Eventually they end up Srebrenica where refugees who are all seeking refuge struggle to survive starvation, shelling and snipers. As the war finds them they embark on a desperate march across the mountains seeking shelter in the surrounding villages, only to be chased out as the Chetniks advance. He urged his father to leave Bosnia for the safety of anywhere, even though only his father had a passport. As an engineering student in Sarajevo he watched the Jugoslav National Army take all the military weapons out of the city.
Hasan Nuhanovic and his family were, like most Bosnians, caught unprepared by the war. I have the admost respect for how Hasan and his family seemed to maintain there humanity and supported eachother. In the midst of all the terror there was still a shimmer of hope, strenght and humanity. In my opinion a must read for everyone who is interested in history and the way people are able to survive such horrendous ordeals. Of course you know how it ends and it breaks your heart. The sheer violence, the fear of being shot at and the hunger that Hasan and his family, like so many others, had to endure is hard to imagine. The story is immensly gripping and it will not leave your thoughts. I read an interview with Hasan Nuhanovic in a Dutch newspaper on July 11th, the day so many people lost there lives 25 years ago. Thousands of regufees thought they found a safe space on the compound only to be told they had to leave by Dutchbat officials. The story of the war in former Yugoslavia is a chapter in history that is known in the Netherlands, due to the dramatic days in July 1995, following the genocide of over 8000 (young)man in Srebrenica by Serbian armed forces under the command of Ratko Mladic, nicknamed the Butcher of Srebrenica. The Last Refuge is a powerful first-hand account of the barbarism of those years leading up to the massacre in Srebrenica it is also a compelling and pertinent story of life, survival and heroism on the frontlines of a bitter conflict. When the Bosnian-Serb army laid siege to the town, Hasan’s life once more became a daily struggle for survival. High up in the woods along the Drina River, Hasan and thousands of Bosniak refugees faced freezing nights, deprivation and death, while Serb soldiers covered their retreat with sniper fire and artillery shelling.Īfter many months on the move the Bosniaks battled their way to the town of Srebrenica, their last refuge, under the protection of a small UN force. In 1992, amid growing violence in eastern Bosnia, Hasan Nuhanović and his family were forced to flee their home for the safety of Bosnia’s mountainous countryside. It enters your mind, your heart and your soul and refuses to leave. It runs through the walls, over the mountains and rivers. As if a forest could shield you from a war. ‘We went to the mountains of eastern Bosnia to hide from the war.
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