MOSTAR, APRIL 21 (ONASA) – On April 21, 2016 in Bremen, at the age of 87, Hans Koschnick, who was once the European administrator in Mostar, died.
He survived two assassinations in that city, and will be remembered as a “builder of bridges between people”.
Hans Koschnick is a politician who will be remembered by Germans as the long-term president of the Senate in Bremen and the mayor of this city, which has the status of a federal state in the German political system. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina remember Koschnick as the first European administrator of the city of Mostar, the man who tried to reunite that city after the war. Opponents of unification even tried to kill him.
Hans Koschnick was born in 1929 in Bremen. His childhood and youth were marked by his father’s activities in the leadership of the communist labor union “Revolutionary Syndical Opposition”. The father was arrested in May 1933, right after the Nazis came to power. For “high treason” he was sent to prison, and then to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
His mother also spent a year in prison for her activities in the resistance movement against the Nazis. Even after being released from prison, the mother had numerous problems and could not find a job because she refused to join the Nazi labor organization DAF, but also to greet with the Nazi salute, raising her right hand in the air.
Koschnick himself was mobilized as a boy. He awaits the end of the war in British captivity in Brussels. In May 1950, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD. He held various positions in the authorities of Bremen. From 1967 to 1985, he was the president of the Senate, and then the mayor of this city.
At the head of his party, he won elections in Bremen five times. Since 1971, thanks to the great support of citizens, he had the support of the Senate, which consisted only of members of the SPD. He remained famous for the fact that he founded a university in this city, expanded the port, and brought Daimler-Benz plants to this city, and with them many jobs. After leaving office in Bremen, he became a member of the SPD in the federal parliament.
When retirement was already planned in 1994, he assumed the position of European administrator for Mostar, with the task of rebuilding and unifying this devastated city. Already during the first year of his stay in this city, he survived an assassination attempt.
Die Welt writes about that period of his life: “A year and a half in Mostar cost him a lot of strength. He formally united the divided city and was between two fronts until the last moment. He patiently and persistently brought order and spent about 200 million BAM allocated by the EU for the reconstruction of the ruined city. He also showed character during the second assassination attempt on him, when he calmly and stoically endured the attacks of the gathered crowd in his car.”
In February 1996, Hans Koschnick proposed the “Transitional Statute of the City” which envisaged the gradual integration of Mostar through six city municipalities and through the establishment of a large Central Zone. This Central Zone was conceived as a fairly wide zone that would include the entire city center and most of the city’s institutions, and would represent the nucleus of the future united city.
From the beginning, he feels fierce resistance to these plans. Already at the first press conference, he felt the repulsive attitude of Croatian journalists, writes Die Welt: “They were directed from behind by a gray-haired man, who feels only hatred towards Koschnick.” It is about Mija Brajković. For Croatian nationalists at the top of the government, he is just a man who came to Mostar with a Brussels suitcase of money. They would prefer that Koschnick leave the suitcase on the doorstep of his office and immediately return to where he came from.”
Koschnick invested the money where he believed the damage was the greatest – it was on the side of the Neretva where Bosniaks made up the majority. The more he was praised in Europe, the more the nationalists in Mostar hated him. The second assassination of him took place in front of the cameras. He survived only thanks to the German manufacturer of his armored car. In addition to the enraged crowd of Croatian nationalists leaving numerous scratches and damages on the car, the armor also stopped seven bullets.
After the second assassination attempt and after he felt that the European authorities in Brussels had left him in the lurch, he resigned. Regardless of the events in Mostar, he was received with honors all over Europe during his tenure as an administrator. Back in 1995, he received a number of awards, more than any other politician. He receives the Carl von Ossietzky medal, the Otto-Hahn medal, the Theodor-Heuss award. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
After returning to Germany, he turned mainly to humanitarian work, but he was also a foreign policy advisor to the German government. In a way, Mostar also indicated with its name what Hans Koschnick was – a man who builds bridges between people.
His statement will be remembered: “It would be beautiful if people were ready to build small bridges every day.” If they would understand that they are not alone in this world, but live together with many others around them.” (end)