The Old Bridge
The Old Bridge in Mostar,
destroyed by TrueCroats

ABOUT BOSNIA

ABOUT MOSTAR

In the name of Croats

o.gif (526 bytes)f all the horrors which this war has produced the tragedy of Hertzegovina will always occupy a special place. In Hertzegovina Croats nation stands on trial. Mostar's fate in this war is unique for Croats because crimes were committed by Croats and in the name of Croats. Concentration camps were created, in which inmates were tortured and killed; people were brutally evicted from their homes; citizens were starved and terrorized; parts of the cities, filled with civilians, were indiscriminately shelled; ancient cultural monuments, including the Old Bridge, were destroyed.

In this case, even for one who did not participate, it is not enough to recall the principle of individual guilt. We must denounce the crimes and their perpetrators. The individualization of responsibility allows criminals to be punished and saves their nations from moral degradation.

Death camps were not in the interest of the Croat nation; the incineration of Kujundziluk was not in the interest of the Croat nation; the destruction of the Old Bridge was not in the interest of the Croat nation; divided cities are not in the interest of the Croat nation. Those who are unwilling to denounce such crimes do not merely indict themselves morally, they present their own nation as a criminal nation. But precisely because the Croat nation is not criminal, it requires punishment for the criminals in its ranks. Our interests, dignity and political will are not protected by camp guards and vandals.

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"Why do we feel more pain looking at the image of the destroyed bridge in Mostar than the image of the massacred people?",
asked Croatian journalist Slavenka Drakulic in May of 1994,
"Perhaps because we see our own mortality in the collapse of the bridge... We expect people to die; we count on our own lives to end. The destruction of a monument to civilization is something else. The bridge, in all it's beauty and grace was built to outlive us. It was an attempt to grasp eternity. It transcended our individual destiny".

2000, Community of Friends of Stolac

 

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