“No wall through Sarajevo”

The partition of Sarajevo was one of the goals of the “Republika Srpska” during the war and this topic was also regularly discussed at international peace negotiations. There was strong resistance to this idea within besieged Sarajevo, as illustrated for example by the campaign for the “Declaration for a free and unified Sarajevo”.

This resistance was also supported by international solidarity groups. One example is the campaign “No Wall through Sarajevo”, which was organised in Berlin around 13 August 1993. On 13 August 1961, the construction of the Berlin Wall had begun. A text about this campaign said: “In November 1989, we rejoiced at the fall of the Berlin Wall, and with the opening of the gap between East and West, we expressed the hope that all people in Europe would live together in peace. Since April 5, 1992, the former Olympic city of Sarajevo has been shelled and attacked, (…) According to the Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic, Sarajevo is now to be divided into nationalist sectors. As citizens of Berlin, we cannot remain silent about this: NO WALL THROUGH SARAJEVO!”

This action was launched by Eva Quistorp, who lived in Berlin for many years and was a member of the European Parliament for the Greens between 1989 and 1994. She showed strong commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also launched other initiatives, for example to support women from BiH. Eva Quistorp was also one of the first Greens to advocate military intervention to protect the people of BiH.