NUB Employees Saved the City Hall in 1992, Today They Lack Support from the Mayor Who Cares About Ćevapi Instead of National Treasure

By Amra Vrabac

Employees of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been waging a "public" battle for two months to finally resolve the status of this institution, even though they have been without salaries for five months. All levels of government they have approached are "washing their hands" of each other. And the truth is that the NUB BiH, as one of the most important institutions in BiH, especially in the publishing segment, is on the verge of closure, just a few days before the commemoration of August 25, when on the night of August 25-26, 1992, the aggressor shelled and set fire to the City Hall, where the NUB BiH had been housed since 1951.

Employees of the NUB BiH also participated in extinguishing the fire and saving both the City Hall and the books at that time. They probably couldn't have imagined that new generations of employees would today be forced to extinguish new fires, but this time in the form of their jobs, because no one is listening to them.

Employees of the NUB BiH have not received support from the Mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić, who can attend all events in Sarajevo in one day and in the afternoon share ćevapi with the High Representative, but cannot join the NUB workers in their protest march and fight for their rights.

Incidentally, Karić performs her duties in a space that once housed literary treasures, and after the renovation of the City Hall in 2014, the NUB BiH never got its space back.

If this was not resolved during the tenure of previous mayors, then Karić, who presents herself as a fighter for justice and truth, should have seen it through. As she dug through papers for some other matters of her predecessor, and gladly continued some other projects, no one would have stopped her if she had decided to return the City Hall to the NUB.

And so today, the NUB must seek permission to enter the City Hall and mark the anniversary of the barbaric crime against this institution, which once hosted hundreds of thousands of students and researchers.

Today, NUB employees are housed in unsuitable premises that were given to them for temporary use in 1998. And that temporary period expires in a few years, if the NUB and its employees still exist by then.

Without comparing or diminishing the fate that befell a Sarajevo market in November 2023, all possible cantonal officials, including Mayor Karić, flocked to the ashes and promised help. And of course, the vendors who lost everything they had in one minute deserve a swift reaction and help from the authorities, but the question remains: to whom can the employees of NUB BiH turn today? The High Representative? The outgoing Head of the EU Delegation? Politicians have shown their true colors, and the NUB can expect nothing from them.
Ministers in the KS Government are shifting responsibility to each other; the Federal Minister of Education, Jasna Duraković, previously received NUB employees, and in today's letter, she asked the Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Youth to take over the responsibility that the Government committed to and fulfill the legal obligation of co-financing salaries and other costs of NUB BiH.

And while politicians are playing with the fate of this institution and its employees today, tomorrow they will do the same to any other institution, even the state itself.

And if one only looks at the successes of NUB BiH and its membership in professional associations and organizations, it is clear that there are people willing to work, but the workers have also exhausted all their options. Only public pressure remains.

After all, imagine any politician or Mayor Karić working for a month without a salary. How would they pay off loans for apartments, weekend houses, and condos? But they clearly don't wonder how NUB employees survive and how they will face autumn and equip their children for school.