There are bullet holes on apartment blocks, civil buildings and places of worship. Even the tombstones in the Jewish cemetery are pockmarked. Located high on the hillside overlooking Sarajevo, the graveyard presented itself as the perfect front line position during the city’s siege in the 1990s. Its graves bear silent witness to the Serbian snipers who hid behind them as they rained down fire on the city nestled in the valley below. On the day of my visit — despite the heavy cloud and drizzle — Sarajevo’s geographical vulnerability was obvious.

Last October the Jewish community marked 450 years in Bosnia with a series of anniversary events held in the capital; these were attended by a cross section of society. I had traveled there together with a delegation from the U.K. humanitarian charity World Jewish Relief, many of whose members had been involved with the Sarajevo community during the civil war and have since continued to play a part in its development.

For more press here: http://forward.com/culture/jewishness/330948/the-secret-jewish-history-of-bosnia-and-sarajevo/

Anne Joseph is a freelance writer based in the United Kingdom.