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Vraca Memorial Park, the architectural ensemble

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Status of monument -> National monument

Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 3 to 9 May 2005 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The architectural ensemble of the Vraca Memorial Park in Sarajevo is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot nos.: (old survey) 1173 and 170, (new survey) 3077 and 3078, cadastral municipality Novo Sarajevo II, Land Registry entry nos. CXXX/541 and CXXXV/72, Municipality Novo Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The provisions relating to protection and rehabilitation measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of  BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02 and 6/04) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, display and rehabilitate the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with the basic data on the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.

 

III

 

Protection Zone I consists of the area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision.  The following protection measures shall apply in this zone:

  • all works are prohibited other than works on the repair and reconstruction of missing components of the monument, the clearing, maintenance and presentation of the entire complex, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning (hereinafter: the relevant ministry) and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority),
  • any change of basic use from that of a memorial complex is prohibited,
  • the dumping of waste is prohibited.

A protection zone with a width of 300 m from the boundaries of Protection Zone I is hereby stipulated. In this protection zone the following protection measures shall apply:

            In Protection Zone II the construction of industrial or agricultural buildings and facilities the use of which could endanger the architectural ensemble and the siting of environmental polluters are prohibited.  Residential buildings must not exceed a height of 6.50 m to the base of the roof structure, i.e. ground and one upper floor, and maximum dimensions of 12 x 10 m.  Infrastructural works shall be permitted only with the approval of the relevant ministry and on the conditions to be stipulated by the heritage protection authority.

 

IV

 

            All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.

 

V

 

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.

 

VI

 

            The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federation heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VII

 

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba) 

 

VIII

 

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

 

IX

 

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

 

            This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

 

No: 07/1-02-192/04-5

5 May 2005

Sarajevo

 

Chair of the Commission

Ljiljana Ševo       

 

E l u c i d a t i o n

 

I – INTRODUCTION

                       

Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina  and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of  BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.

On 24 June 2004 SUBNOR Sarajevo Canton submitted a petition to designate the property as a national monument.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

 

II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION

 

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

  • Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property
  • Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
  • Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.

 

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:

 

1. Details of the property

 

Location

The memorial part is in the part of the Sarajevo quarter known as Vraca on the north slopes of Mt. Trebević.  The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot nos.: (old survey) 1173 and 170, (new survey) 3077 and 3078, cadastral municipality Novo Sarajevo II, Land Registry entry nos. CXXX/541 and CXXXV/72, Municipality Novo Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The part of Vraca where the memorial part stands is in an area of detached houses on the hilly parts of the town, with quite extensive greenery.  The memorial part is on a dominant elevation around an Austro-Hungarian fort.  The complex is surrounded on all sides by roads, and covers a total of approx. 6 hectares.  The position of the complex in such as to dominate parts of the quarters above which it is located – Grbavica and Kovačići – and is visible from other parts of the city as well. It stands at an altitude of approx. 642 m, which is 118 m above the altitude of Grbavica.  The site offers a good view of the newly-built part of the city and views of the surrounding hills.

The entire complex stands on an elliptical ridge running south-east/north-west.  Morphologically, this elongated hill slopes steeply to the west and rather less so to the east and north-east down to the surrounding area.  There is a small plateau on the summit, where the Austro-Hungarian fort stands.  The maximum altitude of the site is 678 m. above sea level.

 

Historical information

During the Austro-Hungarian period a number of fortification-type structures were built – barracks, forts and watchtowers – around Sarajevo and elsewhere in BiH. In the late 19th century the Austro-Hungarian authorities built a fort on the slopes of Mt. Trebević in the southern part of the city, on a site designated on Austro-Hungarian maps as Vratca, a name associated with the small gate through which the fort was entered.

The construction of the military fort was completed in 1898.  The buildings in Vraca were constructed as a blockhouse, a stone fort of the kind erected alongside roads.  During the early stages these buildings were of stone and extremely massive.  Later, after 1903, buildings of this kind were of concrete and reinforced concrete.

During World War II, as well as being incarcerated in Sarajevo's jails and being wounded or killed in action in Vraca and other battle sites around Sarajevo (the Merhemić brickworks in Velešići, Bentbaša, Kozija Ćuprija (Goat bridge), Hreša and elsewhere), the citizens of Sarajevo were subjected to mass arrests and deporations to the Nazi concentration camps of Europe. From May to December 1942, more than 1,300 people were transported without trial from Sarajevo to concentration camps.

More than 103,000 people are believed to have passed through Sarajevo's concentration camps during the war. Of these, 24,000 were liquidated in Sarajevo.

Some 16,000 combatants from the city and environs of Sarajevo joined armed troops from the Yugoslav Army.  Of these, 2,039, including 26 national heroes, were killed in action.  The names of 9,091 victims of fascist terror were on the walls of the fortress atrium.  Adding to this the names of the victims of the Nazi and fascist bombing of the city in 1941 gives a total of almost 12,000 – almost every seventh inhabitant of Sarajevo at the time. “ (Committee for the construction of the Memorial Park, various authors, 1985.)

At that time, the Vraca fortress was turned into an official execution ground where the citizens of the city of Sarajevo were killed, either individually or in mass executions. Massacres were carried out from mid 1941 throughout the entire four-year war. Mass killings were carried out, which were stepped up as the end of World War II approached.  The people killed in Vraca were also buried there.  The majority of prisoners killed or who died in police torture chambers in Sarajevo were also buried there.

After World War II the fort in Vraca was abandoned as a military facility.  Since Vraca, a battleground and scene of many casualties in the city of Sarajevo, had become synonymous with the resistance and the people's fight against fascism, it was here that a Memorial Park was built and the fort designated for museum use.

The monumental edifice was opened on 25 November 1981. The construction was overseen by the Committee for the construction of the Memorial Park, appointed by the Assembly of Sarajevo City.  The chair of the Committee was Rato Dugonjić. Once the Memorial Park was complete, an illustrated booklet was published in 1985.

Given its outstanding strategic position, affording a good view of the city of Sarajevo, during the 1992-1995 war the Vraca Memorial Park complex was used as a position from which the besieging forces could bombard Sarajevo with their heavy artillery and where snipers were positioned.  The Vraca Memorial Park was one of several positions forming the encirclement around the besieged city where heavy artillery was located.  The entire complex was laid waste, both the fort and the individual memorials on the one hand and the park areas, plateaux, steps etc on the other.

 

2. Description of the property

The memorial complex of the Vraca Memorial Park is of cultural, historical, artistic, architectural, and landscape value.  It is also a memorial to the victims of fascist terror and to the Yugoslav Army troops who, with the assistance of the people of Sarajevo, liberated the city on 6 April 1945.  The Vraca Memorial Park is also a complexof documentary value – a whole era in the recent history of the city is recorded in its various features.

The Vraca Memorial Park contains all the elements of a complex architectural, aesthetic and landscape treatment.  The architectural values are reflected both in individual monuments and in the overall treatment of the complex.  It also contains a wealth of horticultural features: to the surviving fragments of the primary indigenous communities of pine forest and other arboreal species (Austrian pine [Pinus nigra], false acacia or locust [Robinia pseudoacacia] and lime [Tilia sp.] were added several groups of ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers.

The skills of the designer, Vladimir Dobrović, the sculptor, Alija Kučukalić, and the landscaper, Aleksandar Maltarić, combined to achieve a harmonious composition of plant species, running water and stone, of aesthetic, ornamental, landscape and townscape value.

The Memorial Park complex consists of the following components:

  1. Entrance plateau
  2. Execution site
  3. Sculpture – memorial to women combatants
  4. Belvedere
  5. Eternal flame with fountain
  6. Ceremonial plateau
  7. Memorial to the city's combatants killed in action
  8. Memorial to national heroes, with mausoleum
  9. Memorial to combatants of the resistance movement in the city, with Tito's tribute to the combatants in occupied cities
  10. Atrium – memorial to the victims of fascism, with a message from Tito
  11. Exhibits in the fort – “Testimony to the battle for Sarajevo“
  12. Memorial to troops of the National Liberation Army who took part in the operation to liberate Sarajevo.

The memorial to women combatants, with its stone plaque, is in the eastern part and, although physically separate from the main part of the complex, is an integral part of it.  According to Džemil Šarac, there were 4,113 woman among the victims of fascist terror and genocide, and 208 women combatants were killed in action.

The memorial to combatants killed in action, with the names of 2,013 people from the National Liberation Army, is one of the central components of the complex.  The names of the dead are incised on granite prisms along the avenue leading from the ceremonial plateau to the memorial to national heroes. According to Džemil Šarac, these walls bore the names of 2,057 combatants killed in action during the War of National Liberation, of who 755 took part in the anti-fascist resistance in Sarajevo.  Among the dead were 878 Serbs, 565 Muslims, 335 Jews, 209 Croats, and 70 others.

            The mausoleum of the national heroes of the city of Sarajevo, erected in 1949, which formerly stood in the Great Park, was moved to Vraca in 1981.  After the exhumation of the graves, a new monument in the shape of a granite prism at the centre of a circle was erected over the tomb, and the old tombstones were stored in the History Museum of BiH.  The names of 26 national heroes killed in action incised on granite blocks arranged in a circle around the central prism, by the mausoleum, are: Janko Balorda, Aleksa Bojović - Boki, Adem Buća, Mahmut Bušatlija - Buša, Miljenko Cvitković, Dušan Dašić - Pajić, Mustafa Dovadžija - Mujo, Jusuf Đonlić, Elijas Engel - Ilija, Ahmet Fetahagić - Čelik, Pavle Goranin - Ilija, Avdo Hodžić - Hodža, Gliša Janković, Ravijojla Janković, Boriša Kovačević - Šćepan, Radojka Lakić, Omer Maslić, Branko Milutinović - Obren, Vaso Miskin - Crni, Slobodan Princip - Seljo, Miladin Radivojević, Branko Šurbat - Bane and Slaviša Vajner - Čiča.

The Austro-Hungarian fort was built of cut stone, with two walled courtyards:  the atrium and the central two-storey building.  The entrance to the building is to the north-east, from the level area of the complex.  All the walls of the fort are of stone, and the joists are of iron load-bearing beams with infill.  The fort in the Memorial Park contains two basic components:

  • in the two atria, the names of 9,091 victims of fascist terror from the former inner city of Sarajevo were incised.  According to Džemil Šarac, of the 9,091, 1,100 were children, 7,092 were Jews, 1,427 were Serbs, 412 were Muslims, 106 were Croats and the other 55 were of other ethnicities/nationalities;
  • inside the fort there is an exhibition entitled “Testimony to the battle for Sarajevo

The exhibition was opened on 25 November 1981 inside the fort.  It was presented through enlarged reproductions of photographs, documents, coverage from newspapers and magazine articles, maps, art works, and three-dimensional artefacts.  More than 750 exhibits were on display on screens and display panels and in showcases and carousels.

Most of the items were the property of the Museum of the Revolution (now the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina), but some (mainly photographs) had been borrowed from private individuals who had taken part in the National Liberation Movement and the War of National Liberation and then copied.

During the 1992-1995 war, the exhibits in the Vraca Memorial Park were destroyed.

The thematic and content framework for the exhibits in the fort in the Vraca Memorial Park has been drawn up from a synopsis produced in the Museum of the Revolution in Sarajevo in July 1981.  The exhibits do not follow the synopsis in full, since at the time it was drawn up it was not known whether it would be possible to achieve certain of the solutions.  The synopsis, but not the final treatment of the exhibition, has been submitted to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments in the form of documentation of the History Museum in Sarajevo, given the absence of the final treatment.

The thematic and content framework of the exhibits in the Vraca Memorial Park was divided into the following ten components(1):

  1. the Revolutionary Movement on the eve of World War II
  2. the occupation
  3. crimes of the occupier and collaborators – genocide, arrests and infiltration of the National Liberation Movement
  4. the 1941 uprising
  5. the battles of the armed forces of the National Liberation Movement, channels, communications and liberated territories around Sarajevo
  6. the conference in Ivančići and the events associated with the resolutions adopted
  7. continuity of the revolutionary action of the National Liberation Movement in the city during the war
  8. the growing strength of the National Liberation Movement in Sarajevo following the ZAVNOBIH and AVNOJ sessions
  9. “Operation Sarajevo,“ the Yugoslav Army's battle for the final liberation of Sarajevo
  10. the early days of liberation.

 

1. The Revolutionary Movement on the eve of World war II

1.1. Introductory text – Tito

1.2. Photograph of Tito (or other)

1.3. Photograph: Slobodan Princip – we shall defend the country

1.4. Photograph: assembly of the united opposition in Kovači in 1953

1.5. Document from the report of the Police Authority on the pupils' strike in the Secondary Technical School and the Gazi Husrevbeg medresa on 28 January 1937 (I/496)

1.6. Photograph: the Secondary Technical School in Sarajevo (I/543)

1.7. Press coverage: Pogled, January 1937 (II/112)

1.8. Photograph: workers in the Ključ sock factory on strike, March-May 1938 (I/406)

1.9. Photograph: participants in the May 1 celebrations in Crepoljski in 1938

1.10. Document: extract from the Communist Party of Yugoslavia's Central Committee manifesto (the CPY's view that Hitler would not stop in Austria, but would advance on Yugoslavia – survey of the history of the CPY, p. 256)

1.11. Press coverage:  Žena danas, no. 24, August-September 1939 (I/311)

1.12. Document: police report on the spread of communist influence among secondary school students, 1939 (I/527)

1.13. Photograph: First High School in Sarajevo

1.14. Press coverage: secondary school magazine Mi đaci, 15 May 1940 (I/608)

1.15. Secondary school committee of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (Brane Šurbat)

1.16. Press coverage: Riječ bosanske omladine, 15 June 1940 (I/534)

1.17. Document: third open letter to the youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 1939

1.18. Photograph: Ivo Lola Ribar and Hasan Brkić with a group of comrades from Belgrade University (I/144)

1.19. Photograph: from a secondary school outing in the environs of Sarajevo, September 1940 (I/619)

1.20. Photograph: Sarajevans who fought in the Spanish civil war (Todorović, Cvjetković, Engl, Fetahagić)

1.21.  Document: letter from Ilija Engl from Girs concentration camp

1.22. Document: part of a letter from Miljenko Cvitković to his family from Girs concentration camp, 27 November 1939

1.23. Portraits of prominent revolutionaries (Brkić, Boriša Kovačević, Pavle Goranin, Slobodan Princip)

1.24. Photograph: prominent League of Young Communist members (Živko Jošilo, Miljenko Cvitković, Alija Hodžić)

1.25. Photograph: the Vratnik group of League of Young Communist members: Avdo Hodžić, Mustafa Dovadžija, Jusuf Džonlić

1.26. Photograph: Vratnik Majdan (III/506)

1.27. Local Communist Party of Yugoslavia committee of Sarajevo

1.28. District Committee of the CPY Sarajevo

1.29. Photograph: District Committee of the CPY Sarajevo

1.30. Photograph: course for members of League of Young Communists in Pršljani, August 1940

1.31. Photograph: the Friends of Nature Centre where the Party course was held in Crepoljski in December 1940

1.32. Photograph: the house of Slaviša Vajner Čiča in Odobašina street where the fifth regional conference of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for BiH was held in December 1940

1.33. Document: from the Resolution of the fifth regional conference of the CPY for BiH (I/148)

1.34. Photograph: the building in Skerlićeva street where the fourth conference of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia for BiH was held

1.35. Press coverage:  Glas Saveza radnika i seljaka no. 3-4, September-October 1940

1.36. Press coverage:  strike of fitters and assemblers in Sarajevo, Jugoslovenski list, 26 June 1940 (I/426)

1.37. Document: police telegram from the Ministry of the Interior on the strike and demonstrations by Ključ workers, January 1941 (I/415)

1.38. Document: manifesto by the local committee of the CPY to the workers and citizens of Sarajevo concerning the demonstrations on 15 January 1941 (I/155)

1.39. Composition: Song of the young footballers – Oskar Danon, February 1941 v(I/322)

1.40. Photograph: the Teofanović house on Crni Vrh in which a medical corps course for the defence of the country was held in 1941

1.41. Press coverage: Glas saveza radnog naroda, no. 5, January 1941 (I/403)

1.42. Press coverage:  Yugoslavia signs the Triple Alliance on 24 March 1941 – Politika, 26 March 1941

1.43. Photograph: demonstrations in Belgrade on 27 March 1941

1.44. Photograph: demonstrations in Sarajevo on 27 March 1941

1.45. Photograph: the Faculty of Agriculture in Sarajevo

1.46. Press coverage: selection from press reports on students from the Faculty of Agriculture in Sarajevo signing up unanimously for the defence of the country (Jugoslovenska pošta, 11  April 1941)

1.47. Organizational chart of the Party organization and the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia from  April to July 1941

2. The Occupation

2.1. Photograph: the bombing of Sarajevo on 6 April 1941

2.2. Photograph: signing of the capitulation of the royal army (with text that while fleeing the country the government stayed in Pale and Ilidža)

2.3. Document: manifesto of the Provincial Committee of the CPY for BiH, April 1941 (I/164)

2.4. Photograph: column of Yugoslav troops in Sarajevo plain on their way to captivity, April 1941

2.5. Document: order from the German General in command and commanding officer of the city of Sarajevo just before the occupation of the city in April 1941(II/23)

2.6. Photograph: German soldiers in Sarajevo

2.7. Photograph: German officers outside the cathedral in Sarajevo

2.8. Photograph: Volksdeutchers in Sarajevo

2.9. Document: manifesto of the Sarajevo Local Committee of the CPY, June 1941

2.10. Document: manifesto of the Provincial Committee of the CPY, June 1941

3. Crimes of the occupier and collaborators – genocide, arrests and infiltration of the organization of the National Liberation Movement

3.1. Document: collage of threatening proclamations by the occupation-cum-quisling authorities (II/257, 269 etc.)

3.2. Document: collage of Ustasha legislative provisions on racial discrimination – Law on Court Martial (IV/536)

3.3. Document: two telegrams on transportation to concentration camps revealing that the Germans and Ustasha were working hand in hand (II/688)

3.4. Photograph: Jews pulling a stone roller in a military camp, 1941

3.5. Serbs on forced labour

3.6. Press coverage:  collage from the anti-Serb press

3.7. Photograph: the Sarajevo theatre turned into stabling

3.8. Document: charge sheet of the Circuit Court Martial in Sarajevo against M. Popović, Š. Albahari and others, 22 July 1941 (II/56)

3.9. Document: notice of verdict of the Circuit Court Martial against Džavid Haverić (II/473)

3.10. Document: announcement by the Authority for Public Order and Security of the Vrhbosnia Grand County on the verdict against R. Lakić and A. Salzberg, 6 October 1941 (II/482)

3.11. Document: announcement by the Vrhbosnia Grand County on execution by firing squad of Salko Gozo, Sarajevski novi list, 5 September 1941 (II/519)

3.12. Photograph or portrait of Radojka Lakić

3.13. Photograph: collage of photographs of Salzberger, Haverić, Albahari, Gozo

3.14. Document: proclamation by the Vrhbosnia Grand County on 1 August 1941 on the execution by firing squad of 20 Serbs and Jews in Vraca for the sabotage of the Railway repair shed - Sarajevski novi list, 3 August 1941

3.15. Press coverage: “A thousand people arrested in Sarajevo“ – Borba, no. 16, 20 November 1941

3.16. Conviction by the Regional Court Martial in Sarajevo of a large group of Communists, Sarajevski novi list, no. 502 (III/564)

3.17. Photograph: transportation to a concentration camp

3.18. Document: order of the Vrhbosnia Grand County dated 31 July 1941 on the expulsion of Communists to the concentration camp in Gospić (IV/495)

3.19. Document: communication from the State Hospital in Sarajevo with the names of people taken to concentration camps, 20 October 1942 (II/675)

3.20. Photograph: collage of prominent Sarajevans killed in camps (culture, art, politics)

3.21.Photograph: Ante Bakotić, organizer of the breakout from the Jasenovac concentration camp in  April 1945 (IV/580)

3.22. Document: German crimes in Košutica, July 1943

3.23. Press coverage: Logorski jež, October 1944, humorous magazine produced by Yugoslav prisoners in Osnabruck (IV/525)

3.24. Map: concentration camps in the country and Europe highlighting all the camps where Sarajevans were incarcerated: (Yugoslavia: Jasenovac, Mamula, Lobograd, Đakovo, Stara Gradiška, Kruščica, Jadovo, Rab, Sajmište, Banjica, Gospić, Gornja Rijeka – Križevci;  Europe: Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Mauthausen, Dachau, Treblinka, Ravensbruck, Maidaneck, Neuengam, Osnabruck, Breschau-Westone, camps in Norway)

3.25. Photograph: camps in Yugoslavia

3.26. Photograph: camps in Europe

3.27. Document: selection of camp inmates' letters

3.28. Graphic: statistics and structure of those killed

3.29. Document: arrest

3.30. Document: removal to camps

3.31. Document: murders

3.32. Document: raids

3.33. Document: network of prisons and torture chambers in Sarajevo

3.34. Document: Chetnik crimes

3.35. Photograph: overview of crimes in camps associated with the Catholic Church and the Ustasha movement (Majstorović, Luburić, Šarić, Brale)

3.36. Document: crimes of Luburić

4. The 1941 Uprising

4.1. Document: extract from manifesto of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia of 12 July 1941

4.2. Photograph: the building in Omladinska street where the meeting of the Provincial Committee of the CPY for BiH on launching the uprising was held on 13 July 1941

4.3. Photograph: survey of Ilijaš, where the first gun was fired

4.4. Document: proclamation by the Authority for Public Order and Security of the Vrhbosnia Grand County on the execution by firing square of 30 hostages in Ilijaš as reprisal for the start of armed action on 2 August 1941 (II/313)

4.5. Photograph: the school in Ravna Romanija, battle of the Romanija company (II/411)

4.6. Slaviša Vajner Čiča and Pavle Goranin Ilija – portraits

4.7. Slobodan Princip Seljo and Hasan Brkić Aco – portraits

4.8. Document: action of the Trebević company on Jahorina

4.9. Photograph: sabotage by the Semizovac company near Zovik

5. The battles of the armed forces of the National Liberation Movement, channels, communications and liberated territories around Sarajevo

5.1. Map: liberated territory in the immediate environs of Sarajevo city with areas of operation of three detachments

5.2. Document: report by the head of the Propaganda Office Ekrem of 14 March 1942 on showdowns around Sarajevo and panic in the city (II/486)

5.3. Document: report by UNS Sarajevo Commissioner Togoni on communist influence and the way they live in fear in Sarajevo (II/654)

5.4. Document: letter from Slaviša Vajner Čiča to Filip Kljajić with the idea of an attack on Sarajevo

5.5. Photograph: enemy bunkers and fortifications around Sarajevo (III/118)

5.6. Press coverage: “The encirclement of national liberation forces around Sarajevo is steadily tightening“ – Borba, no. 10, 8 November 1941

5.7. Document: directive from Sarajevo distrinct headquarters dated 4 September 1941 on mobilization of manpower and organization of operations of military units and in the field (II/328)

5.8. Document: order on the formation of the National Liberation Movement's Romanija detachment, dated 5 October 1941 (III/77)

5.9. Document: proposal from the commandant of the police guard on measures required to secure Sarajevo against Ustasha troops, 13 November 1941 (III/288)

5.10. Liquidation of gendarmes and home guard garrisons on Jahorina

5.11. Seal of National Liberation Movement (II/457)

5.12. Photograph: group of Partisans in liberated Rogatica (III/245)

5.13. Photograph: from the Partisans' hospital in Romanija, Dobre vode, September 1941

5.14. Photograph: the Partisans' hospital in Han Pijesak

5.15. Photograph: sabotage at Stambolčić

5.16. Press coverage: notices of burials of Germans and Ustasha killed in battle with Partisans, Sarajevski novi list, 23 August 1941, 30 January 1942, 27 March 1942 (II/324)

5.17. Chetnik betrayal (discovery of resolution and Tito's opinion of the attempt to establish cooperation with the Chetniks)

5.18. Document: notification by General Staff of the National Liberation Movement detachments and the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia  to the populatioin of BiH on the liberated territory of eastern Bosnia on the start of a second enemy offensive in which the Chetniks were also involved (III/37)

5.19. Document: proclamation by Slaviša Vajnera Čiča, commanding officer of the National Liberation Movement's Romanija detachment to «Croatian soldiers» dated December 1941 (III/91)

6. The Conference in Ivančići and the events associated with the resolutions adopted

6.1. Tito in Bosnia

6.2. Photograph: the building in Ivančići in which the Regional Party conference was held on 7 January 1942

6.3. Document: excerpt from Tito's messages to the General Staffs of Croatia, Serbia and Herzegovina dated 9 January 1942 giving details of the conference in Ivančići

6.4. Document: notification to the people of BiH on the military and political situation from the Central Committee of the CPY, the Provincial Committee of the CPY for BiH, the Supreme Command of the National Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia detachments and the General Staff of the National Liberation Movement detachment for BiH, January 1942

6.5. The Igman march – pictorial treatment

6.6. Photograph: people from Igman in the hospital in Foča

6.7. Photograph: first proletarian strike battalion (III/340)

6.8. Photograph: HQ of the Sarajevo district

6.9. Photograph: combatants of the Romanija National Liberation Movement detachment, 1942

6.10. Photograph: Zvijezda (Star) detachment in early 1942 (the photograph includes R. Dugonjić, U. Danilović, B. Šurbat, R. Šućur, M. Engel)

6.11. Document: notice by the Provincial Committee of the CPY and the General Staff for BiH on the execution of Slaviša Vajner Čiča (III/842)

6.12. Document: Chetnik report on agreement with the Germans dated 15 January 1942

6.13. Photograph: Chetniks and Germans

6.14. Photograph: Germans burning villages in eastern Bosnia during the second enemy offensive

6.15. Photograph: German terror in eastern Bosnia during the second enemy offensive

6.16. Photograph: Chetniks and Germans together during the second enemy offensive in eastern Bosnia

6.17. Document: report by the Kalinovac National Liberation Movement detachment to the Supreme Command dated 17 March 1942 (III/154)

6.18. Document: report by the HQ of the Romanija detachment and the HQ of the Zvijezda detachment to the Supreme Command of the National Liberation Movement and the Volunteer Army of Yugoslavia dated 14 February 1942 (III/125)

6.19.Document: report by HQ of the Kalinovac National Liberation Movement detachment to the General Staff of the National Liberation Movement and the DO [Volunteer Committee?] BiH on the conference of political commissars in the detachment, dated 24 February 1942

6.20. Document: notice from the German commander for eastern Bosnia dated 14 March 1942 (II/257)

6.21. Document: directive from the Minister of the Interior of the Independent State of Croatia on the Chetnik offer to hold talks, July 1942 (III/50)

6.22. Photograph: combatants of the Third Company (Sarajevo company), 2nd battalion, 10th Herzegovina brigade in Sebišić, November 1941 (III/380)

6.23. Photograph: review of the Vražja division at Rajlovac during the fourth enemy offensive

6.24. Photograph: action of the First Frontier brigade in Rajlovac, 1943

6.25. Document: report of the HQ of the 3rd battalion of the First Frontier NOU [National Liberation ?] brigade on the attack on the airport in Rajlovac (III/643)

6.26. Document: Tito's commendation of the First Frontier brigade and its commanding officer V. Todorović on the action in Rajlovac

6.27. Photograph: the Visoko Fojnica National Liberation Movement detachment, 1943 (III/709)

6.28. Document: report of the 27th NOU division dated 16 March 1943 on the work of the Jahorina National Liberation Movement detachment (IV/316)

6.29. Photograph: the Romanija National Liberation Movement detachment, 1943 (III/103)

6.30. Document: excerpt from Tito's telegram of 10 September 1943 ordering orientation towards Sarajevo (III/678)

6.31. Document: letter from Valter Perić dated 8 March 1942 on sending 15 Muslim youth to the First Proletarian brigade (III/351)

6.32. Graphic: Sarajevan combatants in Partisan units (pictorial treatment)

7. Continuity of the revolutionary action of the National Liberation Movement in the city during the war

7.1. Document: notices of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo to mid 1943 (II/718, III/402, III/403)

7.2. Map: channels and communications between Sarajevo and liberated territory (with the Romanija detachment via Vratnik; with the Zvijezda detachment above the Railway workshop; with the Kalinovac detachment via Vraca; with the Igman detachment via Ilidža; with the Central detachment in Marijindvor via Starčević; with Pale and Prača from Kozje ćuprije)

7.3. Couriers: Hodžić, Dovadžija, Džonlić, Stojanović, Galošević, Pejanović, Bilek (find solution)

7.4. Document: dispatch by Hasan Brkić of August 1941 considering the possibility of organizing flight of aircraft from Rajlovac to Romanija

7.5. Document: sabotage in the Railway repair shop

7.6. Document: sabotage near Blažuj (in the verdict against Salzberg)

7.7. Photograph: sabotage at Sjetlina

7.8. Press coverage: Bulletin of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo no. 43, December 1941 (II/698)

7.9. Photograph:  youth group from Ilidža, 1941 (II/795)

7.10. Press coverage: order from the Ustasha Commission for BiH on prohibiting the sale of medicines and health care materials, Sarajevski novi list, 10 September 1941 (IV/168)

7.11. Document: Act of the County Police District in Sarajevo dated 17 July 1942 on forming a detention unit in the State Hospital (IV/162)

7.12. Photograph: pharmacy of Muhamed Džudžo – an important National Liberation Movement point in Bjelave (III/527)

7.13. Document: letter from the secretary of the Local Committee of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia Sarajevo to the Provincial Committee of the LCYY BiH, February 1942 (III/461)

7.14. Photograph: group of pupils, members of the National Liberation Movement, from the 7th grade of the First Girls' High School in Sarajevo, 1942 (III/500)

7.15. Document: letter from Olga Marasović to Tito dated 9 March 1942 (II/498, II/499)

7.16. Health care aid for Sarajevo National Liberation Movement on liberated treatment (find solution)

7.17. Document: notice from the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo, July 1942

7.18. Photograph: Džemal Bijedić, secretary of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo from June 1942 to April 1943 (photograph in the uniform of a home guard officer with false ID in the name of Anto Jukić)

7.19. Photograph: Agan Bostandžić

7.20. Document: illegal ID – Local committee of the CPY Sarajevo

7.21. Photograph: Josip Sigmund

7.22. Photograph: the building in Vrazova street where the mansard flat used by Party materiel was located (II/715)

7.23. Sarajevo factory as the stronghold of the National Liberation Movement's operations in the city (research and make selection)

7.24. Intelligence committee of the Party Committee (Galeb, Stipetić  et al – find solution)

7.25. Photograph: Fuad Midžić

7.26. Document: Tito's messages via Sarajevo (make selection)

7.27. Photograph: the building (flat) of Zahra Muidović in Alifakovac street

7.28. Photograph: the building (flat) of Nihad and Feriha Kulenović  in Jezero street in which a course for radio-telegraphists was held

7.29. Photograph: the Ambasada building in Čizmedžiluk (II/619)

7.30. Photograph: the house at no. 4 Krančevića street – stairway in which Party officials spent time (II/605)

7.31. Photograph: the workshop of Mustafa Kurto where there was a centre for the distribution of Local Committee Party materiel (II/703)

7.32. Photograph: the building at no. 6 Miće Sokolovića street where a meeting of the revived Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo was held in September 1942 (III/416)

7.33. Photograph: the school in Saburina street – an important National Liberation Movement point (III/612)

7.34. Photograph: house in Karpuzov sokak (street) – illegal arms and ammunition depot (III/572)

7.35. Photograph: house in Bistrik street – 28 steps, where Nazif Hadžović, secretary of the Local Committee of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia lived and was arrested (III/543)

7.36. Document: flier of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo to the people of Sarajevo, April 1943 (III/402, III/403)

8. The growing strength of the National Liberation Movement in Sarajevo following the ZAVNOBIH and AVNOJ sessions

8.1. Document: letter from Valter Perić to the Central Committee of the CPY dated 17 October 1943 with text «Vidjeo Tito» (III/805)

8.2. Document: letter from Valter Perić to Supreme Command, November 1943

8.3. Document: first notice of Valter's Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo

8.4. Photograph: Vladimir Perić Valter, secretary of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo from October/November 1943 to April 1945

8.5. Photograph: first ZAVNOBiH (National Anti-fascist Council of the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) session

8.6. Second AVNOJ (Anti Fascist Council of the National Liberation of Yugoslavia) session

8.7. Document: notice of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo of February 1944 (IV/45)

8.8. Poster of Tito posted up around the city in organized manner in May 1944 (find)

8.9. Photograph: postcard-sized picture of Tito, enlarged and distributed around the city in June 1944

8.10. Poster: Germans blackmail Tito, posted up around the city on 24 July 1943

8.11. Document: notice by District Committee of the CPY Sarajevo in July 1944 – call to the battle for liberation

8.12. Strike against groups (resolve)

8.13. Photograph: Halid Nazečić

8.14.Document: District Committee to the United League of Antifascist Youth of Yugoslavia, Sarajevo District youth, in July 1944

8.15. Photograph: Vogošća Youth (IV/281)

8.16. Photograph: Dr. Zaim Šarac, first chair of GNOLO Sarajevo, set up in mid 1944

8.17. Document: notice from the Sarajevo Antifascist Front dated 1 August 1944 (IV/123)

8.18. Document: notice from the District Preparatory Committee of the National Liberation Movement, October 1944 – call to arms

8.19. City Committee of the Women's Antifascist Front (find solution)

8.20. Document: notice from the National Liberation Front Sarajevo District, December 1944 – call to join National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (IV/260)

8.21. Document: end of letter from Valter Perić to the Provincial Committee of the CPY for BiH dated 1 July 1944 (IV/48)

8.22. Document: telegram from Valter Perić to the Fifth Corps of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia notifying them that Draža Mihajlović was in the Sarajevo area (IV/112)

8.23. Document: excerpt from report by intelligence agent Marko from Ustasha assembly area (IV/374)

8.24. Document: letter from Valter Perić on sending experts to liberated territory, 22 November 1944 (IV/296)

8.25. Document: German report on the possibility of an uprising in Sarajevo

8.26. Document: report by the secretary of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo Valter Perić on the radio centre (Meho and Ivo – IV/386)

8.27. Photograph: group of telephonists, including Ismet Strik

8.28. Photograph: Villa Dohan, telecoms/intelligence service (IV/396)

8.29. Document: report on the theft of the plans to defend Sarajevo (Schwarz)

8.30. Photograph: Villa Braun

8.31. Photograph: Galib Festo's house, one of the depots for arms and other materials (III/136)

8.32. Photograph: the building in which the first meeting of the revived local commission of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia was held in 1944 (IV/197)

8.33. Photograph: the flat in 24 Budakovića street which was one of the places used by Valter in the days preceding the liberation of Sarajevo (IV/412)

8.34. Photograph: the Foht family house

8.35. Document: selection from the documentation of the map library of the Department of National Defence on collaborators with the occupying forces, drawn up by Valter's activists

8.36. Document: dispatches from Valter registered in the Supreme Command, 7 December 1942 (IV/38)

8.37. Photograph: collage of prominent figures killed in the War of National Liberation (composition on a single display panel)

9. “Operation Sarajevo,“ the Yugoslav Army's battle for the final liberation of Sarajevo

9.1. Document: order from Marshal Tito on appointment of Operational HQ for Operation Sarajevo, 23 March 1945

9.2. Sketch: Operation Sarajevo

9.3.Photograph: Operational HQ commanding officers for Operation Sarajevo (Vukanović, Rodić, Kosorić)

9.4. Sketch: complement and deployment of strike groups for the battle in the city during the liberation of Sarajevo

9.5. Sketch of enemy bunkers drawn up by Valter's activists (selection)

9.6. Document: letter from the secretary of the Local Committee of the CPY Sarajevo Valter Perić to the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army reporting that they were ready for the battle to liberate the city

9.7. Photograph: selection of photographs from the three main routes taken by Yugoslav Army troops advancing on Sarajevo

9.8. Document: letter from the political commissioner of 27th division to troops from the Second Corps concerning the protection of Sarajevo's cultural and historic buildings from artillery fire

9.9. Photograph: damaged photograph of Valter Perić with the ID he was carrying at the time of his execution

9.10. Photograph: the place where Vladimir Valter Perić was killed

9.11. Photograph: townspeople carrying wounded combatants during the battle in the city

9.12. Photograph: the Višegradska Kapi-kula (gate house) in Vratnik (IV/718)

9.13. Photograph: the army and the people on the streets of liberated Sarajevo, 6 April 1945

9.14. Photograph: Yugoslav Army combatants on the streets of Sarajevo sporting flowers

9.15. Photograph: German graves – crosses with helmets

9.16. Photograph: German soldier

9.17. Press coverage: “Sarajevo liberated“ – front page of Borba for 7 April 1945

9.18.Document: commendation from Marshal Tito to troops taking part in Operation Sarajevo

9.19. Document: commendation from ZAVNOBiH to the liberators of Sarajevo

9.20. find solution for composite charter of national hero, order (medal) of national hero and details of national heroes killed in action

9.21. Graphic: combatants killed during Operation Sarajevo

10. The early days of liberation

10.1. Photograph: first meeting in liberated Sarajevo, 8 May 1945 – photograph with the slogan “Long live the liberators of our Sarajevo“ (IV/735)

10.2. Photograph: from the third ZAVNOBiH session, 28 April 1945

10.3. Photograph: the first government of Federal Bosnia and Herzegovina, 28 April 1945

10.4.Press coverage: “Declaration of the People's Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina“ – title page of Oslobođenje, 3 May 1945

10.5. Photograph: first conference of the Women's Antifascist group in liberated Sarajevo (IV/133)

10.6. Photograph: Tito's first visit to liberated Sarajevo, 5 November 1945

10.7. Excerpt from Tito's speech at an election rally in Sarajevo, 5 November 1945

10.8. Photograph: major election rally in Sarajevo, 5 November 1945

 

In the second part of the complex, to the west, behind the fort, are several memorials expressing the gratitude of the people of Sarajevo to the Yugoslav Army troops, in the form of a large number of granite blocks on which the names of the brigades are incised, standing alongside the footpath, at the end of which is a monument consisting of two triangular granite prisms with the incised figure of Marshal Tito and his Order of the Day on the occasion of the liberation of Sarajevo.

 

3. Legal status to date

The Vraca Memorial Park is a protected cultural monument listed in the register of immoval cultural movements under no. 35 by Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of Sarajevo, no. 09-1086-3.

 

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

No conservation or restoration works have been carried out on the monument.        

 

5. Current condition of the property

The area of the Memorial Park is in a state of dereliction.  All the damage was caused during the 1992-1995 war and a brief period after it ended.  The individual components of the complex are also derelict: the fort and individual memorials, the park areas, the plateaux, the steps etc.  The stone walls of the fort around the entrance gate have been pulled down, and the names of those killed in action in the atrium of the fortress have been removed; all the exhibits have disappeared.  The following damage has also been observed: to the stone paving of the paths, the stone facings of the walls, the stone walls with the names of combatants.  Infrastructure elements such as lighting and protective bars are also missing.

 

III – CONCLUSION

Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.

The Decision was based on the following criteria:

A.  Time frame

B.  Historical value

C.  Artistic and aesthetic value

C.iv. composition

E. Symbolic value

E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people

F. Townscape/ Landscape value

F.ii. meaning in the townscape

G. Authenticity

G.i. form and design

G.ii. material and content

G.iii. use and function

G.v. location and setting

G.vi. spirit and feeling

I. Completeness

I.i. physical coherence

I.ii. homogeneity

I.iii. completeness

 

            The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-     Copy of cadastral plan

-     Copy of land register entry and proof of title;

-     Photodocumentation;

-     Drawings

 

Bibliography

            During the procedure to designate the Vraca memorial park as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following works were consulted:

 

1981.    Documentation of the History Museum in Sarajevo, Tematsko-sadržajni okvir postavke u tvrđavi Spomen-parka „Vraca“ (Thematic and content framework for the exhibits in the Vraca Memorial Park fortress) Sarajevo, 1981.

 

1985.    Committee for the Construction of the Vraca Memorial Park, various authors: Nisim Albahari, Albert Altarac, Rafael Brčić MA, Marija Divčić, Mehmed Džinić, Spomen park Vraca, Directorate of the Vraca, Ivančići and Igman Memorial Complexes and Memorials, Sarajevo, 1985.

 

2005.    Documentation of SUBNOAR BiH

 

2005.    Documentation of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo Canton

 

(1)  Documentation of the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina



Vraca Memorial ParkCeremonial plateauAustro-Hungarian fortAtrium – memorial to the victims of fascism
Exhibits in the fort, photo from 2005Memorial to the city's combatants killed in actionMemorial to troops of the National Liberation Army Sculpture – memorial to women combatants
Fountain    


BiH jezici 
Commision to preserve national monuments © 2003. Design & Dev.: