Yesterday on 11 July, more than 50,000 people gathered at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center to mark the 15^th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. The remains of 775 newly identified victims were re-buried, constituting the biggest mass burial in the modern history of Europe.

 

Among the persons buried yesterday was one Catholic victim of the Srebrenica massacre, Rudolf Hren. His burial was led by Catholic Priest Martin Antunović, while the burial of 774 Muslim victims was led by the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Mustafa ef. Cerić.

 

The ceremony was attended by a number of senior officials from different countries, including the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia; prime ministers of Turkey and Belgium; foreign ministers of France and Malaysia; US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina; and heads of several international organizations.

 

In his address read by Ambassador Charles English, US President Barack Obama called the Srebrenica massacre “a stain on our collective conscience” and stated that “there can be no lasting peace without justice.”

 

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressed his support for the whole Bosnian people, not just the Bosniak people, and urged the world not to let the horrors of Srebrenica happen again. Mr. Erdogan commended the attendance of the President of Serbia, Boris Tadić, and referred to the meeting between Mr. Tadić and the Mothers of Srebrenica “a message of peace.”

 

 

The Srebrenica Memorial Quilts, woven by the women of BOSFAM, were displayed across the street from the Memorial Center, outside the building where the bodies of the 775 victims were kept before they were transported for burial. Many victims commemorated by BOSFAM's Memorial Quilts were buried yesterday, including Rudolf Hren (Memorial Quilt 9), Nasiha Nuhanović, the mother of Hasan Nuhanović who worked as an interpreter for the Dutchbat during the war (Memorial Quilt 1), and the two sons and husband of Hatidže Mehmedović, the president of the Mothers of Srebrenica (Memorial Quilt 11), and others.

 

“The relatives of the victims are concerned that their loved ones will soon be forgotten because they are dead.

By writing the victims’ names on carpets, we send a message to the world:

We owe remembrance to the victims of the genocide and justice to their families."

 

Munira Beba Hadžić, director of BOSFAM.

 

BOSFAM has finished weaving 15 Memorial Quilts before the 15^th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre on July 11. The quilts altogether commemorate about 300 victims and make sure that the world does not forget the atrocious tragedy of Srebrenica. The 14^th Memorial Quilt commemorates 20 child victims under the age of 16 and is woven in white symbolizing the children’s innocence. The 15^th Memorial Quilt commemorates 20 women who were killed in the Srebrenica massacre because they decided to stay with their husbands. The quilts have been displayed just outside the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center and will be presented to the more than 50,000 people who will attend the burial of 775 newly identified bodies on Sunday. To view all 15 quilts and read the information about victims, please click here.

BOSFAM’s director, Munira Beba Hadžić, was invited to speak at the conference “Remembrance and Forgiveness: Steps Toward a Bright Future.” The conference, which was held in Sarajevo on July 6 and 7, was organized by the Center for Justice and Reconciliation and covered a variety of topics such as war, genocide, memory, reconciliation, and development. Among the speakers of the conference were Charles English, the Ambassador of the USA to Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ed Vulliamy, journalist and reporter for The Guardian; Gregory Stanton, the director of the Genocide Watch; and Fikret Alić, survivor of the concentration camps Trnopolje and Keraterm.

 

Ms. Hadžić spoke about the life in Srebrenica before, during, and after the Bosnian war. She shared with the audience her own experience as a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide and talked about the pain and suffering of the victims that persist even 15 years after the massacre. She then talked about work and mission of BOSFAM, which are intimately linked to the Bosnian war and genocide. “BOSFAM is not an organization that searches for missing persons; rather, it tries to help those who have survived… BOSFAM is an organization for Bosnian women, not just Bosniak women. That is our biggest strength,” said Ms. Hadžić.

 

She ended her speech by urging the young audience of the conference to be active and work towards a better future for Bosnia and Herzegovina. She said, “My first, second, and third message to young people is education, education, and education. You, youth, are the future of this country and the main thing you can do is to know what to do in life. You should know whether you want an abnormal country with two entities, three presidents, and countless useless cantons that prevent prosperity, or a normal unified country that supports and strives towards prosperity.”