This is the story of thirteen-year-old Adnan. In the turmoil of the war in Bosnia and
Herzegovina he witnesses the brutal murder of his parents and sister himself severely wounded
by gunshot. This moment marks the beginning of his struggle for survival. Completely on his own
he manages to save himself with his last ounce of strength to a house damaged by the fires that
have been set hoping to escape the still raging battles to survive and to finally be rescued.
But in his hiding place a period of martyrdom begins for him. A psychological masterpiece of
historic importance - the tragedy of a small Bosnian village at the 20th century. A shocking
example of how ethnically different groups that have lived together and accepted each others'
religion customs and habits for many generations were sucked into a human abyss. The boy
badly injured himself had witnessed the killing of his parents and his little sisters. Only
his irrepressible will allowed him to survive these eight days. Hon. Prof. Mag. Dr. Thomas
Müller criminal psychologist former head of Kriminalpsychologischer Dienst Austrian Ministry
of the Interior - Vienna An exceptional text of greatest importance to grab - after almost
three decades - the madness of the »ethnic cleansing« in former Yugoslavia. Thomas Obruca who
investigated the HVO forces attack on the village of Ahmici on April 16th 1993 for the
International Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague describes the inconceivable. The unimaginable
experience of the thirteen-year-old Adnan to watch the killing of his family and live through
eight days full of anxiety before being found by UN-peace forces. By delving into the matter
there might be a way out of similar atrocities. Hopefully! Manfred Nowak Univ. Prof. for Human
Rights - Vienna General Secretary of the Global Campus of Human Rights - Venice
