War Photographer Ron Haviv: “Many Wounds Must Be Healed Here”

“This is not a functional country, because 20 years after the war it’s not there where it should be. I am not convinced that the war, so many murders, death and suffering was worth it. Those who survived are not respected,” Haviv says in an interview for BIRN-Justice Report.

Haviv came to Bosnia and Herzegovina in late March 1992. In Bijeljina he photographed the first murders committed by the Tigrovi paramilitary unit, led by Zeljko Raznatovic, more commonly known as Arkan (he was killed in Belgrade five years after the war).

“I came to Bijeljina on the second or third day after the city was divided between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims. I went to the Serbian side. Spending time with the people there, it looked like all of them were armed, from the youngest to the oldest,” Haviv said. A few days later, he said, Arkan’s Tigrovi unit came to Bijeljina. The Tigrovi unit started killing civilians in the part of the city where the mosque was located.

When the unit entered the mosque, Haviv took photos of them. Haviv said he heard commotion and saw them bring in a young man, whom he was told was “Kosovo’s terrorist.”

“The noise outside the mosque was heard in that moment. I went out and saw how they took out an elderly couple. Shooting was heard. The man was shot. Then they told me not to take photos,” Haviv says.

A few months earlier, Haviv was in Vukovar, Croatia, in a similar situation. Someone was murdered in front of him and he was unable to take photos. That was when Haviv promised himself that if he couldn’t prevent a murder, he would make sure there was evidence that it happened.

When he was forbidden from taking photos of the man who was murdered in front of the mosque in Bijeljina, Haviv said he ran away and hid behind a destroyed truck. He managed to shoot images of the man’s wife trying to stop his bleeding with her hands.

“They were holding hands and it was a very sad scene. I managed to take the photos,” Haviv says. He said the woman and another person were killed shortly afterwards.

Film Confiscated by Arkan

After the killings in Bijeljina, Haviv said the Tigrovi unit returned to their headquarters with the detained Kosovar.

“I photographed him. They threw him to the ground, and he held out his arms towards me and asked me to help him,” Haviv says.

“This young Kosovar was thrown through the window of the building and fell on the ground in front of my feet,” Haviv says.

By some miracle, Haviv said, the young man survived. He later discovered that he was an Albanian from Macedonia. He said the Tigrovi unit brought him water and baptized him. Haviv took photos of this as well.

Haviv was told that he couldn’t leave Bijeljina without Arkan’s permission. While he was waiting for him in his car, he managed to hide some of his film. When Arkan came and asked for the film, he gave him the film that was in his camera because he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it. Afterwards, he drove to the Belgrade airport and sent the film to Paris.

Haviv thought the Albanian captive had survived. However, when he got in touch with the man’s family through social media, they told him that his body had been found in a mass grave and was identified 12 years later.

Haviv said that after the photos they received in the spring of 1992, he expected the West and the U.S. to react to the conflict, but that didn’t happen. Haviv believes Americans were already saturated with information about the war in Croatia and thought that the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be over quickly.

Lack of Respect Towards Victims

Haviv said a new generation of war reporters emerged from the Bosnian war. He said a lot of attention is now given to the safety of journalists working in conflict zones, as many were killed in the conflicts of the former Yugoslavia. He says the training of journalists working in war zones has also improved.

Haviv says a lot of journalists were very frustrated by the poor reaction to their work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they learned to remain consistent and committed in order to document the injustice and crime they encountered.

Haviv is very interested in the prosecution of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, because he believes he invested a lot in proving that they happened. When asked whether he thinks justice will be delivered after the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and domestic courts finish their work, Haviv says only Bosnians can answer that question, as they suffered the most.

Commenting on Bosnia and Herzegovina today, Haviv says the country has advanced poorly and that even the victims of the last war aren’t respected.

“Rwanda, where a genocide was also committed and where people suffered more than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there’s more progress, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is spinning in circles. I’m not convinced that so many murders and death was worth it. Those who survived are not respected,” Haviv said. He said that after the war he went to Bosnia and Herzegovina a number of times, and noticed that people still react emotionally to war stories.

“As soon as you scratch a little bit below the surface, you see that the war is still present. This country has a very large number of people who suffer from post-traumatic stress. And that’s a big problem. I don’t know what the solution is, but I think that the recognition of this problem is very important. Many wounds must be healed here,” Haviv said.

With regards to the younger generation, Haviv says that apart from education, it’s important for the young to understand the past, whether it’s good or bad, to overcome prejudice and move on.

“I hope that the photos will show the brutality and madness of war and that young people will learn that their parents made mistakes, regardless which side they belonged to. The photos are here to remind us – don’t go down the path that can lead to war,” Haviv concludes.