The Greek etymology of the word trauma means injury. Wound, hurt produced by impact. Therefore, trauma always starts with something broken, damaged or ruined.
The material destruction caused by war, apart from the obvious immediate and practical consequences it entails, the terrible anguish of seeing familiar places reduced to dust, also takes away memories, stories and history. Things that reconstruction cannot always fix, because, whether visible or invisible, traces persist. New things lack the texture, the wrinkles, the soul of years.
It’s not the places or the stones that are missing, but what they meant to the people. Sometimes this is emotional legacy that is destroyed, sometimes this is cultural heritage, beauty, and sometimes pride. And there remains the violence, the jolt of the detonation, the blindness of fire and smoke, which outlast the war itself.
On November 9, 1993, the old bridge in the city of Mostar was destroyed by bombshell. It was the most famous monument in the city and was very important since it was the only bridge in the city, divided into two parts by the Neretva river. It was built in 1566, during the Ottoman era and rebuilt identically in 2004 and then listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site a year later (UNESCO). In 2013 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Trial Chamber considered that it was a war crime because its destruction was « disproportionate to the military gains achieved » and also because of the consequences it had on civilians: isolation, supply difficulties, terror (Justiceinfo.net). But in 2017 the Appeals Court decided that the Mostar Bridge was finally a legitimate military target.
In addition to its age and its aesthetic value, this bridge was, and is, a symbol of the coexistence of several ethnic groups, since they linked them - physically - to each other by linking the different districts of Mostar.
Coline Béguet
Original image:
Old postcard of Mostar Bridge, Delcampe.net https://www.delcampe.net/fr/collections/cartes-postales/bosnie-herzegovine/euc084-bosnie-bosnia-erzegovinia-pont-bridge-mostar-stari-most-romerbrucke-moctap-1900s-k-b-d-serie-3005-1055673006.html Euc084 BOSNIE Bosnia Erzegovinia Pont Bridge MOSTAR Stari Most Romerbrucke Moctap 1900s K & B.D Série 3005, Objet n° #1055673006