A pen portrait of the situation facing the town in mid 20th century appears in Francesca M.Wilson's book Aftermath in which she describes her work with UNRRA in 1946, a year after the end of the Second World War. She meets a Russian émigré who is helping to build the new Yugoslavia. "It was an old Moslem town and rich, but built in a haphazard way, just as it grew. It was famous for its artisans and the fine boots they made - the best in Bosnia. The Orthodox lived in the surrounding country. There was a market and much traffic in livestock and timber and, of course, boots. The Ustaše demolished the Orthodox Church the first day they came in. Then the Orthodox came from nearby and burnt down houses. In the autumn of 1941 the Partisans took the village and held it for six months. When they were forced to leave they also burnt what they could. Rogatitza changed hands six times and each time was burnt. Only the Germans could spare ammunition - they put mines and blew buildings up. "
In due course we reached Rogatica, a model little Turkish village of some two thousand inhabitants, possessing many graceful mosques, its streets alive with the warmth and colour of the East, and its bazaar the same enchanting, but now very familiar pageant of Moslem life Rogatica is, in fact, "Tshelebi Bazar"of the Moslem, and renowned throughout all Islam ; it is still to a certain extent a sacred city, and the numerous cupolas and minarets portend more than the traveller realises. The place has always had a reputation for fanaticism and intolerance, and so strict are the Moslems that during Ramadan the elders watch in the cafes to see that none of the Faithful smoke and to inflict punishment upon any delinquent. Rogatica is a Moslem stronghold, and not the least remarkable fact is that the Christian community, which numbers only about ten per cent of the total inhabitants, should live upon such good terms and in such security. Rogatica is the most conservative town in Bosnia,
