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James Mason | all galleries >> Galleries >> Sarajevo, 1992 and 1993 > Mother and daughter
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92 James Mason

Mother and daughter

Sarajevo

I got to know this family and spent time with them in their apartment, which was in the skyscraper next to the Holiday Inn. The girl was 9, and we met when I started to walk out into the open area next to the hotel. She grabbed my coat from behind and pulled me back. "There's a sniper shooting!" she said, surprised that an adult could be so clueless. Sure enough, a shot rang out, glancing off the windshield of a nearby car. She introduced me to her dad and I got to know a lot of people through them. They had been driven out of Vogosca by the Chetniks.


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SARAJKA 11-Aug-2011 07:52
Hello James,
Have you found them?
Guest 18-Apr-2011 02:50
"Why should a single American die to stop a war in the former Yugoslavia?"

Why should the French have helped the Americans in their war for independence?

The only thing for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
James Mason15-Mar-2009 16:48
Bozidar: I have no information about them since January, 1994. I'm hoping to visit Bosna this summer and will try to find them. I've been contacted via email by so many of the people in these photos, including some who were small children when I photographed them, that I'm hoping Admira will see the photos and email me.
Bozidar 15-Mar-2009 00:36
So have you visited Sarajevo and found this family again?
Are they ok?
Bozidar 11-Oct-2007 21:19
Heres another gallery of war in Sarajevo.
www .geocities.com/r_larma/PR/index.html
Bozidar 10-Oct-2007 20:49
I guess you are taking this very personal. But I dont see why. You are one of the those people that tried to help. My personal view is that you should be proud of it, not angry. War brings out the worst in all people, why would UN soldiers be any different? Thankfully most were normal people with a sense of justice, but not all.

The single American, Brit, Dutch, German were professionals paid to be in Bosnia, so Iam guessing its in the job description. The western civilisation, if nothing, had some moral responsability to protect the civilians from sick politicians and their ambitions.

Well I dont wish to argue with you, but to thank you for posting your work. So far I havent found anything like this, so if you know of any other collections like yours please post links to them

Thanks again for putting this together.
James Mason10-Oct-2007 15:16
The war stopped when they repainted those vehicles, so I think there was something more than just a different sign. Does the outside world owe you people something? Is it our job to keep you from killing each other? Why should a single American die to stop a war in the former Yugoslavia? It wasn't Americans selling those cans of oil, it was local people. So stand up and take a look in the mirror when you want to understand what the problem is.
Bozidar 10-Oct-2007 13:01
I do hope you find them. Many people left Bosnia during and after the was. Specialy to Scandinavian countries but also Australia, U.S. and Canada.
Regarding UN soldiers, it was not just one guy, it was almost considered to be normal. They had food to trade, everything you could wish for. And they used this freely. Iam not saying everyone did it but more then a few did.
The civilian workers did use their position too, i remember american 1 gallon oil cans were sond in stores. I guess no one thought that the "not for sale" sign should have been translated to the domestic language, but like it would have mattered :)
The difference between UN, IFOR, SFOR etc. was only in the sign. I remember them repainting the vehicles green for IFOR. So they acted much the same.
Guest 09-Oct-2007 09:16
Bozidar,
I have had no contact with this family since 1994, but I plan to visit Bosnia in the next year and will try to find them. It shouldn't be difficult. The girl, Admira, is in her mid-twenties now. I would say the reporters and photographers did what they could to communicate to the world what was going on. In many cases the word got through and people were very concerned. This was true in San Francisco. The situation was at first presented as a tribal war that had been going on for thousands of years....Christianne Amanpour and other reporters deserve a lot of credit for applying the heat to the politicians in America so that something was done. Unfortunately, it took a while. There were many outstanding British and French reporters as well. The large institutions were not a great help. The UN was especially a disaster. The soldiers were not so bad, but the behavior of some of the civilian employees of the UN was at times criminal. One guy bragged to me that he was getting sex with 14 year old girls for a single cigarette. On the other hand, there was the French Foreign Legion, which was as humanitarian as any organization I've ever seen. The Legionnaires cared deeply about the affected local people. I was gone before IFOR arrived, but I can imagine they were pretty isolated from contact with locals. By the way, I'm in Alaska now. San Francisco was too crowded...- James Mason
Bozidar 08-Oct-2007 20:37
Hi James!
Do you know what happened with those people? Have they survived the war?
I've read some of the other comments and besides the never ending verbal "fight" of serbs, bosnians, and croats, have noticed that foreign observers don't really care what happened here. Who was "right" and "wrong". The same as they dont care about wars in Africa. It's just something far, far away. Maybe you reporters, photographs and others could have done more to let the world see what happened here. Regarding the UN, SFOR, IFOR and other military organisations they had the time of their lives in Bosnia. Now it seems silly to type this down adressing you. You've been there and have experienced all of this, so I guess this goes out to all the people that have not been here back then.
Hope you still remember all these people back in SF, I think they deserve it.