Jasminko Halilovic.
Working at the intersection of memory, peacebuilding, and social impact.
Jasminko Halilovic is the Founder and Director-General of the War Childhood Museum (WCM), the world's only museum dedicated to the experiences of children affected by war. The WCM received the Council of Europe Museum Prize as part of the European Museum of the Year program.
Jasminko has written and edited several books, including Sarajevo – My City, a Place to Meet and the award-winning War Childhood, translated into six languages.
He has served as a keynote speaker at conferences in over 15 countries on museums, peacebuilding, and entrepreneurship. He frequently presents and lectures at universities worldwide and has contributed to outlets including The Huffington Post, Asahi Shimbun, and Politico.
In 2018, Halilovic became the first Bosnian on Forbes' Europe "30 under 30" list, and in 2023 he was named a European Young Leader (EYL40).
An entrepreneur since age 16, he has co-founded several businesses, including Balkan Transfer, a regional platform for airport mobility. He later dedicated himself fully to his nonprofit initiative, the War Childhood Museum. Jasminko is also an avid traveler, having visited over 100 countries across all continents.
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2017
EN
War Childhood
English edition of War Childhood.
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2015
JP
ぼくたちは戦場で育った サラエボ1992─1995
Japanese edition. Selected by Asahi Shimbun as one of three books to read in 2015.
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2014
DE
Kindheit im Krieg
German edition of War Childhood.
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2013
BS
Djetinjstvo u ratu
Bosnian edition of War Childhood. Won the Special Jury Award at Sarajevo International Book Fair 2013.
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2010
BS·EN
Sarajevo – My City, a Place to Meet
Bilingual photo-monograph about Sarajevo.
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2007
BS·EN
Sarajevo Way
Bilingual guide through Sarajevo. The first blog in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be published as a book.
War Childhood
Museum.
Emerging from the crowd-sourced book War Childhood, the independent nonprofit War Childhood Museum has gained international recognition as the world’s only museum focused exclusively on childhoods affected by war.
Built around a unique collection of personal objects and stories from more than 20 armed conflicts, the WCM preserves an irreplaceable part of the world’s memory: the testimonies of children whose lives have been shaped by war. Its first permanent exhibition opened in January 2017, seven years after the project’s beginnings, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then, the WCM has expanded its work to contemporary conflict, post-conflict, and resettlement contexts. Today, with offices in three countries and projects in several more, it has become an international platform that gives voice to current and former war children. Through research, exhibitions, and education programs that reach hundreds of thousands of people each year, the WCM has also become an important voice for peace.
The 2018 Council of Europe Museum Prize – one of the most prestigious awards in the museum industry – was awarded to the War Childhood Museum as part of the European Museum of the Year Awards.
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