THREAD
The horrors of the genocide in Srebrenica (in Bosnia and Herzegovina in general) are becoming more vivid as more and more survivors share their stories. For some of them, it took more than two decades to finally be able to speak publicly.
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balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/znas-l…
The horrors of the genocide in Srebrenica (in Bosnia and Herzegovina in general) are becoming more vivid as more and more survivors share their stories. For some of them, it took more than two decades to finally be able to speak publicly.
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balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/znas-l…
Omer Dudić was a young man, living in Srebrenica, when the war started. Srebrenica was attacked by the Serb forces in 1992. By 1993, the humanitarian situation was unbearable. In April 1993, Srebrenica was designated a "safe area" by the UN.
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The Bosnian army (largely Muslim) surrendered its weapons. In return, the UN would protect Srebrenica and the Serbs would not attack it. By 1995, the Bosnian Army was growing stronger in other parts of Bosnia. The Serbs decided to finish what they started in 1992.
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In July 1995, they launched an offensive on Srebrenica. The UN failed to protect the "safe zone." The Serbs took the UN soldiers hostages to prevent NATO from bombing their positions. Eventually, on July 11, 1995, the Serbian forces from Bosnia and Serbia overran Srebrenica.
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As the people were trying to escape Srebrenica and what was sure to be a genocidal slaughter, thousands of them formed an exodus-like march to escape to the territory that was controlled by the Bosnian Army, some 100 kilometers away.
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The marchers were constantly attacked by the Serb forces who killed them mercilessly - by artillery, machine guns, and by hand (gory details coming, so beware). They walked for days in scorching summer heat, with little to no food and water. Some were hallucinating.
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Many were wounded. There were women, children, and elderly. Most would eventually be killed in horrifying circumstances. Others simply perished due to exhaustion and trauma. Some hid in trees for months (I've heard some of the stories and they are not for the faint of heart).
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Back to Omer. He was marching too. As the people were getting weak, thirsty, disoriented, the Serbs would often infiltrate the marchers and killed them by hands, so as not to create much noise. The choice weapons were knives and wires.
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They would strangle and slaughter people. The marchers wouldn't know what was happening. It was a total murderous mayhem, with the objective of annihilating the Muslim population of Srebrenica and scaring them into never thinking of returning.
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Omer testifies: "There were thousands of us in the march. We thought they (the Serbs) would let us pass. We didn't have weapons, there were many elderly, children, women. The UN was there too - we thought they would not do what they ended up doing."
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"But they killed everyone summarily. They left no one alive. They didn't separate children, to spare them. They just kept killing and killing. From the very beginning. They fired from everything they had. Artillery, machine guns, anything they had."
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"Until today I can't sleep because of that night. I never thought humans could scream and cry so much. Those cries, those sounds, I never thought humans could make such noises. Whenever I remember this, until today, I don't feel well."
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"Do you know the phrase: Knife, wire, Srebrenica?" (this phrase is often used by the Serbs who want to provoke Srebrenica Muslims and Muslims in Bosnia in general; it's often chanted by Serbian soccer fans who display such banners at soccer matches - until today!)
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"Only those who were there know what it means. I was sitting. I saw how a man who was standing in the crowd was strangled by wire, slaughtered, without a word. Then the next one, then the next. People, they were hungry, wounded, tired, they didn't know what was happening."
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"The Serb soldiers infiltrated among us. They didn't want to use guns, so people wouldn't know what was going in. They infiltrated us, then started slaughtering people with wires, strangling them, slaughtering them. People were falling down, left and right."
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"Nobody knew what was happening. We thought they were falling down due to exhaustion. And so, the phrase: knife, wire, Srebrenica, was created." In Bosnian, it's nož-žica-Srebrenica. It rhymes. It became a chant. It's often deployed during political rallies, soccer games...
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Omer succeeded in getting to free territory. His brother and his brother's six-month pregnant wife were later found dead. His father, uncles, sister-in-law, many other family members were killed. He remained to be a witness to the genocide.
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Omer returned to his village in 2002, with his three months old daughter. Until he repaired his family home, he slept in a tent. Eventually, he renovated his home and lives there now. Omer and those who returned are witnesses to life.
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He still sees his Serb co-villagers. He knows some of them must have been the perpetrators. "We live and work together. We move on. I have no hatred toward anyone ... All the fear I could ever feel, I felt then. There is no fear left in me."
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Please support the work of @SrebrenicaMC , which carries the memory of the genocide, so that we #NeverForget . This thread is written in memory of all victims of genocide: Native Americans, the Holocaust, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, Myanmar, the Uighur...
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