Women of Sarajevo then and now (24 photos)

Category: Interesting photo stories, Nostalgia, PEGI 0+

3 May 2012

April 5, 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the Siege of Sarajevo, and photographer Tom Stoddart, who produced some of the best series of war photographs in the early 90s, returned to the city to photograph the people he had already photographed 20 years earlier. Tom worked in tandem with British journalist Glyn Strong, who interviewed women. The collection contains “before and after” photographs of women. One of the women now lives in Amsterdam, so the photo was taken there in January 2012, the other now lives in Australia with her son, where Tom photographed them in 2005, but recently journalists interviewed her specifically for this project.

1. Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1995. Meliha Varesanović proudly and decisively goes to work in the suburb of Dobrynja during the siege of Sarajevo. With all her appearance she shows the Serbian invaders who surrounded her city that “we cannot be defeated so easily.” (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

2. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Varesanovich walks down the same street in Dobrynja where she was photographed by photographer Tom Stoddart in 1995 during the bloody siege of Sarajevo, which reportedly claimed the lives of 10,000 city residents. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

3. Sarajevo, Bosnia, July 1992. Bosnian soldier Sid Hamzic holds his 18-month-old goddaughter shortly before leaving to fight Serbs besieging the former Olympic village. (Photograph by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

4. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. 19-year-old student Amila Sasic outside her home, where Tom Stoddart first photographed her in the arms of her godfather. Her sister Amina is standing in the doorway in the background. (Photograph by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

5. Sarajevo, Bosnia, July 1992. A woman at the Lyon cemetery in Sarajevo. Later it turned out that this was Behireta Sldzhivich, whose husband, who was a soldier, was killed in the war. During the 47-month siege from the spring of 1992 to February 1996, the people of Sarajevo endured the longest siege since World War II. More than 10,600 people were killed and 56,000 were wounded and maimed. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

6. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Behireta Sldzivic at her husband's grave. During the war, Behireta went to her husband’s grave almost every day, and one day in 1995, on her way to the cemetery, she was wounded by a grenade fragment. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

7. Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1992. The tears of a mother sending her distraught child out of besieged Sarajevo on a bus that Serbian troops had promised not to touch. After the war it turned out that this was Gordana Burazor with her little son Andre. They left Sarajevo and received refugee status in Australia. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

8. Perth, Australia, October 2005. In this photo, Gordana Burazor with her now 15-year-old son on Cottesloe Beach, not far from their home in Perth. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

9. Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1995. Women wait for a break in the shelling to run along Sniper Alley in besieged Sarajevo. The well-dressed woman on the right is the famous poet Aisa Zahirović. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

10. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Poet Aisa Zahirovic takes a photo in the old part of Sarajevo. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

11. Sarajevo, Bosnia, April 1994. Minka Salihagić on the balcony of her house on Heroes' Square, so named because of the enormous danger of living there during the war. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

12. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Minka Salihagić on the balcony of her house in the Hrasno district of Sarajevo. 18 years later, Tom Stoddart photographed her in the same place as in 1994. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

13. Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1993. Inela Nodzic received the title “Miss Besieged Sarajevo” at the age of 17 in 1993. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

14. Amsterdam, Holland, January 2012. Inela Nodzic on Dam Square in Amsterdam, where she now lives and works. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

15. Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1994. Sedizha Katicha, who lost both legs when a tank shell exploded, plays with her five-year-old daughter Amra near the battle site in Sarajevo. (Photo By Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

16. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Sedizha Katicha with her daughter at home. (Photo By Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

17. Sarajevo, Bosnia, July 1992. Former model Maryana Dick in a house riddled with bullets. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

18. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Former model and politician Marjana Dick in the center of modern Sarajevo. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

19. Sarajevo, Bosnia, April 1994. A family in an apartment on Heroes Square. 18-year-old Alisa Salihadzic (left) keeps warm with a gas burner, while her father Midhat and 12-year-old sister Alma sit next to her. (Photograph by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

20. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Alisa and Alma Salihadzic in their home in Sarajevo. (Photograph by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

21. Sarajevo, Bosnia, August 1992. Man's best friend is a dog. She is your friend and protector. And you are her whole life. A child with a puppy against the backdrop of destroyed Sarajevo. Later, it turned out that this photo shows Merima Yakupovich with her dog Smokey. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

22. Sarajevo, Bosnia, January 2012. Merima Jakupovic Grobovic with her horse Donna in the stables of the Riders of Hope Association, where she works as an administrator. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)

23. Sarajevo, Bosnia, 1995. Photographer Tom Stoddart at Lyon Cemetery, where thousands of victims of the siege of Sarajevo are buried. (Photo by Tom Stoddart/Reportage by Getty Images)