Sarajevo Remembers Its Heroes: On This Day Safet Zajko, a Symbol of the City's Defence, Was Killed

(Patria) - Laying flowers and paying respects at the harem of Alipašina Mosque today marked the beginning of the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the death of the wartime Commander of the 2nd Knightly Motorised Brigade, hero of the liberation war, Brigadier General of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and recipient of the wartime award "Golden Lily", Safet Zajko.

The name of this honourable hero has become synonymous with responsibility, courage and sacrifice in the most difficult days of the siege for many citizens of Sarajevo. In the collective memory of Sarajevo, Safet Zajko remained more than a military commander. For many, he represents a generation of people who took on enormous responsibility during the war and paid a high price.

His name today reminds us of the defence of the city, but also of the values that his comrades often emphasised: honour, modesty, mutual solidarity and loyalty to the homeland.

In the Multimedia Hall of the Novi Grad municipality, a ceremonial academy dedicated to the heroes of Žuč, Safet Zajko, Safet Isović and Salko Muraspahić, was also held today, at which the Minister for Veterans' Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, Omer Osmanović, addressed those present.

''When the name Safet Zajko is spoken today, many think of a commander, a hero. Personally, I first think of the burden he carried. It was difficult for months to bear the responsibility for other people's lives, to make decisions knowing that they would save someone's son, and perhaps not return someone else's. There are people who lived long and left behind so little or nothing. And then there are people who were given little time, but filled it so powerfully that their name lasts longer than their life. Perhaps that is why his name remained tied to Sarajevo. Not because he was without fear, but because, like many of his comrades, he believed that there are things worth more than one's own life,'' emphasised Minister Osmanović.

He further stressed that Sarajevo collectively remembers heroes like Safet Zajko.

''Our people remember these people. They do not always remember exact dates and they do not remember every battle. They do not remember every deed and decoration. But they remember the feeling that someone stood between them and the aggressor when it was hardest. That is perhaps the greatest monument to Safet Zajko: not a park, not a street, not a stone plaque, but the fact that even after so many years his name is spoken more calmly than many others, as the name of a man believed to have given everything he had and asked for nothing in return,'' Osmanović said.

Safet Zajko was born on 1 March 1959 in the village of Gaočić, northwest of Rudo, to father Salko and mother Duda. After finishing secondary school, as a metalworker by profession, he got a job at the metal-processing company Zrak from Vogošća. He completed the reserve infantry officer school in Bileća as one of the most successful in his class. Until the start of the aggression, Safet continued working on organising and preparing armed resistance in this part of Sarajevo. He coordinated the work of newly formed military units in the Sarajevo municipality of Novi Grad and worked on their integration.

On 17 June 1993, he was killed on Žuč, at the place where he defended his city and his country. He left behind not only military successes and decorations, but also the example of a man who placed responsibility towards the people above his own safety.