By Patrick Groeneveld-Meijer

One of my favorite days of the symposium was the tour Carolyn Edgerton gave us of the war sites in downtown Sarajevo. I was immediately impressed by the energy she brought to her presentation as she excitedly unpacked key aspects of the fight for Sarajevo. The angle that Carolyn chose to approach the subject matter was effective. She spent a lot of time relating our location to the front lines and showing us videos of some of the actions and behaviors she was describing.

Throughout the tour, Carolyn showed great enthusiasm for Bosnia and it quickly became apparent that she still has a great passion for the country. She continues to visit regularly and gave me more recommendations on things to do and see than I knew what to do with.

The most interesting part for me was when Carolyn described the process of documenting war crimes. This included physically measuring out lines of fire in order to make sure that claims were legitimate and interviewing potential perpetrators and victims.

Overall, the tour was fantastic, and I highly recommend that IPSI conducts a similar one at their symposium next summer. It was definitely one of my highlights.