He came from Switzerland to Sarajevo, in the Great Park he saw a photo of his murdered father

(Patria) - In the Great Park in Sarajevo, photographs of 3,176 Prijedor residents killed during the ethnic cleansing of the 1990s have been placed, among them 102 children. Each of the 3,176 photographs hides a difficult fate and story, and Nedžad Bešić, a young man from Kozarac, carries one such story deep within himself. 

Bešić lives in Basel, Switzerland, and is visiting Sarajevo today with his girlfriend, who is Spanish. He did not know about the installation, and while sightseeing, he was greeted by the whiteness of 3,176 names and photographs of his fellow citizens.

It did not take him long; he quickly found his father Suad Bešić, who was taken from his doorstep on July 28, 1992, when Nedžad was still small.

„I see a photo of my father and my uncle. I am very sorry and sad about this loss, I am sorry that I am standing next to these photographs, yet I am glad that their faces can be seen in Sarajevo as well. Simply so that this evil would never be forgotten and would never happen to anyone again,“ Bešić told the Patria agency.

He says he is often in Bosnia and Herzegovina with his girlfriend, and that he goes to Kozarac whenever he has free time.

„Everything in my life ties me to Kozarac,“ Bešić emphasizes.

His girlfriend's sister is in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time and today she was able to experience a part of what Nedžad carries within himself.

„May 31 is a painful point in my life. I have heard many stories about my father, who died in Omarska. I know he was in the notorious White House for a long time. A few months ago, we also found my uncle, who was only 23 years old when he disappeared. His funeral prayer will be held in July,“ adds Bešić. 

White Ribbon Day, May 31, is a symbolic date proclaimed in memory of more than 3,000 killed residents of the Prijedor region. It is marked in Bosnia and Herzegovina and numerous European cities.

On that day in 1992, the Bosnian Serb authorities ordered the non-Serb population to wear white ribbons around their arms and hang white sheets on their houses and apartments.

International White Ribbon Day in Prijedor is marked by a peaceful walk through the streets of Prijedor.

The installation in the Great Park in Sarajevo was set up by members of the Antidejton Association.