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Arnold Schwarzenegger honoured Hodžić’s exceptional sportsmanship and character, recalling the greatness of the Prijedor native, who, along with his family, was taken from their home on July 9, 1992, and executed near their residence in Trnopolje, one among the many killed in the Srebrenica Genocide
By Aayushi Rana
Heartfelt tribute to a fallen champion
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-American actor, former politician and Governor of California, a former body-builder, mourned the loss of Fikret Hodžić, a multiple champion of the former Yugoslavia, European vice-champion, Mediterranean champion, and bronze medalist at the World Bodybuilding Championships. Hodžić was murdered killed in Trnopolje near Prijedor.
In a heartfelt letter to Fikret’s son, Džemal Hodžić, sent via the US Embassy in Vienna in 1993, Schwarzenegger expressed deep sorrow over the death of the world-class athlete. He honoured Hodžić’s exceptional sportsmanship and character, recalling the greatness of the Prijedor native, who, along with his family, was taken from their home on July 9, 1992, and executed near their residence in Trnopolje, in the hamlet of Haskići, one among the many killed in the Srebrenica Genocide.
Dear Dzemal,
I learned of the death of your father, Fikret Hodzic, through the American Embassy in Vienna, and I cannot tell you how deeply sorry I am. This is a tragedy beyond words, and I wish there was something I could do to change what happened. I am thankful that you, your mother and sister, were able to escape and find sanctuary in Vienna.
I am very much aware of your father and what a great bodybuilding champion he was. You can be proud of him. We, in the bodybuilding community, all had great respect for him, and I remember well when your father won 3rd place at the 1981 Mr. Universe Contest in Cairo, Egypt. He was in his greatest shape ever then!
As much as this will be difficult, you will need to put this tragedy behind you, Dzemal, and go on with your life. Try to keep in mind that your father, Fikret, would have wanted you to lead a happy, constructive life, and always do those things that would have made him proud of you. You and your sister will be a source of comfort for your mother, who has lost her beloved husband, and she will need your strength as she tries to make a new home for all of you. None of this will be easy for you, but for reasons beyond our comprehension, some of us are dealt more difficult cards than others.
With the hope that this might help to add a glimmer of cheer to your life, I have enclosed some little gifts for you and your family, namely 3 World Gym sweat suits which I hope will fit each of you. I have also signed a couple of pictures for you to keep as inspiration.
Heliodrom concentration camp
The Heliodrom camp was located at a former military facility of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), south of the town of Mostar (city of Bosnia). The camp operated between September 1993 and April 1994. It was run by the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) to detain mostly Bosniaks and other non-Croats. More than 20,000 detainees were held in the Heliodrom concentration camp, and brutalised in in various ways. More than 100 detainees were killed.
Conditions at the Heliodrom camp were inhuman, with severe overcrowding, inadequate medical and sanitary facilities, insufficient food and water, inadequate ventilation, and in the summer, suffocating heat. Detainees often slept on concrete floors with no bedding or blankets.
HVO forces regularly mistreated and abused Bosniak detainees, both at the Heliodrom itself, and at various locations where detainees were taken for forced labour; they were used as human shields or other purposes. The cruel treatment was routine and relentless, and it inflicted intense suffering, with HVO soldiers and guards beating up detainees, often to the point of making them unconsciousness with severe injuries. Bosniak detainees lived in constant fear of physical and mental abuse.
Timeline of the Srebrenica Genocide
A silent witness of mercy and aid, a tote that carried hope through Srebrenica’s shade
A tote bag from Première Urgence Internationale, a French non-profit, non-political, and secular humanitarian organization. They provided aid to Bosnians during the Srebrenica genocide.
Ashes…
In shadows they plotted, with hatred they came,
Turning a town into ashes and shame
A brief history of Genocide
In the heart of Bosnia, a haunting legacy continues to linger on, as a simmering moment of pain, which simply refuses to go away. This photo feature offers a glimpse into the Sarajevo Museum’s powerful and deeply disturbing exhibits, showcasing the intense pain, and the resilience of the human spirit amid unimaginable suffering.
Through these images, we honour and remember the victims and survivors, and strive to hope that such atrocities are never repeated again, in any society, in the world.
During most of the 1992-95 armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia was an enclave under Bosnian Muslim control by the Army of the Republic of BiH (BiH Army). Tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims from the surrounding areas, fleeing the attacks of Bosnian Serb forces on their towns and villages, sought shelter in Srebrenica.
For three years, Bosnian Serb forces besieged the enclave and frequently shelled it. They controlled the access roads and impeded international humanitarian aid such as food and medicine.
Srebrenica town was saturated with refugees. People camped in the stairwells and corridors of apartment buildings, inside cars, and in public buildings such as schools and sports centres, while others were hungry and roofless, with no shelter at all; they huddled, out in the open, in temperatures that dropped to -25°C at night during winter.
Most who had fled to Srebrenica had little food since leaving their villages, and the only water source, the river, was heavily polluted with offal, excrement, and oil. In March 1995, Radovan Karadžić, president and supreme commander of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed entity, Republika Srpska, instructed Bosnian Serb forces to eliminate the Muslim population from the Srebrenica and Žepa enclaves.’Directive 7′, as it became known, served as a precursor to the ghastly crimes of July, 1995.
The army had this order: “By planned and well thought-out combat operations, create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for inhabitants of Srebrenica and Žepa.”
The Directive was transformed into a concrete plan, which started with an operation code-named Krivaja 95, and ended with up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed or still missing, and up to 30,000 Bosnian Muslim women, children and elderly persons forcibly transferred from the enclave.
From the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
This is part 3 of a series of five photo features which will be carried in timesheadline.in
in the days to come.
Photographs by Aayushi Rana.