Author: Peter Maass

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.

A Springtime of No Hope; After a Year of Horror, Slavic Muslims Face a Future of Despair

The Washington Post
April 5, 1993

ZENICA, Bosnia – In a crowded office, the human costs of a year of war are being toted up in nervous scrawlings on white sheets of paper.

Bosnian refugees who have been “ethnically cleansed” from their homes by Serb warriors come to the Center for ...  (Read more)

In Sarajevo, Death and Love-15; ‘Tennis Nut’ Braves Serb Shot and Shell to Publish Magazine

The Washington Post
March 23, 1993

SARAJEVO – The siege of Sarajevo has been hard on tennis fans.

They can no longer play their favorite sport or watch it being played. They can’t even bang a ball against a wall. And most of them haven’t a clue about who won the U.S. Open or whether ...  (Read more)

Bosnia War Crimes Case Opens; Serbs Accused of Massacres, Rapes Face Sarajevo Court

The Washington Post
March 13, 1993

SARAJEVO – An embodiment of the banality of evil shuffled into a Sarajevo courtroom today, wearing a beaten pair of black shoes without laces.

Borislav Herak, self-confessed war criminal, looked like a defeated man on the first day of his trial for mass murder ...  (Read more)

‘Lucky’ Sniper Victim; Bullet Shatters 22-Year-Old’s Arm

The Washington Post
March 12, 1993

SARAJEVO, March 11 – It might be hard to consider a man shot by a sniper as lucky, but that is precisely what Haris Bahtanovic is. Lucky.

Bahtanovic, 22, was walking behind Sarajevo’s Holiday Inn Wednesday, on his way to visit a friend, when he heard the crack ...  (Read more)

Noon Visiting Hours Prove Deadly as Serbs Target Sarajevo Hospital

The Washington Post
March 10, 1993

SARAJEVO – It was midday, and Munira was at the doorstep of Kosevo Hospital’s diagnostic building. She was an architect, and her job was to assess shell damage at the medical complex and supervise repair work.

Midday is the time when the hospital is busiest. ...  (Read more)