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Remembering
András Riedlmayer
1947-2026
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By Darryl Li
Author of The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of
Solidarity:
I must
have been a junior in college when I first walked into András Riedlmayer's
office, then in the basement of the Harvard Fine Arts Library, and learned of
his quietly heroic efforts against the destruction of cultural heritage in the
Balkans. András did what anyone should do: he found ways to use his skills and
resources to help, an exemplary kind of librarianship for justice.
When the
Bosnian Serb army firebombed the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo, torching
countless manuscripts, András tracked down every researcher he could find who
had visited the library and made copies to reconstruct what was lost. When
Albanians were ethnically cleansed from Kosovo and stripped of their identity
documents to complicate any efforts to return, claim property, or vote, András
scoured libraries around the world for old phone books of Kosovo to help
refugees establish their official identities.
András of
course is best known for his meticulous efforts to document the destruction of
mosques and other Islamic heritage sites during the genocide and ethnic
cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He testified multiple times in the Hague,
including once being cross-examined personally by top génocidaire Radovan
Karadžić himself.
I am one
of many people who benefited enormously from András' encyclopedic knowledge and
boundless generosity and patience. He was essentially a shadow member of my
dissertation committee, always sending along helpful sources and sharing his
insight and wisdom. András was humble and principled --and unlike quite a few
Americans who attached themselves to the Bosnian cause, he was unequivocal in
his support for Palestine. I will miss him dearly.
In his
last email to me, András quipped "Ars longa, vita brevis." Indeed, dragi moj. I
cannot find the words for a farewell, so the only fitting way I can think of to
end a tribute to András is to share a bibliographic source --
The András Riedlmayer Collection at the University of Connecticut.