Did Europe learn from the Serbian genocide in Srebrenica in 1995? Is the wound of the loss of thousands of sons, fathers and grandfathers healable? Why do the 'sons' of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic go unpunished?
BGNES special correspondents Dimitar Ruskov and Anton Stankov spoke in Potocari with Munira Subašić, chairwoman of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, who rarely speaks on camera about the Srebrenica massacre. She has lost 22 members of her family. Subašić is the voice of countless innocent victims and their surviving relatives.
Munira has spoken at the United Nations and met with a range of politicians from US President Bill Clinton to the current international envoy to Bosnia, Christian Schmidt. But few are the people she allows into her home. She has the strength and courage to tell the shocking story of the murders of her own husband and son, to describe the fate of the thousands killed by Serbian forces in 1995 in Srebrenica - a genocide not seen since the Second World War.
Munira was born back in 1948 in Rogatica, but despite her advanced age, she never lost her enthusiasm. She moved to Srebrenica in 1961 when she married Hilmo Subašić. They lived in a block together with Serbs, Croats and Jews. At that time people celebrated religious holidays together, they got along. Munira worked as a shopkeeper.
On this year's 11th of July, Munira treated us with coffee - as black as the ground in which the bones of 7,000 people are buried. In Potocari are buried the remains of the murdered... there you meet the face of death.
The woman told us how over 10,700 people were slaughtered - no one's life was spared. She herself lost 22 family members: her father, her husband, her son, two sisters and three brothers, her father-in-law, his two sons and their families.
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), Europe witnessed the brutal ambitions of Serbian warlords. The situation was desperate. Even the UN 'blue helmets' made fun of the hundreds of thousands of refugees.
In April 1993, when the town came under tank and artillery fire from the Serbs, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 819, declaring Srebrenica a 'safe zone'.
Two years later, on 11 July, the Bosnian Serb army, led by General Radko Mladic, captured Srebrenica, causing tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the Dutch forces' base at Potocari on the outskirts of the city.
The peacekeepers retreated ingloriously, along with thousands of refugees, mostly women and children.
Insisting that the Muslim population in Srebrenica surrender, General Ratko Mladic promises that those who lay down their arms and submit will be spared. Before the massacre, the war criminal is seen coming with cameras and handing out candy and bread to the children.
The fate of Munira's 17-year-old son, Nermin, was unknown to her for many years until his remains were discovered: just two small bones, both in mass graves 25 kilometres apart. 18 years of waiting to discover the remains of her youngest son, and then to bury just two of his bones.
Her elder son, who was 22 at the time, was in the army and managed to get into Bosniak-controlled territory. Months pass until mother and son are reunited. Then Munira felt her life had meaning again and vowed to tell the world about what had happened.
The mothers of Srebrenica witness horrific scenes. A crying baby beheaded by Serbian soldiers, who receives a pat on the back with the cruel: "Bravo!".
After the war, in their anguish, several women formed the organization "Mothers of Srebrenica". Initially it was called the Movement of Mothers from the Srebrenica and Žepa enclaves (two of the UN "protected" areas). The group of strong women is determined to tell the truth to Europe and the whole world.
Subašić warned that the tragedy could repeat itself and Europe would again be at risk because the "sons" of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević were thriving in politics. "The world and Europe are responsible for all this. Nowhere in the world has been a greater injustice than what was done against the Bosnians. Genocide was committed against them. Every person with common sense knows that," Munira stressed, adding:
"Aleksandar Vucic is like Milosevic's son, they are so alike. And do you see what a nationalist Viktor Orban is? He is Milosevic number two. And as for Milorad Dodik, it would be easy if there was only one, but there are thousands like him. They tell jokes about our dead men. They claim that there was no massacre and that the dead actually fled abroad somewhere and that is why they are gone."
The 76-year-old believes the world has learned nothing from the massacres throughout history. Everyone bears some responsibility for the genocide against the Bosnians.
The bereaved women wrote letters, protested and even "attacked" local and international institutions for years to find out the fate of their children:
"We wanted to know where our children were, then we found out they were dead. When we weren't sure, we wanted proof because there were no bodies, at least to give us the bones. Every mother should find her son's remains and bury them with dignity - Bosnian, Serb, Croat, Roma."
"Two things are most important for us - to find the bones of our sons and to know the name of every criminal who should be brought to justice," Subašić noted. Munira recalled that the political and military elite of Republika Srpska since the 1990s has received five life sentences, including Radovan Karadzic and Radko Mladic.
However, no one can bring back the dead. All that remains of them are the bones in the mountain of graves at the Memorial Centre in Potocari.
"5,500 children were orphaned after the fall of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. These children saw murder and rape, and some were born to their murdered pregnant mothers," Munira said.
Nevertheless, the mothers of Srebrenica are educating their children not to hate Serbs and not to seek revenge.
Today these children are engineers, doctors and intellectuals. Free people after decades of dictatorship in the grip of Belgrade.
Munira is disappointed that Serbian President Vucic campaigned against the UN General Assembly resolution on genocide instead of supporting it and closing old wounds. However, she is hopeful that young people will understand the truth and not allow the bloody history to repeat itself.
"There are good and bad people. I want young Bosnians to be friends with Serbs and Croats. My son was a good student, he knew English and German. They killed him at the age of 17. They found two bones from him, there was nothing else left. The genocide must not be forgotten, it cannot be erased from history," Munira stressed. | BGNES
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