Destruction of Sarajevo Library

On 25 August 1992, Serb militia besieged the Bosnian city of Sarajevo and destroyed the National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The motive was to eradicate the past and the target was deliberate. The library lost 1.5 million volumes including the Bosniaca collection, which had material on the history and multi-cultural history of Bosnia that featured Jewish, Christian and Muslim materials. The firefighters and librarians were deliberately targeted by Serb snipers. One important book has symbolised the survival of the city, The Sarajevo Haggadah. The Haggadah survived the expulsion of Jews from Spain and was hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. It was also protected during the Siege of Sarajevo. No other building was attacked in the city that day and librarians are continuously working on the reconstruction of Bosnia's libraries and archives.