It has been eight years since the opening of the permanent exhibition of the Museum of War Childhood in Sarajevo. They are satisfied with the results of their work, they have created a collection that is unique in the world with more than six thousand exhibits from twenty different wars. They work with schools and universities from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the world, they have an office in Kiev (Ukraine) and researchers all over the world. The founder and general director of the Museum, Jasminko Halilović, says that this is the result of long-term work, which has been going on for more than eight years even before the Museum was opened.
“We have created a collection that is unique in the world, more than six thousand exhibits from twenty different wars. It is the only place in the world where you can see something from Ukraine, Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thailand, Myanmar, and other countries in one room. So in that sense, this collection is becoming a global heritage, a cultural heritage of the world. We are proud of this work. It is a work that is always in progress, this collection continues to expand,” he said.
He hopes that the Museum will continue to work and be a unique platform that advocates for peace throughout the world in the years to come. He believes that what the Museum of War Childhood does is, without exaggeration, of historical significance.
“Not only our unique collection, but also a systemic contribution to building lasting peace in BiH, in an environment where war continues to threaten us every day. This year alone, we will train more than 250 educators and work with more than 15,000 children from more than 30 municipalities and cities. At the same time, more than 450 young people from 59 municipalities from across the country have applied to participate in our peace project, which will result in 20 exhibitions throughout BiH,” emphasizes Halilović.
He says that they are happy that the Museum works with hundreds of schools and universities from BiH and the world and that it is becoming a place that, in a way, brings together educators, everyone involved in peace education.
“We are pleased that the Museum is truly expanding its reach through extensive international cooperation. However, it is especially important for us to have teachers from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina who come to the Museum, visit and use our materials in their classrooms. This is our contribution to peace education: how to use museum collections and exhibits to work with children in schools, the methodology of learning based on objects or exhibits. We really pay a lot of attention to this,” he said.
According to Halilović, it is not easy to deal with the topic of the culture of memory anywhere in the world.
“We have countries where wars are currently taking place, where the Museum is also trying to work, we have an office in Ukraine. We also have our researchers all over the world, one researcher worked for us in Palestine. It is not easy to deal with this topic, but we think it is important. We consider our collection unique and we will continue to do so. For young people, for children or for people who were once children, it is a platform that allows them to tell their own stories in their own words, to remember in their own way, to bring their children there, to talk about their experiences. We believe that this is extremely important,” he said.
For its eighth birthday, the Museum of War Childhood organized an exhibition of works by Milomir Kovačević Strašni ‘Children of War, People of Peace’. More than a hundred photographs were on display at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo until April 3. These are powerful visual stories of children taken during the war, along with their portraits as adults.
Halilović emphasizes that anyone who deals with the culture of memory in BiH or anywhere else must feel respect, honor and gratitude when they have the opportunity to work with someone like Milomir Kovačević Strašni.
“His work is not only of crucial importance for the documentation of what happened in Sarajevo during the siege, but for me personally it is a strong example of how an artist can completely merge with his city, how they can become inseparable. I think that the fate of Sarajevo is inseparable from the fate of Milomir Kovačević and vice versa,” he said.
The Museum’s birthday this year was dedicated to war photography, and Halilović also shared one of his black and white photographs from the war period in Sarajevo on his birthday. Pointing out how much it means to him and how much it means to his family, he underlined the importance of every war photograph for individuals and society.
“I am sure and can understand how much the photographs of Milomir Kovačević Strašni mean to all those people and how much it means to their families, their friends. For some people, these are the only memories from that period. I think it is a proof of what photography as a medium and what an artist can do for his city. We are really happy to work with Milomir,” he said.
Based on the book ‘Childhood at War’, the Museum of Wartime Childhood is the only museum in the world focused exclusively on childhoods marked by war. Through this unique platform, the Museum enables both individuals and communities to deal with trauma and the past, thus contributing to greater understanding in society.
The first permanent exhibition of the Museum dates from January 2017. Already in 2018, the Museum received the Museum Award of the Council of Europe in the European Museum of the Year program, and a year later it also received the Ziva Award in the selection for the best Slavic museum. In 2019, it was included among the 50 museums that have defined the European museum scene in the last 40 years.
