FILMS SCREENED MARKING 30 YEARS SINCE EXODUS OF SARAJEVO SERBS

PALE, MARCH 6 /SRNA/ - Short documentary films “Krst-ić” and “Exodus Again” by directors Dragan Elčić and Snježan Lalović were screened in Pale this evening to mark 30 years since the exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo.

The film “Krstić”, filmed in 1996, depicts the moving scenes of the exodus of Serbs from Sarajevo after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement. It won the first prize at the “Golden Knight” festival in Minsk. “Exodus Again” also deals with this historical topic, documenting the events that marked the beginning of 1996 in the Sarajevo area. President of the Istočno Sarajevo City Assembly Boško Jugović said that the two documentary films recall the events of the war period and the suffering of the Serb people, adding that this is an introduction to the central commemorative academy, which will be held later this month. Jugović recalled that when leaving their ancestral homes, the Serbs also carried with them the remains of those who had been killed, and that on the territory of what is today Republika Srpska, they made a great contribution to its creation and survival. “Thanks to that, 30 years later we have Republika Srpska in which we live freely and in which we can preserve our identity, tradition, education system, and script,” Jugović told reporters. Jugović stressed that it is particularly important to nurture a culture of remembrance to pass on the truth about those events to future generations. President of the Pale Municipal Assembly Branko Koroman said it is important to preserve the memory of the suffering and sacrifice of the Serb people, noting that the exodus of the Sarajevo Serbs is both a warning and the foundation of the creation of Istočno Sarajevo. “About 150,000 Serbs lived in the area of what was then Serbian Sarajevo, who managed to preserve their community despite difficult wartime circumstances. After April 2, 1996, the city of Serbian Sarajevo was formed, today’s Istočno Sarajevo,” Koroman recalled. He emphasized that it is important that the Serb people decided to remain in these areas and build a new city, which today lives and develops, has tens of thousands of residents, and positive demographic and migration trends. Koroman thanked everyone who preserves the memory of the suffering and hardships of the Sarajevo Serbs, as well as the fighters and all those who contributed to the defense of the Serb people and the creation of Republika Srpska. The films will also be screened on Monday, March 9, at 19:00 at the Cultural Centre in Istočno Novo Sarajevo, and on Wednesday, March 11, at 17:30 at the Cultural Centre in Trnovo. The screening of the films is organized by the City Administration of Istočno Sarajevo and the Municipality of Pale, in cooperation with the Film Library of Republika Srpska. Admission to all screenings is free. The mass exodus of Sarajevo Serbs officially began on February 17, 1996, from the Serbian Sarajevo municipalities that, after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, became part of the Federation of BiH, and it lasted almost until the end of March. It is estimated that between 120,000 and 150,000 Serbs left their homes in the municipalities of Ilidža, Ilijaš, Vogošća, Hadžići, Rajlovac, Grbavica, and Novo Sarajevo, and one of the most distressing aspects was the exhumation and transfer of the remains of the deceased to the territory of Republika Srpska.