More than three decades after the Srebrenica genocide, families are still laying victims to rest. As thousands completed the annual Peace March, survivors and their children shared harrowing stories of loss,Bosniakal and why the world must never forget Europe’s worst atrocity since the Second World War, writes Anadolu’s Hazel Belkis Belge.
As thousands of people completed the annual Peace March through the forests of eastern Bosnia, one young Bosniak woman said the only way to truly understand the Srebrenica genocide is to walk the same path her father took as a frightened teenager fleeing for his life.
She never met the relatives who were killed in July 1995. Her grandfather, two uncles, cousins and many others from her village near Srebrenica were among the thousands murdered by Bosnian Serb forces. Her father survived by making the perilous journey through the mountains to safety in the city of Tuzla.
“If anybody wants to see how people crossed the forest from Srebrenica to reach safe territory, the Peace March shows that. My father was one of them in 1995. During the genocide, he went from Srebrenica to Tuzla … He was just 15 years old,” she said, asking not to be named for privacy.
“We need to share the stories about Srebrenica all around the world so that it never happens again. Never again.”
Her sentiments echoed throughout commemorations marking the 31st anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, where remembrance remains deeply personal for survivors and their descendants.
More victims laid to rest
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
In July 1995, after Bosnian Serb forces overran the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica, at least 8,372 Bosniak men and boys were systematically killed. Victims were separated from their families, taken to forests, warehouses and factories, executed, and buried in mass graves that were later exhumed and scattered in an attempt to conceal the crime.
More than three decades later, the search for victims continues. Authorities estimate that the remains of more than 1,000 people are still missing.
On Saturday, the remains of 10 newly identified victims were buried at the Potočari Memorial Cemetery, while more than 6,000 people from around the world completed the three-day Peace March, retracing in reverse the route taken by Bosniaks attempting to escape the massacre.
The victims’ coffins were carried on the shoulders of mourners on Friday from the former battery factory in Potočari – which served as a UN peacekeepers’ base during the Bosnian War – to the adjacent memorial cemetery. The coffins had arrived on 9 July and remained inside the former factory until Saturday’s burial ceremony.
The newly buried victims were identified through years of forensic investigations and DNA analysis, with funerals held after the consent of their families.
The youngest victim buried this year was Senad Jušić, who was 20 when he was killed, while the oldest was Ramo Dautović, who was 56.
The other victims were Muriz Baraković, Hamed Musić, Ramo Alić, Muhidin Osmanović, Huso Ćerimović, Nuko Nukić, Ahmet Gušter and Asim Kunić.
With this year’s burials, the number of victims laid to rest at the Potočari Memorial Cemetery has risen to 6,782.
Amor Mašović, former director of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Institute for Missing Persons and now a member of parliament, said the brutality of the genocide continues to haunt families because many victims have never been recovered in full.
“The vast majority of those buried here are incomplete: one, two, 10, 50 bones, but not 206, which is what they had when their mothers gave birth to them,” he said.
Retracing the route of survival
For many participants, the annual Peace March is both a tribute to those who died and an attempt to understand the ordeal endured by survivors.
Known locally as the “Death March” route because of the killings that took place along it in July 1995, the roughly 100-kilometre trail has become a symbol of remembrance and survival.
Participants began the march on 8 July in the town of Nezuk, walking about 35 kilometres each day before reaching Potočari on Friday, where they prayed for the victims ahead of Saturday’s burial ceremony.
Along the route, local Bosniak communities and aid organisations provided food, drinks and assistance at designated rest stops.
Former Turkish lawmaker Süleyman Gündüz, who attended the commemorations, said the annual gathering carries a message that extends far beyond Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Srebrenica and Potočari are places that can serve as an example for all humanity … Srebrenica will continue to be remembered for many years to come, and the dark shadow of the sin of Srebrenica will transcend time and place, following humanity until the Day of Judgement.”
For the families gathered in Potočari, however, remembrance is more than an annual ceremony. It is a continuing search for loved ones, a walk through history, and a determination that the world’s worst atrocity in Europe since the Second World War is never forgotten.
