Recently I had a conversation with a Sarajevo siege (1992-1996) survivor. She vividly remembers snipers, constant shelling, some moments when she was not sure whether she should wait for death to come to her, or go towards it. In those moments, while deciding “to go, or not to go” outside, she was counting on her intuition. That was all she had to defend herself from the monsters on the hills.
Only a few days ago, and after 13 years in hiding, one of the most notorious perpetuators of some of the worst crimes against humanity, including the siege of Sarajevo, indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic, was arrested in Belgrade. Living an inconspicuous life of an ordinary citizen, he was climbing the ladder in alternative medicine world, where he was accomplished member of the community. Nobody, even his closest friend, and neighbours, did not know who was hiding behind the “Santa Clause” beard.
Ironically, he already had been thought of as Santa Clause once before. It was in the interview that he gave to late Serbian journalist Dada Vujasinovic. This somewhat prophetic interview was published in Belgrade magazine “Duga” in November of 1992.
Long before the full impact of Radovan Karadzic actions were known to the world, and while he was still able to travel abroad, and attend international meetings on Bosnian war, Vujasinovic was able to paint a portrait or Radovan Karadzic as the politician, poet and psychiatrist, who was not shy to think of himself as a rebel from the mountains (hajduk), who was “creating a brand new state”. But when he decided not to be a “hajduk” anymore, Vujasinovic describes him as Santa Clause (Deda Mraz) who was willing to give some territories, held by Serbs, to Bosnians. He claimed at the time, that Serbs were in possession of 70 percent of territory in Bosnia, and they were willing to give back 20 percent. Vujasinovic was contemplating on this seemingly generous behavior: was it “generosity”, or sense of reality? After all, Serbian people constituted one third of population that was holding onto two thirds of territory, and Karadzic would have had a legitimate concern about how to keep those territories. But in Karadzic’s world there was little place for reality.
This depression prone man was already devoted to the idea of the “Great Serbia” that was masterminded in Belgrade. He was so convincing that, even in his doctor’s office, while treating others for depression, he would spread the ideas about Serbian “uebermensh”. Soon he started touring Bosnia and promoting the idea of Serbs as people who need to defend themselves lest history be repeated. Reminding Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina of unthinkable atrocities committed in WWII by Ustashe (extremist Croatian army) who tortured and murdered thousands of Serbs, either in concentration camps, or by slashing their throats and throwing them in pits, became the tool to organize his followers, and fasten the nationalistic rule. He enlisted “help” from clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church to organize proper burial of the victims of one of Ustashe’s atrocities in the tiny village of Prebilovci in Herzegovina, although in the fifty years following WWII the very same church showed little or no interest in commemorating the victims. “Ironically”, Dada Vujasinovic wrote, “this event, that was supposed to be dignified, turned out to become somewhat like a village fair.” Nevertheless, the goal was accomplished, and Radovan Karadzic “scored” more points in the world of those who glorified the martyrdom of the innocent Ustashe victims by using it to stir nationalistic and chauvinistic feelings. Later, these feelings will be used as a weapon to commit more crimes and to cause more deaths.
But the profile of Radovan Karadzic would not be complete if we did not mention his literary carrier. The self-proclaimed poet, as Vujasinovc wrote, was mediocre in his endeavors. Verses such a s: “He is lying now dead as such sheep’s skin, murdered without bullet or knife” were showing that his poetry lacked the depth and significance of great poets, and he was probably aware of that, somewhat like Salieri’s awareness of Mozart greatness. Nevertheless, Karadzic was not the kind of man who would admit that anything that he did was unacceptable, including his poetry, siege of Sarajevo, or how he treated his patients. Even to this day, he does not seem to show any remorse or feeling of guilt for the horrible atrocities committed under his rule.
Dada Vujasinovic wrote in the conclusion of her interview: “Time will show whether Karadzic chose the correct way to ‘protect’ his people, as well as whether he will be “hajduk”, Santa Clause, statesman, or something else”.
She did not know at that time, in 1992, but she was right: he became “something else”, an indicted war criminal.
About Dada Vujasinovic, author of “Hero of the wolf times” an in-depth interview with Radovan Karadzic, published in Belgrade magazine Duga, in November 1992.
Dada Vujasinovic was born in 1964 in former Yugoslavia. She became reporter with Belgrade magazine Duga in 1990. In her short, but turbulent carrier as a war reporter she was able to produce series of unbiased articles on the war in Croatia and Bosnia, and interviews, among which are two interviews with Radovan Karadzic: one in 1991 and second in 1992. She was also known as an investigative journalist, probing the connection between the war and criminals in Serbia. She was murdered in Belgrade in 1994. Her death was officially ruled by Milosevic regime as “suicide”. Recently new evidence was provided that undoubtfully point to murder. Investigation into her death was reopened several times in last 14 years, but no official results have not been published so far.
