In memoriam Enver Cengic

Enver Cengic Sarajevo - 1996

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us ; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal" Albert Pike "The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity" Seneca

On the 7th of February 2004, Enver Cengic (Chengich), director of Bosnia and Herzegovina RTV Archive, passed away after three months of struggle with lung cancer.

Everybody remembers this little man with big glasses and a cigarette constantly between his fingers…

Enver became the director of TV archive immediately before the war in Yugoslavia started. Before that, he was a famous maker of documentaries.

On a daily basis, during the five years of the Sarajevo siege, grenades were pulverizing the building he was working in. But he managed to save the archive and all his workers. Unfortunately, on the last day of the war, just a few minutes before the proclamation of peace, a piece of shrapnel found its way to his wife's heart and killed her in their flat.

Even though he never spoke a single foreign language, Enver always thought highly of international activities, especially the ones connected with FIAT/IFTA membership. He participated in all FIAT/IFTA conferences since the year 1995.

In the year 2000, he hosted the very successful EBU/FIAT/IFTA film preservation seminar for Balkan TV archivists.

With his unselfish work and authority, he greatly advanced the work of his TV archive in spite of the severe economic situation in RTV BiH. In particular, he was happy to receive new technical equipment from friendly countries. As we speak, there is work in progress concerning the installation of the new equipment for archive storage of film. Enver had been working on this project for ten years but he was not enough lucky to see its achievement.

Enver was my good old friend and his unanticipated departure affected me heavily.

Honours and glory to Enver!

Dr Branko Bubenik

Branko Bubenik & Enver Cengic - Sarajevo, 2000