The Cellist of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway

How do you build it all up again? Do the people who destroyed the city also rebuild it? Is the city reconstructed so that it can be wiped away again someday, or do people believe that this will be the last time such a project will be necessary, that from now on things will last forever? Though he can’t quite put his finger on the specifics of this question, he believes that the character of those who will build the city again is more important than the makeup of those who destroyed it. Of course the men on the hills are evil. There’s no room for nuance in that. But if a city is made anew by men of questionable character, what will it be? He thinks of the men in the fancy cars who bought his washing machine with a few kilos of potatoes and onions. They shouldn’t be the ones who get to make a new Sarajevo, if and when it is time for such a thing to be born.

Who will rebuild a city