The capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, celebrates City Day today. On that day in 1941, Sarajevo was bombed for the first time, on the same day in 1945, Yugoslav partisan units liberated it from the fascist occupier, and on April 6, 1992, the siege of the city began.
The commemoration of April 6, Sarajevo City Day, began this morning with tributes and the laying of flowers in front of the Eternal Flame, a monument to the victims of fascism from the Second World War.
Numerous delegations gathered in the city center to recall two very important dates in the history of Sarajevo, April 6, 1945 and 1992.
Among those present were, among others, the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić and Denis Bećirović and the mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić.
“This is a big day not only for Sarajevo, but also for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are proud of our capital and our homeland. On April 6, 1945, Sarajevo was liberated from fascist occupation. Sarajevo is a city that, from 1992 to 1995, during the brutal aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, survived the longest siege in modern human history, but it survived. Even today, it is still a modern, European, cosmopolitan city. Our obligation is to preserve the truth about Sarajevo, the truth about the genocide committed in Srebrenica, the truth about all of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Bećirović told reporters after laying the wreath.
In her address to the journalists, Mayor Karić congratulated the citizens on the occasion of Sarajevo City Day.
“To all my dear Sarajevans and to all those who love and carry this beautiful city in their hearts, I want to congratulate April 6, Sarajevo City Day. Today we celebrate the beauty of this city, we celebrate our diversity, we celebrate peace, but we also celebrate all those good people Sarajevo”.
I want this year’s message to be celebrated on April 6, City Day, to be that we need to continuously beautify this city, do projects for our young people, refresh our infrastructure, she added.
“This city is like a beautiful girl, it just needs a little tidying up so that it shines brightly, and that’s why we work and build on every inch of this city and thus create a better and more beautiful future for all those who live and raise their children in our beloved city.”
The sixth of April is the most significant date in the history of Sarajevo. Everything that happened on that date in 1945 and 1992 became a symbol of the resistance of its citizens to all forms of fascism, xenophobia and hatred towards the other and the different.
It is the day when Sarajevo was liberated from the fascist occupation during the Second World War, but also the day that symbolizes the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo in the last war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For this reason, April 6 is celebrated as the Day of the Liberation of the City in the Second World War and as the Day of the City, BHRT writes.
Photo: Klix.ba