In Sarajevo, on Tuesday, a preliminary design project for the future “Museum of the Suffering of the Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina” was presented, which will be located on the site of the former infamous camp “Kod Sonje” in Vogošća.
The museum will remind of the events from the period of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) and will permanently bear witness to the Golgotha that the forcibly captured citizens of Vogošća, Sarajevo, Nahorevo, Sokolac, Ilijaš and Visoko went through, as well as the torture they survived in that place and in the Bunker camp, which was located next to the facility. According to available data, 400 camp inmates out of a total of 800 were killed in the Vogošće area, who underwent the most terrible tortures, reports Anadolu news agency.
In the multimedia hall of the Kovači Memorial Center, a meeting of the Canton Sarajevo Memorial Fund was held today with representatives of the camp inmates’ association and representatives of the local community, where they discussed the interior design of the future museum, which is expected to be opened at the end of next year. The idea of turning this facility into a memorial was initiated a long time ago, and since 2016, the Ministry of Veteran Affairs of the CS has become more involved.
Ahmed Kulanić, the director of the CS Memorial Fund, told journalists that the goal is to convey the suffering and pain experienced by inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina through this museum as authentically as possible. He added that today they are discussing the conceptual solution of the interior part of the museum, while the main project of the building has already been completed and handed over to the Municipality of Vogošća.
“Financial means have been secured and we hope, if the pace of the works allows, that we will be able to attend the opening of the museum at the end of next year,” Kulanić said.
Kulanić revealed that the museum display is graded on three levels. The first is general-informational, where visitors will be able to get information about the museum itself and the camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The first level is of a general and informative nature, which to a large extent students will be able to attend, where they will be able to get information about the museum itself, i.e. the camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second level refers to the types of violence and torture that the camp inmates went through, while the third part of the museum refers to the authentic site of the bunker, i.e. the infamous ‘Kod Sonje’ camp. This is only one part of the entire complex. In addition to the museum, the construction of a research and documentation center of the Memorial Fund is planned on the same site, which will be available to researchers. It is planned and the construction of an archive building in the same complex where all documents and materials will be housed,” Kulanić added.
Almin Dželilović, president of the Vogošća municipality camp inmates association, assessed the museum project as very significant, primarily due to the fact that, as he said, it is important not to reduce the subject of camps to local levels, but to treat them as a whole. According to Dželilović, this museum will definitely contribute to that.
“We hope that this setting will simply frame it and be a place to nurture the culture of memory of the war period and the horrors that the camp population went through,” Dželilović said.
He reminded that during the aggression there were 32 detention facilities on the territory of today’s Sarajevo Canton, and since more than 2,000 inmates were killed, 400 are still missing. In the Vogošća area alone, 800 people passed through the camps, half of whom were killed.
The meeting was also attended by the mayor of Vogošća, Migdad Hasanović. He pointed out that the Municipality of Vogošća continuously worked together with the Government of the Canton of Sarajevo so that the space where the camp is located would be purchased and used for the purpose of the culture of memory.
“Thank God that we have reached this moment. We expect to implement this project as soon as possible. The municipality of Vogošća will try to complete the administrative part of the work in the shortest possible period, and we will certainly provide support for everything else that is needed,” said Hasanović.
