Product Description
At the beginning of the wars in Yugoslavia, the director of Gamma Press Images called me from Paris. He said he would understand if I refused to cover the conflict, but if I accepted, he guaranteed that my photographs would be widely published in newspapers around the world. Neither my wife Dobrila nor I were enthusiastic about the offer, but we believed the fighting would last only a few days and soon come to an end.
I accepted and went to the front line in Croatia. It was the first time in my life that I found myself in the midst of active warfare. I struggled to adapt, relying heavily on advice from more experienced colleagues. Discipline among soldiers and volunteers was fragile, alcohol was consumed excessively, and the atmosphere was tense and unpredictable.
Many of the soldiers I encountered were still boys — sent to kill people they did not know, or to be killed themselves. This photograph captures a moment of fragile humanity: a young soldier gently holding a puppy while sitting on a tank. The contrast between innocence and machinery of war reflects the brutal essence of this conflict, where youth was forced to carry an unbearable emotional and moral burden.