Edhem Bičakčić

Bičakčić was born on 3 May 1884 in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary, in what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina, to a Bosniak merchant family. His paternal uncle Salih Bičakčić was an Ottoman statesman and one of the leaders of the resistance against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For his involvement in the resistance, Edhem's uncle was tried before the court-martial of General Josip Filipović, and eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence.^[1] Following the acquittal, Salih returned to Sarajevo where he and his brother, Edhem's father, established several banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Young Edhem worked on the construction of a small hydropower plant in Hrid, near Sarajevo, on the banks of the Miljacka river.^[2]

CBS News and the Associated Press reported in 2010 that a postcard sent by Bičakčić, dated 13 June 1915, was discovered by a retired jeweler who purchased it at an antique fair in Long Beach, California.^[3][4] Bičakčić had sent a black-and-white photograph as a postcard to his wife Razija, parents and daughters Zekija and Čamka while serving in Hungary during World War I from the town Villány.^[5][6][7] The Bosnian American jeweler who discovered the postcard after 95 years, was visiting his native Sarajevo in June 2010 when he coincidentally met Bičakčić's grandson while looking around a local antique shop in downtown Sarajevo.^[8] Because the grandson had the same last surname as Edhem Bičakčić, the jeweler presented the postcard to the grandson, who immediately recognized his grandfather on the photograph.^[9][10]

Bičakčić was elected as the 9th mayor of Sarajevo in October 1928,^[11] taking over for Ibrahim Hadžiomerović. His term lasted one year. He was re-elected as mayor in 1935 and stayed on post until c. March 1939. Bičakčić is the only mayor of Sarajevo to serve two non-consecutive terms.^[12]

Bičakčić died suddenly of a heart attack on 31 December 1941 in Sarajevo, aged 57.