Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War Kenneth Morrison Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War Kenneth Morrison Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn on the Frontline of Politics and War Kenneth Morrison Department of History De Montfort University Leicester , UK ISBN 978-1-137-57717-7 ISBN 978-1-137-57718-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-57718-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016938713 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London For Anne and Grant Simpson FOREWORD Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn was the ultimate war-zone hotel. Established as the prestige hotel for the Sarajevo Winter Olympics of 1984, the Holiday Inn was subject to shell and sniper fi re for the duration of the 1992–95 Bosnian war, the most brutal of the wars that marked the death of the Yugoslav state. One of the fi rst acts of the war that tore Bosnia and Herzegovina apart took place on 6 April 1992, when shots were fi red, probably from the hotel itself, into a crowd of peace demonstrators assembled outside the Bosnian parliament building opposite. The hotel, at the time the headquar- ters of the ‘crisis staff’ of Radovan Karadžić’s Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), was then stormed by the crowd and ransacked. In the confl ict that followed, Sarajevo was placed under siege, and the Holiday Inn would stand only two hundred yards from the frontline and from sniper positions in Grbavica; its south side was rendered uninhabitable by shellfi re. Yet it continued to function throughout the siege. The hotel’s history deserves a book to itself, and fi nally, thanks to Kenneth Morrison, it has one. In this well-researched and fascinating monograph, he pays proper tribute to the local staff who kept the place going in the most dangerous of conditions, and to such estimable journalists as John F. Burns of the New York Times and Kurt Schork of Reuters who enjoyed or endured its hospitality. Of course, not everyone thought so fondly of it. A fi eld pro- ducer for one of the American TV networks, with a reputation well estab- lished in other trouble spots, arrived in Sarajevo one day in the summer of 1992, took one look at the hotel and the war, took against both of them, and fl ed for safety the next day. Most of us thought otherwise, and we made the Holiday Inn our Sarajevo home when reporting from the city. vii viii FOREWORD Kenneth Morrison’s book is full of surprises and incisive observations, revealing even for those veteran correspondents who were regular visitors throughout the siege. And for those correspondents who came to know it well, the Holiday Inn, Sarajevo, will always be what it was: the most special hotel in the world. Martin Bell, OBE London ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book could not have been written without the help and encouragement of a signifi cant number of people. At the (former) Holiday Inn, Sarajevo, I would like to give thanks to staff past and present, some of whom have worked there since the hotel fi rst opened its doors on 19 October 1983, who have provided me with signifi cant help and valuable insights. Foremost among them is Amira Delalić, now a citizen of Jacksonville, Florida, who worked in the Holiday Inn for a ten-year period between 1985 and 1995. She was a constant source of help, ideas, suggestions, and encouragement at crucial periods in the process of researching and writing this book. I would also like to thank, in particular, Rajko Dragović, Slobodan Kakuća, Ismet ‘Crni’ Mršević, Esad ‘Eso’ Bajraktarević, Manuela Ivanković, and Mersija ‘Buba’ Tutundžić for their help and Alena Bukvić, who arranged for me to access what remains of the hotel’s archive. All work, or have worked, at the Holiday Inn, Sarajevo, and collectively they have an intimate knowledge of the hotel and its history. Without their input, this book sim- ply could not have been written. Thanks also to Ivan Štraus (the architect who designed the Holiday Inn and many other remarkable buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond) and Dragana Štraus for fascinating insights into the design and construction of the hotel. A better understanding of life in the Holiday Inn during the siege of Sarajevo could not have been achieved without the input of the numerous journalists, photojournalists, stringers, and translators from the numerous media organisations and agencies that operated from within the hotel. They provided me with intriguing and unique insights. I am indebted to Joel Brand, Allan Little, and Džemal Bećirević for the patience and time ix x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS they gave to reading various drafts and engaging in lengthy discussions. Thanks also to Chris Ryder, Janine di Giovanni, Martin Bell, Jeremy Bowen, John F. Burns, Remy Ourdan, Florence Hartmann, Stephane Maniér, Robert King, Ariane Quentier, Marcus Tanner, Maggie O’ Kane, Michael Montgomery, Chuck Sudetić, Malcolm Brabant, Tim Judah, Rosie Whitehouse, Kevin Sullivan, Charlotte Eagar, Sean Maguire, Peter Maass, Nic Robertson, Paul Lowe, Sebastian Rich, John Sweeney, Colin Smith, Amra Abadžić-Lowe, Victoria Clark, Phil Davison, Paul Harris, Sabina Ćosić, Samir Korić, Senada Kreso, Zoran Stevanović, Aida Ćerkez, Zoran Kusovac, and Vaughan Smith at the Frontline Club in London. Thanks also to Ismet ‘Nuno’ Arnautalić at SAGA Film, Sarajevo, and Sam Wilson at BBC News. Gratitude, too, to many colleagues who have provided assistance and advice throughout. Prof. Robert Donia, Dr Miran Norderland, and Dr Neven Andjelić helped me greatly with advice and contacts and were sources of great encouragement from the outset. During the research process, I drew on the expertise of Dr James Lyon, Prof. Dr Jason Vuić, Prof. Peter Andreas, Dr Damir Arsenijević, Dr Adam Ramadan, Dr Sara Fregonese, Prof. Nigel Osborne, Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, and Chris Bennett throughout the writing process. My colleagues at De Montfort University have, as ever, been supportive throughout. Thanks also to Eshaan Patel for transcribing the vast amount of audio interviews with such great care and diligence. Thanks to my kum Bojan Galić, who was born and spent the early part of his life in Sarajevo, and Ruud Peeten and Neven Pajović for their friendship, advice, knowledge, and enthusiasm for the project. As always, this book could not have been written without the love, support, and patience of my family, in particular Helen and my wonderful daughter Hannah. CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Hotels as Strategic Assets, Prestige Targets, and Sanctuaries 7 3 Press Hotels in Confl ict Zones 33 4 The Construction of Sarajevo’s ‘Olympic Hotel’ 47 5 Politics Comes to the Holiday Inn 71 6 In Residence: Radovan Karadžić and the SDS 83 7 Crossing the Rubicon: The Outbreak of War in Sarajevo 103 8 A New Reality, A New Clientele 117 9 The Hazards of Living on the Frontline 141 xi xii CONTENTS 10 Hostelry in Extremis 165 11 The Targeting of the Holiday Inn 193 12 The Rebirth and Demise of Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn 203 References 217 Index 235 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kenneth Morrison is a Reader in Modern Southeast European History and Co-Director of the Jean Monnet Centre for European Governance (JM-CEG) at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, and was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2012. He has written extensively on the modern history of the Balkans and is the author of Montenegro: A Modern History (2009) and (with Elizabeth Roberts) The Sandžak: A History (2013). xiii ABBREVIATIONS ABC American Broadcasting Company AP Associated Press BBC British Broadcasting Corporation CANBAT Canadian Peacekeeping Battalion in Bosnia and Herzegovina CIA Central Intelligence Agency COMINFORM Communist Information Bureau CNN Cable News Network CSCE Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe DPA Dayton Peace Agreement DUTCHBAT Dutch Peacekeeping Battalion in Bosnia and Herzegovina EC European Community ECMM European Community Monitoring Mission EOKA Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) EU European Union FMLN Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front FREBAT French Peacekeeping Battalion in Bosnia and Herzegovina