Remembering the genocide at Srebrenica: ‘Only fear kept me moving’

The massacre in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina was the largest in Europe since the Holocaust and one of the darkest chapters in the Balkan wars that erupted after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

Bosnian Serb troops invaded Srebrenica, which had previously been declared a safe area under the UNSecurity Council Resolution 819 (1993).

Many victims sought refuge at the UN compound near Potočari but were separated from their families, executed, and buried in mass graves.

Fear, loss and survival

Hasan Hasanović was 19 years old when Srebrenica fell on 11 July 1995. Together with his father and twin brother Husein, he joined a group of men and boys who were trying to escape through the jungle.

Within hours he was separated from his relatives, walking alone for days without sleep and starving amidst ambushes, executions, and artillery attacks.

“It was fear that kept me moving,” said Hasanović, head of the oral history program at the Srebrenica Memorial Center, while speaking in the UN General Assembly Hall.

“Years later, after their bodies were recovered from a mass grave, I buried my father and twin brother with my own hands. Nothing could have prepared me for those moments.”

Collective responsibility

The UN’s two highest courts – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) – both recognized that the actions committed in Srebrenica constituted genocide.

This is the second year the UN has commemorated it International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenicaobserved on July 11.

This massacre “will forever depend on the collective consciousness of the international community, the UN and the modern history of our world,” said Chaloka Beyani, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.

He called for a moment of silence to remember and honor the victims as well as the women and girls who were forcibly evicted from the enclave and tortured following the incident.

Pay attention to the warning signs

After Srebrenica, “the world once again said: ‘Never again,’” the UN Secretary General recalled words read by his Chef de Cabinet, Earle Courtenay Rattray.

“However, as we know, hate speech continues to rise – fueling discrimination, extremism and division. War criminals are being glorified,” he said.

“We cannot ignore these warning signs. We must act early – because prevention is our collective duty, and our surest protection.”

Genocide denial ‘new threat’

Denis Bećirović, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, underscored the need to defend the integrity of international law and the authority of international institutions more than ever.

“We must not allow the facts obtained from court decisions to become material for political calculations,” he said.

“The denial of genocide against the Bosnian people is an anti-civilization act. It is an insult to the dead and a new threat to the living.”

Keep the promise ‘never again’

Annalena Baerbock, that is President of the General Assembly, said Genocide – as sadly occurred in Srebrenica, Rwanda and elsewhere – “does not begin with mass graves” but with hatred and discrimination, attempts to divide people into “us” versus “them”, and policies and rhetoric that strip people of their dignity.

In his video message, he urged the international community to “make sure that ‘never again’ is not just a phrase we repeat, but a promise we uphold.”

Emina Sinanović was only five years old when she lost her father, grandfather and uncle in the Srebrenica genocide.

Lives taken, future stolen

“For many people, Srebrenica is history. For me, it is every day of my life. It is an invisible wall that stood between me and my father – a wall built by hatred and inhumanity,” he said.

His father, Muriz, 32, was murdered on July 13, 1995 in a warehouse in Kravica “where thousands of lives and dreams were destroyed”. Miss Sinanović has few memories of him and only one memento – a small cigarette case found next to his body in a mass grave.

Genocide “does not end when the killing stops,” he said.

“He steals the future. He steals hugs you will never receive. He steals words you will never hear. He steals memories you will never create.”

He called on “the world to stop looking away every time genocide is denied, because genocide denial is a continuation of genocide.”