Bosnian minister sends Nazi helmet to German envoy

Stasa Kosarac, the Bosnian Minister of Foreign Trade, sparked a diplomatic scandal. According to Le Figaro, he sent a helmet from Nazi Germany to the German envoy Christian Schmidt.

In an accompanying letter, which he also posted on Instagram, he called him an 'occupier' and told him that without him, Bosnia had a chance of its own future: 'This helmet is a legacy of your Nazi ancestors who murdered my people during the darkest period of human civilisation'.

Schmidt has served as the high-ranking official charged with overseeing a peace deal in Bosnia since 2021, but his legitimacy has been questioned by Bosnian Serbs from the start.

The German embassy has accused Košarac of disrespect and diplomatic immodesty and warned that such actions are unworthy of a country seeking membership of the European Union.

Schmidt is supposed to enforce an agreement from thirty years ago and discretionary powers in the areas of legislation and the removal of elected representatives. His long-running conflict with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has plunged the country into a political crisis, the most serious since the end of the war. Dodik himself has frequently insulted Schmidt in recent years, calling him a tourist, a fascist, a descendant of fascists and a fraud.

(max)