Srdjan Aleksic, who was killed at the beginning of Bosnia’s war by his fellow Bosnian Serb soldiers when he tried to stop them from beating a Bosniak man, did not die in vain and remains alive as a memory of something that “offered a glimmer of hope in an evil time,” the young man’s father, Rade Aleksic, told N1.
“Srdjo didn’t die in vain, he lives in the people all over BiH, Serbia,” Aleksic said, explaining that his son was just a normal young man who will “remain the symbol of good” and who died “fulfilling his human duty.”
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Srdjan Aleksic became a member of the Army of Republika Srpska when the Bosnian war started in 1992.
In 1993, he saw a group of his fellow soldiers harassing his friend, Alen Glavovic, and decided to intervene. The soldiers turned against him and beat him into a coma.
He passed away at the local hospital six days later, on January 27, 1993.
The young man was posthumously awarded a Charter of Bosnia’s Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. He also has a street in Sarajevo named after him, as well as a passage in the Serbian cities of Pancevo and Novi Sad, where there is also a plaque commemorating him. A sports tournament in the Bosnian city of Tuzla also carries his name and a movie has been made about him.
“Today is the day when Srdjo Aleksic’s body was buried. At that time, I did not know that Srdjan would remain alive, that he would keep living as a memory of something humane that was done, something that provided a glimmer of hope at an evil time,” Rade Aleksic said.
He said that he feels his son “lives on in every good person, that Srdjo's body is creating new people, creating humanity within them, the desire to live with everyone who is well-intentioned.”
Aleksic said he wanted his son’s story to represent “a message” that would lead people, especially the youth, to realise that the common good is also their own good.
“When I go around the city, I walk as a proud man, regardless of my loss and the loss of my younger son before Srdjan,” he said, adding that he is often greeted by young people although he is an old man, “all thanks to their memory of Srdjan.”
Aleksic said people from all across the region come to meet with him, talk about his son and visit his grave, he said.
“And then they tell me after visiting the grave that they feel somehow more human, that they feel the warmth they get from Srdjan’s actions. For me, that is the greatest praise and the greatest happiness – that Srdjan's actions do people good,” he said.
Aleksic expressed hope that soon “we will stop dividing ourselves into Serbs, Muslims (…) that we will all just be humans and build our lives in harmony.”
“I would like young people to organise gatherings, to talk about what we are talking about now – how to create the future. But they won’t let us. Constantly, political leaders lead us to our pen, so we are fenced in. That hurts me,” he said.
“That is why I call on the youth: “Don't give up, fight on, let Srdjan's act be a guide on how life should be lived,” he stressed.
Srdjan’s actions are also a result of his family values, Aleksic said, explaining that his family “lived normally, never did anything wrong to anyone.”
“When WWII ended, my grandfather had nine children and all of them were Partizans and survived. Our grandfather told us: ‘Children, there was a war, there was evil, but never let any mother cry over anything you ever do’,” he explained, adding that this is still being taught to new generations.
“When I shed a tear for Srdjan, it is a tear that makes me glad that the young world respects Srdjan, that it respects his actions,” he stressed.
The father said he was glad hearing about all the places that were named after his son, but that he is sorry that Prijedor, the town his mother was born in, does not remember Srdjan.
“Srdjan is your child, but I feel sorry when people are deaf to this. It hurts me, because I feel like the youth there has not realised what Srdjan did,” he said.
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