Džemil Hodžić

Džemil Hodžić

(Amel on the Left and Džemil Hodžić in 1991 before the Bosnian War.)

Džemil Hodžić was born in 1983 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (Present-Day Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.)

He and his Brother, Amel, lived a typical Child’s lived in Communist Yugoslavia.

Džemil said of his Pre-War Life: “I remember how life was, a simple, worriless and carefree adventure, it was as if nothing really mattered. My brother and I would walk to school and come back home, eat, go out, play and do the things every child does. Play till you collapse, sometimes skipping meals because of a child’s hyper-euphoric adrenalin rush. We didn’t want to miss anything. Being outside was our food, days were too short, endless happiness.”

That all changed in 1992.

He was almost 9 years old and finishing 3^rd Grade when the Bosnian War began.

Sarajevo, the Capital of a newly Independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, was under Siege by 13,000 Bosnian Serbs and the Serbs from Yugoslavia (Present-Day Serbia.)

The Siege of Sarajevo started on April 5, 1992 and lasted until February 29, 1996 (1,425 days) making it the longest Siege of a Capital City in Modern Times.

For Reference the Siege of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) during World War lasted 872 days.

380,000 Men, Women and Children (Bosniak, Bosnian-Croats and Bosnian-Serbs) lived in the Capital during the Siege (out of a 1991 Population of 525,980.

329 bombs fell on Sarajevo every single day during the Siege.

500,000 bombs were dropped on Sarajevo during the Siege.

2,000 tons of food was dropped into Sarajevo every week during the Siege to help the staving People.

13,952 Men, Women and Children were killed during the Siege and another 56,000 were wounded.

 Džemil’s Father joined the Bosnian Army to protect his Family and his Mother worked as a Nurse.

On May 3, 1995, during a Brief Truce on both Sides,12 year old  Džemil and 16 year old Amel were playing outside (Džemil was playing marbles and Amel was playing tennis) when a Serbian Sniper shot Amel in the chest.

Amel, holding his chest, tried walking to their house while Džemil went inside to get his Mother and to call an ambulance.

Amel died in his Mother’s lap while Džemil watched on.

Džemil Hodžić survived the Bosnian War and the Siege of Sarajevo.

(Džemil Hodžić)

Years after the Bosnian War ended. Džemil Hodžić created the Sniper Ally Project to both find out more information about Amel and other Family Members as well as to get Testimonies and Photographs of the Siege of Sarajevo.

Sniper Alley Project is in reference to Sniper Alley" (Bosnian: Snajperska aleja / Снајперска алеја) the informal name of Ulica Zmaja od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia Street) and Meša Selimović Boulevard) – the largest Boulevard in Sarajevo where Serbian Snipers would regularly shoot and kill Civilians who had to run through the two Streets to get to other parts of the City.

While Džemil’s Brother was not killed in Sniper Vally itself he was killed by a Sniper,

After the War, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted 4 Serb Officials for numerous counts of Crimes Against Humanity which they committed during the Siege, including Terrorism.

Stanislav Galić and Dragomir Milošević were sentenced to Life Imprisonment and 29 years Imprisonment respectively.

Their Superiors, Radovan Karadžić (President of the Bosnian Serbian Republic during the War) and Ratko Mladić (Leader of the Bosnian Serbian Army during the War) were also convicted and sentenced to Life Imprisonment.