On the hill of Čukur above Hrvatska Kostajnica, on August 10, 1991, HRT cameraman Gordan Lederer was killed. JNA General Andrija Rašeta refused permission for the helicopter that was to transport him to the hospital to land.
Croatian Radiotelevision cameraman Gordan Lederer was fatally wounded on this day, August 10, 1991, on the hill of Čukur above Hrvatska Kostajnica, he was 33 years old. An enemy sniper's bullet struck him while he was filming Croatian defenders on the front line, amid a fierce Serbian attack on the Pounje region. His death was not only a loss for journalism but also a harrowing testament to the aggressor's disregard for all principles of humanity.
The cruelty of the tragedy gained an additional dimension after the wounding itself, as reported by the portal Dnevno.hr. Members of the Croatian National Guard and Lederer's colleagues managed to pull him from the line of fire and provide first aid, but General Andrija Rašeta, commander of the so-called JNA corps, refused to grant permission for a helicopter to land. The aircraft was supposed to urgently transport the severely wounded cameraman to a hospital in Zagreb, and due to this refusal and the loss of precious time, Lederer died on the way to Zagreb.
- His only fault was that he carried the truth on his shoulder. The camera in his hands was more dangerous to the aggressor than any weapon, because it revealed to the world who was the victim and who the aggressor, his colleagues from Croatian Television recalled for Direktno.hr.
Born on April 21, 1958, in Zagreb, Lederer graduated in film and television cinematography from the Academy of Dramatic Art in 1989, while simultaneously studying archaeology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences from 1986. That same year, his professional collaboration in film production began, with Mojmir Konič he created the award-winning short film "Maybridge i comp." and also worked as an assistant cameraman on the animated films "Čudesna šuma" and "Čarobnjakov šešir" directed by Mladen Blažeković. He accepted a permanent position at Croatian Television in 1989.
As a war cameraman for HTV, he witnessed key moments of the Homeland War across Croatia, his camera captured the suffering in Kruševo, Kijevo, Knin, Lovinac, Pakrac, Vinkovci, and numerous other places. He even filmed on the Iran-Iraq battlefield. His final assignment, the one in Banija and Pounje, proved fatal, but the legacy he created has become an indelible part of Croatian documentary heritage.
The footage Lederer left behind has entered the anthology. His visual requiem, edited to the song "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits and known as "Banija War Dawns", remains one of the most moving and beautiful testimonies to the defenders of Pounje. Lederer's camera did not glorify war; it focused on the faces of young men on the front line, their defiance, fear, and determination to defend their homes.
At the site of his death on the hill of Čukur, a memorial called "Broken Landscape" stands today, a work by sculptor Petar Barišić and architects from NFO. It is a stylized glass camera lens, pierced and cracked by a sniper's bullet, through which light passes, symbolizing exactly what Lederer did throughout his life: capturing truth in the darkest moments.
