Admira said: “Only a bullet can separate us.” Unfortunately, fate willed it that way in the end. They fell hit by sniper bullets on the Vrbanja bridge in Sarajevo, but even those could not separate them. Together they closed their eyes forever. Embraced…
On this day, now a distant 1993, one of the most beautiful love stories ended. Sarajevo’s Vrbanja Bridge will forever remain a symbol of the innocent suffering of Boško Brkić and Admira Ismić, two people in love who only wanted to find their “peaceful sea” in the midst of war conflicts for faded ideals.
And their ideal was their great love, which even death could not break. They died at the same moment – embraced! Boško and Admira fell in love very young. They were only 17 when they started their relationship and spent the next 8 years together. They dreamed of a wedding, a shared home, and a family. Different faiths were not an obstacle for them. Boško was an Orthodox Serb, while Admira was a Muslim. Their love was the only thing that mattered to them, and spending the rest of their lives together.
Songs have been sung and films made about this tragic love. In 2013, the band “Zabranjeno pušenje” dedicated the song “Boško i Admira” to them, and director John Zaritsky made the film “Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo.”
But then the war came… As Admira said: “Only a bullet can separate us.” Unfortunately, fate willed it that way in the end. They fell hit by sniper bullets on the Vrbanja bridge in Sarajevo, but even those could not separate them. Together they closed their eyes forever. Embraced.
Their story of an extraordinary and timeless love and suffering was conveyed by American reporter Kurt Schork, thanks to whom photographs of their embraced lifeless bodies traveled the world. They were called the Sarajevo Romeo and Juliet, symbols of suffering because of love. Boško and Admira lay on the mentioned bridge for 7 days. No one wanted to separate and move the embraced lovers, until the eighth day when the Serbian army took the bodies and gave them eternal rest in the Lukovica military cemetery.
Songs have been sung and films made about this tragic love. In 2013, the band “Zabranjeno pušenje” dedicated the song “Boško i Admira” to them, and director John Zaritsky made the film “Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo.” In this documentary, Boško’s mother painfully recounted the details that preceded this tragic event and evoked memories of the extraordinary love of her son and Admira.
They had permission to cross the border line, and they headed across the Vrbanja bridge towards the Grbavica settlement, which was under the control of the Serbian side. That’s when they were hit by sniper fire. Boško fell dead on the spot, while Admira was wounded. Sobbing and in pain, she crawled to Boško’s dead body, hugged him, and died.
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“I raised my sons without thinking about religion and nation. I never told them that they were Serbs and that the others were Croats and Muslims. I didn’t see Admira as a Muslim, as different. I saw her as my son’s girlfriend whom he loved and whom I loved,” said the inconsolable mother.
According to her, their love was great and sincere. Although Boško had lost his father even before the war began and nothing tied him to Sarajevo anymore, despite his mother’s pleas, he did not want to leave it and go to Serbia with her and his brother without Admira. They spent a year in the war turmoil in Sarajevo, when they finally decided to flee and seek happiness and their safe haven in another, more beautiful place.
As Kurt Schork states, Boško and Admira walked 500 meters along the right bank of the Miljacka River, thus being exposed to the views of soldiers from both sides. They had permission to cross the border line, and they headed across the Vrbanja bridge towards the Grbavica settlement, which was under the control of the Serbian side. That’s when, around 5 pm on that fateful May 18, 1993, they were hit by sniper fire. The bullets were fatal. Boško fell dead on the spot, while Admira was wounded. Sobbing and in pain, she crawled to Boško’s dead body, hugged him, and died.
It was never clarified why and who shot the two young people in love, who had done no harm to anyone and posed no threat, but only wanted to spend their lives together in a happier place.
Their parents only learned about the death of their loved ones after two days. “She told me that we would see each other as soon as everything was over. She was smiling, she wasn’t nervous. Boško was, but that’s how they functioned, she was the one who always calmed everything down,” Admira’s mother said on one occasion.
Boško’s mother and Admira’s parents later decided to transfer their remains to the Lav cemetery in Sarajevo, where they still rest together today. On the Vrbanja bridge, the place from which the souls of Boško and Admira forever went to a better world, there is no marker or any mention of the tragic suffering and end of the great love of Boško and Admira.
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Source: Serbian Times; Photo: Privatna arhiva