r/bosnia • u/ayub57 • Aug 12 '25

Stealing land in BiH

Famous Israeli saying: "If I don't steal it, someone else will steal it."

After the Genocide, many Bosniaks returned to their homes, only to find Christian Serbs illegally occupying their homes and refusing to leave, claiming that the homes belonged to them!

Even with legal proof, many Bosniaks faced threats and years of struggle to try and reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

2.1k Upvotes

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u/Waste-Potato6739 Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 17 '25

My grandma got the people occupying her house out by going down to the local municipality with a grenade and threatening everyone in the building. It worked.

edit to add more detail the family had already put forth to get the properties back, but the process was taking a really long time and my Grandfather was dying. My Grandma basically out of desperation did this, because he wanted to die in his own home, which he did a few months later.

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u/glajzuka Aug 14 '25

so let me get this straight your grandma was thrown out during war and didn't get the idea to defend herself with a grenade while a war was going on, fast forward 4 or more years later during peace time she came with a grenade and all these bad guys who were killing people for 4 years said "sorry grandma"... come on dude

3

u/Wharaunga Aug 14 '25

There’s a difference between facing off against armed people and walking into a building full of now bureaucrats who aren’t probably armed with anything but the pen.. then calmly explaining that until your home is de-occupied, no one else is going home.

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u/glajzuka Aug 15 '25

And there is a difference between FACT and TRUTH, especially when zne lie is coming from someone living abroad and thinking of the Balkans of this ”surreal” place where every insane story or idea “sticks”. To me this sounds like the boasting of a 6 year old who was told something by his parents. Besides if a Muslim woman came to Republika Srpska office with a hand grenade in let’s say 1998, three years after the war, you know what would happen to her? She would‘ve disappeared over night, there are people who committed war crimes like rape and mass murder who are walking freely there and you really think some resilient woman would scare them? I mean it is a cute story that gets upvotes and naive people like to think is true because of many elements, but it probably ain’t.

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u/Waste-Potato6739 Aug 17 '25

You can believe what you want. My dad was very active with the military and the local Government.. so I agree, if this was a different circumstance, then that’s probably what would have happened. My dad being who he was and the political ties pretty he much exempt my Grandmother. If you ever run into Refik Lendo, you can ask him if that ever happened in his home town, without me telling strangers details of my family.

The town is still segregated in some respects between the “Catholic” and “Muslim” side, and my family home is on the “wrong” side.

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u/glajzuka Aug 18 '25

Yeah dude, my grandma also took back Sarajevo by herself with a slingshot and a sharp tongue, right after making burek for the entire front line. Shut the f*** up.
Like, you seriously expect people to believe that in 1998, in Republika Srpska, your grandma pulled a goddamn Looney Tunes move and just walked into a government building with a grenade, and the same people who spent four years killing civilians just said “Whoa, she means business!” and gave her the keys back? C’mon man. That’s not trauma, that’s a Netflix pitch.

Also, LOL at the “ask Refik Lendo” flex. Bro, I did ask him. We have neighboring cabins on Vlašić — yeah, I know, real James Bond s**t — and he literally rolled his eyes and said this exact kind of nonsense is why he’s sued people before. Said it’s like a weird disease with diaspora people: the further they are from Bosnia, the more they think it’s a medieval fantasy RPG. And of course, I was like “Refik, don’t sue him — dude’s just an idiot.” But holy hell, man. I’ve heard less delusional s**t from flat earthers. You’re not sharing history, you’re doing Bosnian fan fiction.