The siege of Sarajevo and the violence committed by Bosnian Serb troops against the city and its population are among the best known and most studied events of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Less well known than this violence against the city are the acts of violence committed inside the city by its defenders in response to the siege, which contributed to affecting the population even more than it already was. This paper focuses on this „internal zone of violence“ (Jelena Golubović) and looks specifically at the situation of Serbs living inside the besieged Sarajevo, to examine the extent to which they were victims of this internal violence. This highly controversial topic within Bosnia-Herzegovina has so far attracted little scientific research. In this context, the aim of this article is not to offer an in-depth study, but to outline, on the basis of existing literature and sources, a provisional synthesis of established facts and open questions and to formulate proposals for future research.
I published this article originally in French in the Revue Historique des Armées, 2022/1 (N° 304), p. 9-25. In March 2026, I established an English version to make it also available for interested persons who are not reading French. This English version, in which I included some bibliographical updates in the footnotes (marked by [ ]), is available here:
ENGLISH VERSION