Sarajevo Marlboro: the one after lunch (2 of 3)

"At first there were only two kinds of people in Sarajevo - metaphysicians and robbers. The latter believed in a concrete future while the rest of us believed in a promised future, the one we'd promised ourselves upon realizing that we were different from the killers. Each new massacre gave us new hope in our suffering, and a belief that the horror was about to be stopped, if only because it had gone way beyond the boundaries of good taste. Nobody could believe that things would get worse after Miterrand's visit. He'd seen the devastation and therefore he understood. And if you understand - you'll help us. When he left, the robbers put up the prices, and the Chetniks burned the city hall and all the documentary knowledge in it. It was a sign that the truth was not worth very much".




Miljenko Jergović, "The Letter" in Sarajevo Marlboro, page 142