In the presence of family members, friends, former colleagues, and local authorities, a plaque was officially unveiled in Goražde on Thursday, naming a street after Dr. Dušanka Vujasić. Originally from Belgrade, she chose to remain in Goražde during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina to serve the citizens of the besieged city, where she ultimately gave her life.
When the first shells began falling on Goražde in May 1992, Vujasić had the opportunity to leave and find a safer place. Guided by the principles of her medical calling and aware of her responsibility to those in need, the doctor decided to stay in Goražde as it faced a long and difficult siege.
“There was a chance to leave this city, and I still have that option… but I want to be with them (the citizens of Goražde). I want to survive this war, return to Belgrade, to Serbia, and tell the truth there,” Dr. Vujasić told a television crew in July 1992, at the very beginning of the war.
Unfortunately, her wish did not come true. Less than a year later, on April 27, 1993, an aggressor shell hit the Goražde War Hospital. Dr. Vujasić was killed alongside her colleague, dentist Hasan Imamović. She was six months pregnant.
Dr. Dušanka Vujasić Street
An emotional atmosphere filled Goražde today as Dr. Dušanka’s family members,her husband, son, and granddaughters, arrived to witness the moment this heroic city officially honored a woman whose name has long been interwoven into the collective memory of the people of Goražde and all of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
First, flowers were laid at the Kolijevke city cemetery, where Dr. Dušanka is buried. The flowers were laid by family members, the Mayor of Goražde, Ernest Imamović, and the Chairman of the Goražde City Council, Dženis Ćulov, who initiated the proposal to name a street after this brave woman.
Following the wreath-laying, the street sign for “Dr. Dušanka Vujasić Street” on the right bank of the Drina was officially unveiled by Mayor Ernest Imamović and Dr. Dušanka’s son, Slobodan Vujasić.
Dušanka Vujasić has become the first woman to have a street named after her in Goražde since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995.
Proud Tradition of Goražde
Mayor Imamović stated that naming a street after Dr. Dušanka Vujasić is a civilizational and moral act through which Goražde honors a woman who showed true humanity during its hardest days. He emphasized that Dr. Dušanka, despite having the opportunity to leave, “chose Goražde, chose to stay with the wounded and the citizens who needed help the most,” and that her bravery “serves as an inspiration for younger generations.”
He welcomed the Vujasić family, saying that Goražde is their city as well.
Zvonko Vujasić, who spent the entire siege from 1992 to 1995 in besieged Goražde, said that as a family they are grateful to the citizens for the respect they show toward his wife’s memory.
“Our memories are in Goražde; we had a good time with the people here, and life was beautiful. That is now an episode behind us, but the future is here again. Goražde has a bright tradition of being an open city, which will continue, and that is especially important to me,” Vujasić stated.
When asked what he remembers most about his wife Dušanka, Vujasić said: “She was determined, she was brave. That’s just how she was, she would speak her mind. She would never think one thing and say another. She was realistic, and simply, that desire showed how much she truly loved people. She inherited that from her parents.”
Dušanka’s son, Slobodan, arrived in Goražde on Thursday with his young daughters, who never met their grandmother. He said he was especially pleased that his mother is the first woman to have a street named after her in the city, noting that this means a lot to his children.
He noted that he himself does not have many memories of his mother, as he was only a boy when she was killed.
Proud of His Mother
Speaking about the war, he described it as an absurdity and a “game of the great powers” where ordinary people suffer, emphasizing his pride that his mother stayed with the people, which is why he sees her today as a symbol of that era.
When asked how he experiences Goražde, the place where his mother lost her life, Slobodan says: “Well, when I come here, I feel as though I’ve returned home.”
The ceremony for the unveiling of the plaque for Dr. Dušanka Vujasić Street was attended by journalist Dragan Bursać, numerous local officials, and many citizens of Goražde. They confirmed that they have not forgotten the bravery and humanity of Dr. Dušanka, with whom they shared the toughest moments in the city’s history.
Beyond the street name in Goražde, the name of Dušanka Vujasić will be remembered as a symbol of the triumph of good over evil—the name of a woman who, in the darkest of times when humanity faced its greatest trials, showed how great and honorable it is, despite everything, to be and remain human.
In the same interview from July 1992, Dr. Dušanka also said: “I can tell you that it is very uncomfortable when a colleague addresses me by my name now. Because I hear it more than ever before. It’s deafening. And it is very difficult. I am not renouncing my people. And it is a terrible thing when someone renounces their people. But now, in this situation, in this environment, I am surviving everything these people are surviving, and I am sharing that with them,” said Dr. Dušanka in the aforementioned interview.
The siege of Goražde began on May 4, 1992, and lasted for 1,336 days. Shells from the positions of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) fell on the city daily, snipers targeted children on their way to school, and the hospital operated without electricity or basic supplies. The city was completely surrounded, with no land connection to the free territory held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH). The siege claimed more than 4,000 lives, AA writes.
