The story of Baljvine, a village between Mrkonjic Grad and Banja Luka, is opposite to all war-time stories narrated after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the only place in the country where Bosniaks and Serbs did not wage war but protected each other.

Jovo Tesanovic, a local from Baljvine, says they had defended the local mosque – one of the oldest mosques in Bosnia – from destruction.  

“The soldiers were here and we said the mosque cannot be destroyed. That is a shrine and it would never even cross my mind to destroy it,” Tesanović notes.  

Senad Dizdarevic, another local, confirms the story of Serbs saving the mosque from destruction.

Friendship of neighbours in Baljvine has been lasting for centuries. They had been protecting each other in the World War I, too. During the recent war Bosniak locals were protected by local Serbs until August 1995.  

“They have been protecting us until the moment we had to leave. That was something else, and the rescue by neither neighbours nor anyone else was possible. We had to leave,” explains Omer Murica.  

Bosniaks had left the village some ten days before Serbs did, right before the military operation ‘Southern move’, when the Croat Defence Council (HVO)'s members reached Markonjic Grad. This was the moment when the first victim in this village – Jovan Konjevic – was killed.  

Both Bosniaks and Serbs returned to the village after the end of the war.