Parks

“You know, that was one decision for which I was much criticized: why did I allow the parks of Sarajevo to disappear? And around the 10th of September I gave a statement in which I said that I thought it was much more important to have that wood… which at that moment was used to make food, and which would be used later for heating during those long Sarajevo winters. I felt that one human life was worth more than all that greenery, than those trees of ours.”

- Muhamed Kreševljaković, Mayor of Sarajevo

“It came to my mind that I could make fire from little branches. They were tiny, thin and small but I made little bundles wrapped together with old socks…That effort was not only useful for heating but also it was healthy for my mind. Because when I was doing something useful, I was all right, I felt O.K. I believe that this manual work saved my sanity.”

- Šemsa Mehmedović, Telecomunication engineer

“We heard the sound of a chain saw. At that was a sign that somebody came to cut down our birch tree…All the neighbours came out…One had a bomb, the other a pistol, another a cocktail. And the two young men who came to cut down that birch tree got very scared, because they realized that we were defending a birch tree as if fighting a whole company of enemy troops.”

- Zdravka Gutić, Housewife