Day 19: Srebrenica

On Sunday, we went to Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina in the territory of Republika Srpska.  This town is famous for the atrocities that occurred in July 1995.  Genocide took place, in which over 8000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered.  This was an incident of ethnic cleansing, yet where all the men were killed based on their ethnicity.   

This site is also a symbol of international acquiescence in the face of murder.  The United Nations declared Srebrenica to be a “safe area”.  However, General Ratko Mladic decided to ignore the UN and marched into the town.  UN troops seemingly allowed Bosnian Serb troops to go into Srebrenica and conduct mass executions.  Basically, all men between 16 and 65 were slaughtered.  It is an absolutely tragic example of human indifference.  Srebrenica came to be known as a symbol.  It now comes to mean “never again”.   Never again shall human beings have tolerance towards mass murder.  Never again shall the world witness genocide.  Never again shall another Srebrenica occur.

We went to the memorial sites where the victims of the genocide.  There are thousands of graves lining the site.  A mosque sits at the entrance as well.  When I walked through the pathways, I was hit by a strong feeling of distress.  How could such a tragedy happen?  One always reads about such events in history textbooks, but to actually see the graves and the names engraved is very different.  Over 8000 people were systematically murdered.  It is quite shocking to stand in a site where such horror took place.

We later went into the museum that displays the history of that dreadful July of 1995.  It also has incredibly sad stories of men who were killed in the genocide.  Their stories are portraits of human tragedy, and wickedness regarding their murderers.  It is quite a somber experience.

After witnessing the devastation that took place in Srebrenica, we went to a nearby town where Bosnian Serbs are buried.  Bosnian Serbs, who are seen as the main aggressor in the war in Bosnia, built a memorial to counter Srebrenica.  Basically the memorial states that innocent Bosnian Serbs died as well.  The international community largely financed the Srebrenica memorial.  However, Bosnian Serbs were not buried there.  Thus the Serbs paid for their own memorial to state that they also suffered heavily in the war.

Overall, the experience was quite remarkable. I am very glad to have gone there, as it was academically fascinating to see the memorial.  Although it was personally chilling to be on the grounds of such an infamous site, it was a great experience to learn about an incredibly important historical matter.