BOSNIAN GENOCIDE
EDUCATION & TEACHING
How It Started
During the War
Today
How it Started
After the break-up of Yugoslavia, each country in the Balkans became its own independent state. During this period, Serbia's president, Slobodan Milošević desired a "greater Serbia".
There was an attempt by the European Community to create new divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina into ethnic “cantons” during February and March 1992. Each ethnic party rejected this attempt. After Bosnia declared its independence, Serb forces began killing and torturing civilians in various cities across the country immediately.
What Happened During the War?
Serb forces aimed to ethnically cleanse the country of Bosnia. Concentration camps were set up to dehumanize and torture individuals. Homes were destroyed, women were raped, and many families were forced to flee.
The United Nations (UN) refused to intervene in the Bosnian War, but UN Protection Force troops did provide aid to various areas. Eventually there was the creation of UN “safe areas.” However, the UN failed to protect the main safe area of Srebrenica in July 1995. Bosnian Serb forces perpetrated the massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys, while women and children were forced to leave (Lampe).
After the Srebrenica massacre and another attack on Sarajevo, NATO undertook air strikes late in 1995. This led Bosnian Serb forces to agree to U.S. sponsored peace talks in Dayton in November. The resulting Dayton Accords called for a federalized Bosnia and Herzegovina in which 51 percent of the land would be a Croat-Bosniak federation and 49 percent a Serb republic (Lampe).
Personal Accounts
My mother and her brother at their home in Bosnia.
My father and his family after he completed his training to be in the military.
My uncle who fought in the war and survived. He was injured during it and now lives with a disability. However, he continues to live in Bosnia.
My grandfather who is not pictured, also fought alongside his son during the war. He went missing in 1994 and his body has yet to be found.
My parents arrived to the U.S in 1997.
“Thousands of men executed and buried in mass graves, hundreds of men buried alive, men and women mutilated and slaughtered, children killed before their mothers’ eyes, a grandfather forced to eat the liver of his own grandson. These are truly scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of
human history.”
Fouad Riad
Other Accounts From Friends
Smajo and Senad Salihovic from Srebrenica. Both lives were lost during the war.
Dzemal Dedic from Breznik. He survived and now lives in Germany with his wife and children.
Today
Serbs celebrated a day that marks the creation of the Republika Srpska. January 9th 1992 Bosnian Serbs declared independence, this would then result in the war that has killed over 100,000 Bosnians. Bosnias Constitutional Court declared this holiday illegal because it "discriminated against the region's Catholic Croat and Muslim Bosniak communities (Reuters).
According to Liz Throssell, "people had chanted the name of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic during torchlight processions, sung nationalistic songs calling for the takeover of locations in the former Yugoslavia and in one incident, individuals fired shots in the air outside a mosque (Aljazeera).
Dodik is the Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he has threatened the secession of Republika Srpska for 15 years and wants to create Serb separate institutions (Aljazeera).
This clip went viral on twitter within the Bosnian community. Many Serbs celebrated the banned holiday in the streets of Bosnia.
Since the war, a few people have been held accountable.
Radislav Krstić, a former commander of the Serb army was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Slobodan Milošević, Serbias former president, died before being charged.
Radovan Karadžić, Bosnian Serbs previous president, was sentenced to life in prison.
Ratko Mladić, a commander for the Bosnian Serb Republic, was sentenced to life in prison just in 2021.
(Montreal Holocaust Museum)
Sources
Al Jazeera. “In Pictures: 25 Years since Srebrenica Genocide.” Gallery | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 11 July 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2020/7/11/in-pictures-25-years-since-srebrenica-genocide.
Al Jazeera. “Un Raises Concerns over Hate Speech in Bosnia, Serbia.” Conflict News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 14 Jan. 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/14/un-raises-concerns-over-hate-speech-in-bosnia-serbia.
Lampe, John R.. "Bosnian War". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Feb. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Bosnian-War. Accessed 12 March 2022.
“The Bosnian Genocide.” Montreal Holocaust Museum, 31 Mar. 2020,
https://museeholocauste.ca/en/resources-training/the-bosnian-genocide/.
“The Bosnian War, in Photos 'Meduza' Marks the 25th Anniversary of the End of Europe's Bloodiest Interethnic Conflict since World War II.” Meduza, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/12/14/the-bosnian-war-in-photos.
“Scenes from Hell: 1995 Srebrenica Genocide in Photos.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 10 July 2020, https://apnews.com/article/massacres-ap-top-news-international-news-europe-photography-ec01765d17e8c27ead9c3f3ea6e6ca36.
Taylor, Alan. “20 Years since the Bosnian War.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 13 Apr. 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/04/20-years-since-the-bosnian-war/100278/.