Bosnian-Herzegovinian illustrator, designer, comic book author, and stand-up comedian Filip Andronik is among the first contributors to the War Childhood Museum’s collection. Andronik also holds a Guinness World Record for his collection of 2000 covers of humanitarian aid collected during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he donated to our Museum in 2015. At that time, he entrusted to us that by gathering his collection, he wanted to preserve the memory of an entirely new phenomenon in the former Yugoslavia – humanitarian aid.
Filip Andronik
Filip managed to send a letter to Guinness from besieged Sarajevo
“I wanted to keep a memento of something completely new to Yugoslavia—humanitarian aid. We laughed about it at the time, thinking: Come on, by Monday everything will be back to normal. That’s the real reason why I kept that first tin. But the crisis wasn’t over by Monday, and more tins followed. Soon we were eating things that had never been seen before in Yugoslavia. It was an excellent reason to collect all those wrappers and tins,” Andronik said to us in 2015.
He decided to form his collection until he made it into the Guinness World Records or until the war ended and we stopped receiving aid.
“That’s when I decided to keep collecting either until I made it into the Guinness World Records or until the war ended and we stopped receiving aid. Thanks to the journalists who visited Sarajevo, I was able to send a letter to Guinness. I continued collecting wrappers as I awaited their response. Even though my collection made it into the record book, the number of wrappers is actually greater than the one listed by several hundred,” the Sarajevo artist emphasized.
Among the numerous exhibits donated by Filip, the Icar meat cans stand out and are still remembered today by all the citizens of besieged Sarajevo.
“We even erected a monument to Icar in Sarajevo, but few remember that there were actually three different types of ICAR tin. Because of details like that one, collecting proved to be a good way to preserve our collective memory of that period,” Andronik reminded us.
“So you’re the one!”
After nine years, we spoke again with Filip about his ‘boyhood hobby,’ our Museum, and the famous Icar cans.
When the war began, you were eleven years old, and over the next four years, during the siege of the city, you dedicatedly collected cans and food wrappers, most of which we received from humanitarian aid. How do you perceive that childhood hobby today?
The world around us is changing inevitably, and if I hadn’t collected that collection back then, all those historical artifacts would have disappeared forever from our lives simply because no one else cared about them. The fact that the idea of such a collection was born in the mind of an 11-year-old boy is completely unbelievable to me, even though I am that boy.
Some of the items you donated to us have a special place in our permanent exhibition. Many who come to the Museum inquire about the boy who collected all of this stuff during the war and thus entered the Guinness World Records. Have you ever been contacted personally by someone after they saw your exhibits in our museum?
On the contrary, often when I say ‘my collection is in the War Childhood Museum, the people I’m talking to are surprised, saying, ‘So you’re the one! We saw the collection when we were at the Museum!’ So it often happens the other way around – I introduce myself, and then people connect me with the collection.
“People would stand in line to smell and taste Icar again”
You are one of the first participants in our collection – you know our journey from the beginning up to today. How do you see our path over the past 7 years?
The Museum is one of the most exciting and professional (if not the most exciting and professional) projects I have ever seen. Such dedication, meticulous and professional attitudes towards the experiences and belongings of children… I think the War Childhood Museum is light years ahead of how all other institutions in the city (and country) relate to their material and visitors.
Is there anything you would wish for us to do in the coming years?
I would love for an unopened can of Icar to appear somewhere, and we organize a public opening event. Then, everyone who has eaten it can reminisce about its appearance and smell. Aside from all those websites with nostalgic products from our childhood, I believe people would stand in line to experience Icar smell and taste it again.
