The Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a senior SNSD official, Staša Košarac, sent a letter to the High Representative Christian Schmidt that caused shock and condemnation across the political scene. The letter, titled “a letter to the occupier”, arrived in a package with a striking ‘enclosure’ – a Nazi military helmet.
According to Košarac’s message, the helmet represents “the legacy of Schmidt’s ancestors”, thus directly invoking Nazi symbolism and ideology, trying to portray Schmidt as an occupier and ideological successor to the Nazi regime, in line with Milorad Dodik’s narrative. This act, analysts say, goes beyond political rhetoric and can also be interpreted as a form of intimidation.
In a letter full of insults and accusations, Košarac describes Schmidt as “the embodiment of political evil” and an “illegal” who, he claims, came to Bosnia and Herzegovina with the intention of “enslaveing” Republika Srpska and subjugating the Serbian people. He also accuses him of “devastating democracy” and of orchestrating the “judicial-political persecution” of former RS President Milorad Dodik.
Košarac also mentions the Nuremberg Trials, suggesting that Schmidt will defend himself by claiming that he was “just doing his job,” while telling him that he is “not a welcome guest” and that the helmet is not a gift, but a “reminder of the Nazi past.”
Along with messages that Schmidt should leave BiH and claims that the country “has a chance without him,” Košarac ends the letter by saying that “everything about Schmidt can be reduced to one word – failure.”
This statement, accompanied by historical revisionism and Nazi symbols, further sharpens the SNSD’s rhetoric towards the High Representative and raises new questions about political responsibility and the limits of public discourse in BiH.
