24.

    Sarajevo Radio, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, FBIS-AU0201193995, 2 January 1995.

  25. 25.

    For an overview of the increasingly hostile relationship between UNPROFOR and the VRS, see Robert Donia, Sarajevo: A Biography, pp. 330–331.

  26. 26.

    UPI Archives, ‘Sarajevo hotel shelled’, 14 December 1995.

  27. 27.

    Christian Science Monitor, Massachusetts, 3 November 1994, p. 6. For a short overview of the role of the trams during the siege, see Muhamed Kreševljaković (ed.), I oni brane Sarajevo, pp. 101–104.

  28. 28.

    Kemal Grebo, Privreda u opkoljenom Sarajevu, p. 111. See also Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 10 October 1994, p. 11.

  29. 29.

    For a brief history of the GRAS company, see Slobodna Bosna, Sarajevo, 20 February 2014, pp. 42–45.

  30. 30.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 26 January 1995, p. 3.

  31. 31.

    AFP, Paris, FBIS-AU2411170294, 24 November 1994.

  32. 32.

    UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 8 October 1994, File Ref: SR091100, p. 3.

  33. 33.

    UNPROFOR Office of Civil Affairs (Zagreb), ‘Subject: Meeting with General Mladić in Jahorina’, 10 October 1994, File Ref: CCA-BHC-363, p. 2.

  34. 34.

    UPI Archives, ‘Sarajevo streetcar under sniper fire’, 27 February 1995.

  35. 35.

    See, for example, Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 25 November 1994, p. 12.

  36. 36.

    Interview with Faud Babić in Sauda Kapić, The Siege of Sarajevo 1992–1996, Sarajevo: FAMA, 2000, p. 812.

  37. 37.

    General Sir Michael Rose, Fighting for Peace: Lessons from Bosnia, London: Harvill Press, 1998, p. 95. According to Saud Kapić, ‘In some European newspapers one could read reports about “war tourism” which included sniping [at] the citizens of Sarajevo. The Russian avant-garde writer Eduard Limonov was caught on camera indulging in this “enjoyable sport”.’ See Suada Kapić, The Siege of Sarajevo 1992–1996, p. 116. The astonishing footage of Limonov discussing poetry and politics with Radovan Karadžić before firing a sniper rifle into Sarajevo can be seen in Paul Pawlokowski’s documentary film ‘Serbian Epics’.

  38. 38.

    UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 14 August 1994, File Ref: SR151100, p. 4. Violations of the ‘Sarajevo Anti-Sniping Agreement’ were relatively commonplace, much to the annoyance of UNPROFOR. On 12 September 1994, UNPROFOR sent a letter to the UN Under-Secretary General, Kofi Annan, stating that these violations were occurring frequently. The list of incidents reported included the wounding of a civilian by Bosnian Serb sniper on 30 August at location ‘Grid BP 917558’ (Holiday Inn). See UNPROFOR (Zagreb), ‘Outgoing Code Cable: Violations of the Sarajevo Anti-Sniping Agreement’, 12 September 1994, Number: UNPROFOR Z-1398.

  39. 39.

    UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 6 December 1994, File Ref: SR071100, p. 4.

  40. 40.

    UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 10 December 1994, File Ref: SR111100, p. 4.

  41. 41.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 26 March 1995, p. 16.

  42. 42.

    Lisa Smirl. ‘Not Welcome at the Holiday Inn’, Spaces of Aid, 2 February 2014. p. 4.

  43. 43.

    UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 26 October 1994, File Ref: SR271100, p. 8.

  44. 44.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 14 December 1994, p. 16. See also Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 5 March 1995, p. 1.

  45. 45.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 26 January 1995, p. 1.

  46. 46.

    AIM Press, Paris, ‘Thousand Days of the Siege of Sarajevo’, 5 February 1995.

  47. 47.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 5 March 1995, p. 1.

  48. 48.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 16 April 1995, p. 16.

  49. 49.

    UPI Archives, ‘Sarajevo sniper hits French peacekeeper’, 11 May 1995.

  50. 50.

    Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo, 1 May 1995, p. 1.

References

  • Di Giovanni, J. (1994). The Quick and the Dead: Under Siege in Sarajevo. London: Phoenix House.

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  • Kapić, S. (2000). The Siege of Sarajevo: 1992–1996. Sarajevo: FAMA.

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  • Kreševljaković, M. (Ed.) (1998). I oni brane Sarajevo. Sarajevo: Zlatni ljiljani.

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  • Rose, M. (1998). Fighting for Peace: Lessons from Bosnia. London: Harvill Press.

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  • UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 14 August 1994, File Ref: SR151100.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNPROFOR (Zagreb) Daily Sitrep, 8 October 1994, File Ref: SR091100.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

    Kenneth Morrison

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Morrison, K. (2016). The Targeting of the Holiday Inn. In: Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57718-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57718-4_11

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