On this day in 1945, after four years of occupation, Sarajevo was liberated by the joint efforts and sacrifice of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The day, clearly linked to anti-fascist achievements, is marked as the Day of the City of Sarajevo.

The Yugoslav Army began the operation to liberate Sarajevo on March 28, 1945. The Second, Third and Fifth Army Corps, the 11th and 13th Krajina Brigades, the 18th Central Bosnian Brigade, artillery and tank units participated in the actions.

The peace lasted for 47 years and then Sarajevo started a new battle.

On the Day of the City of Sarajevo, April 6, 1992, the longest siege in the modern history of warfare – the siege of Sarajevo had began. During this period 11,541 civilians were killed, died of hunger, cold, or disappeared, including 1,601 children.

A day earlier, on April 5, the first civilian victims of the war were reported, when thousands of citizens gathered in front of the building of the Assembly of the then Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a peaceful protest, carrying the banners ‘We are for peace’.

The material damage that the city suffered during the siege, primarily through the destruction of the housing stock and the destruction of cultural treasures and commercial buildings and roads, is priceless.

The shells caused enormous damage and the greatest damage was suffered by civil, cultural and religious buildings. People were killed, civil, cultural, religious buildings and even hospitals were demolished.

A terrible example of that period is the massacre at the Markale open market, in February 1994, when shells fired from enemy positions hit a crowd of people and took the lives of 68 Sarajevans.

To mark this day, representatives of government and citizens gathered on Thursday morning at the WWII Eternal Flame memorial and laid wreaths to commemorate the victims.

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