Recently opened hostel in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina offers the visitors a unique experience: an opportunity to live as civilians in a war zone.
Guests in the War hostel in Sarajevo can see what it felt to stay in the capital of BiH during the war, from 1992 until 1995.
Even the owner is in the war style, wearing a helmet and armor. Rooms have one light bulb on the ceiling which is powered by a battery, windows are covered with nylons which the United Nations delivered to the Sarajevans so that they can replace the window glass, shattered by bombs.
During the night candles are used and walls are covered with excerpts from war newspaper articles, majority of which are from the agency Associated press, which show every day struggles of citizens in the besieged Sarajevo.
Guests will sleep on mattresses on the floor, cover with army blankets, while listening to the sounds of bombs exploding in the dark, played from records.
Nula Jedan, 25-year-old owner of the hostel, will share war memories from his childhoon with guests and tell them how war can affect people’s lives forever.
Hisr eal name is Arijan Kurbašić and he chose that nickname because it was a war code which his father, former soldier of the Army of RBiH, used. He says that the use of a codename hides his ethnic affiliation.
“I just want to identify myself as a human being because that was the most important thing during the war. You are either a human or not,” he explained.
The siege of Sarajevo lasted for 1.425 days – longer than the siege of Leningrad, the current Sankt Petersburg, during the Second World War. In Sarajevo 380.000 people were deprived of food, electricity, water and heating, while hiding from snipers, and 330 bombs fell on the city on average every day.
“The best way to learn something is to experience it,” said the 21-year-old guest of the hostel Andrew Burns from the USA.
Nula Jedan also offers the guests the screening of documentaries about the siege and he can also organize a tour of war locations, such as front lines and the tunnel which the Sarajevans dug out under the airport runway to connect the city with the outer world.
“They come here and this experience changes their perspective,” said Nula Jedan.
(Source: ba.n1info.com)
