The slot machines in the casino of the destroyed Hotel
Europa during the Bosnian Serb siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
1993. Almost 2,000 children, and over 10,000 people in total were
killed in Sarajevo during the 3-1/2 year siege.
SURVIVING THE MASSACRE
I had this can of food that I wanted to trade. Maybe I could have
gotten one, two kilos of flour. So that I could take it home, and
so that my wife could make some celebration. So that I could take
them to my daughter so that she would have something to eat, because
there wasn't enough to eat. People ate porridge, grass, nettles, various.
We were struggling, y'know, we would run under shellfire just to be
able to get something to take home. But the man I went to barely have
a kilo of flour to offer me. I turned to go in the direction of where
the shell was going to fall. I saw a flash of light. I heard the sound
and I saw the light. Then I was out. I fell in a coma, because I didn't
know that the shell fell so nearby until I was taken to the hospital.
When they explained to me where it hit. It was three meters, right
next to that self-service store. The fourth table of that textile
store called the "22nd of December". I was covered with
body parts, and only my head was sticking out. I remember one lady
with no head or legs, who was lying to my right and there was also
a half of a man who was all bloody. I don't know how long I was conscious
then. But then someone came over to me, a television reporter from
Japan or China, I think, the person's face looked different from us
Europeans.
Sakib Suskic
Citizen
Excerpt From: Sarajevo survivor testimonies from
OPSADA (The Siege) by FAMA International