SOS balkanroute

to remember is to resist
a people are dying at europe’s borders. these deaths are not tragic accidents, isolated incidents, or unavoidable events. they are the consequence of border closures, pushbacks on land and at sea, and europe’s policy of sealing itself off from people fleeing war, persecution, and poverty. these people are dying because europe allows it – even though there are ways to prevent it.
between 2014 and 2025, at least 33,740 people lost their lives on routes to europe (source: iom). the true number is likely to be far higher. human lives reduced to numbers in reports, with names that often remain unknown.
we do not look away when people are in need. we do not stand by while people are dying. we do not forget, nor do we suppress, the deaths of thousands. to remember them is already an act of resistance – against looking away, against forgetting.
  with the support of local activists in bosnia and herzegovina, sos balkanroute is creating a burial site with gravestones for people who died while fleeing. in this way, they receive in death a measure of the dignity and respect that was denied to them in life – made possible through donations. gravestones for those not yet identified bear the inscription “n.n. – no name.”
the pillars of remembrance at yppenplatz stand as a warning and a memorial to those killed by “fortress europe,” as part of the project sos balkanroute – challenging borders during wienwoche 2025.
duration: september–october 2025.?