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Bosko Brkic, a Bosnian Serb, and his Bosniak girlfriend, Admira Ismic, became a symbol of the Bosnian war when they were shot dead in Sarajevo on May 19, 1993.
American photojournalist Mark H. Milstein spent May 19, 1993 cruising around Sarajevo with a Japanese freelance TV cameraman and an American journalist. It was more than a year after the siege of the city by Serb forces had begun, and they decided to check out the front line around the Vrbanja Bridge.
“Suddenly, a Serb tank appeared 200 metres in front of us and fired over our heads. We scrambled to the next apartment house and found ourselves holed up with a group of Bosnian soldiers,” Milstein recalled. “One of the soldiers yelled at me to look out the window, pointing at a young girl and boy running on the far side of the bridge. I grabbed my camera, but it was too late. The boy and girl were shot.”
The photograph that Milstein took of their dead bodies lying on the bridge would become famous:
“Two lovers lie dead on the banks of Sarajevo’s Miljacka River, locked in a final embrace. Bosko Brkic and Admira Ismic, both 25, were shot dead trying to escape the besieged Bosnian capital for Serbia.”
Sweethearts since high school, he was a Serb, and she was a Muslim. The government side says Serb soldiers shot the couple, but Serb forces insist Bosnian Muslim-led government troops were responsible.
Media around the world immediately picked up the story of the couple from different ethnic backgrounds whose deaths seemed to be a symbol of the tragedy of the Bosnian war.
Nera Ismic, Admira's mother, say: “Every time I would leave home, I would turn around and wave to my family because I never knew if I would come back.” “Every citizen had a bullet with his name on it.”
Admira Ismic and Bosko Brckic pose for a picture after their high school graduation in 1985
It is not known with certainty who fired the shots. For eight days, their remains lay down near the bridge while the Serb and Bosniak authorities continued to accuse each other of shooting them. In the end, the Bosnian Serb Army ordered Muslim prisoners to retrieve the bodies.
Some 100,000 people were killed during the war that lasted nearly four years, including 14 members of Ismic’s own family.
At least 12,000 are estimated to have been killed in Sarajevo alone.
American photojournalist Mark H. Milstein spent May 19, 1993 cruising around Sarajevo with a Japanese freelance TV cameraman and an American journalist. It was more than a year after the siege of the city by Serb forces had begun, and they decided to check out the front line around the Vrbanja Bridge.
“Suddenly, a Serb tank appeared 200 metres in front of us and fired over our heads. We scrambled to the next apartment house and found ourselves holed up with a group of Bosnian soldiers,” Milstein recalled. “One of the soldiers yelled at me to look out the window, pointing at a young girl and boy running on the far side of the bridge. I grabbed my camera, but it was too late. The boy and girl were shot.”
The photograph that Milstein took of their dead bodies lying on the bridge would become famous:
“Two lovers lie dead on the banks of Sarajevo’s Miljacka River, locked in a final embrace. Bosko Brkic and Admira Ismic, both 25, were shot dead trying to escape the besieged Bosnian capital for Serbia.”
Sweethearts since high school, he was a Serb, and she was a Muslim. The government side says Serb soldiers shot the couple, but Serb forces insist Bosnian Muslim-led government troops were responsible.
Media around the world immediately picked up the story of the couple from different ethnic backgrounds whose deaths seemed to be a symbol of the tragedy of the Bosnian war.
Nera Ismic, Admira's mother, say: “Every time I would leave home, I would turn around and wave to my family because I never knew if I would come back.” “Every citizen had a bullet with his name on it.”
Admira Ismic and Bosko Brckic pose for a picture after their high school graduation in 1985
It is not known with certainty who fired the shots. For eight days, their remains lay down near the bridge while the Serb and Bosniak authorities continued to accuse each other of shooting them. In the end, the Bosnian Serb Army ordered Muslim prisoners to retrieve the bodies.
Some 100,000 people were killed during the war that lasted nearly four years, including 14 members of Ismic’s own family.
At least 12,000 are estimated to have been killed in Sarajevo alone.