Sarajevo, the city where it all began, hosted on Sunday, several events marking the centennial of the end of the First World War, which ended on November 11, 1918.

It was a war in which destructive weapons were used for the first time and during which around 20 million people lost their lives. The cause of this war was the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife, who were shot by Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo.  

This year, Sarajevo citizens joined those in the UK, Germany, France and the rest of Europe in a special celebration of this day, with the ringing of church bells and other ways of expressing support for peace and solidarity with the victims.

All Bosnian religious communities marked the anniversary of the end of the First World War.

At 12:30 pm, the bells were heard at the Cathedral of the Heart of Jesus in Sarajevo, while the Gazi Husrev-Bey's Library and Madrasa were illuminated with special lights on Saturday.

The Ashkenazi synagogue was illuminated throughout the weekend, and all Orthodox churches held special prayers in memory of the dead and with the message that war should never happen again.

On Saturday evening, the Sarajevo City Hall will be illuminated in the colours of the Polish flag because Poland renewed its independence on the same day the Great War ended.

The International seminar “Peace Building, 1918 – 2018” with youths from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and France will be held in Sarajevo November 7 to 12, to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

French Ambassador to Bosnia, Guillaume Rousson, and Charge d'Affaires at the German Embassy in Sarajevo, Christian Sedat will take part in the final part of the seminar, on Monday, together the rest of the participants.

This project was implemented by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ZDF Forum, in cooperation with the German and French embassies to Bosnia.

Apart from them, the German Foreign Ministry and French Mission marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War also supported the said project.