A culture of genocide denialinstituteforgenocide.org/en/wp-content/uploads/...Oct 17, 2012  ·...

A culture of genocide denialbySUZANAVUKIC

I suzana.vukic28@gmail.com

We stood in the school yard of the VukKaradzic elementary school in Visegrad, atown in eastern Bosnia. Although the schoolyear was over, there were a few kids outplaying ball.

It seemed like a typical summer day inan average town. But there's nothing ordi-nary about Visegrad or this school. In 1992,at the start of the Bosnian War, Bosniaks(Bosnian Muslims) were ethnicallycleansed out of Visegrad by Bosnian Serbforces acting in conjunction with the Yu-goslav National Army (JNA). Before thewar, this school was called Hasan Veleto-vac. During the war, it served as a concen-tration camp, one of many in Visegradwhere Bosniaks were imprisoned, raped,tortured and killed by Serb forces.

I went to Visegrad that day with BakiraHasecic, President of the Sarajevo-basedWomen Victims of War, an association pro-viding support to those raped during thewar. We were there with a film crew fromthe U.K. led by Assed Baig. Sponsored bythe Islamic Human Rights Commission,they were in Bosnia to document the oc-currence of genocide throughout the coun-try, and to demonstrate that thisphenomenon was not unique to Srebrenica.

A woman who lived in Visegrad during

Bakira Hasecic stands by the Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic bridge in Visegrad. In 1992, Bosniaks wereslaughtered at this site, and their bodies were thrown over the bridge by Bosnian Serb forces.

the war told us how she was imprisoned inthis school, along with members of her fam-ily. She spoke of being raped there by Serbsoldiers every single day and night. At timesshe was raped in front of her mother or herfather, who were beaten while she wasraped. She described how one day, soldierscut off the head of her mother's maternaluncle and played ball with it in the schoolyard.

Even more disturbing than these storiesis the knowledge that this building contin-ues to be used as a school. Serbian school-children who attend classes here are told by

their elders that the accounts of wartimeatrocities against the town's Bosniak popu-lation are lies. At the town's Muslim ceme-tery, just a stone's throw away from theschool, we saw a monument unveiled therein May as a tribute to the town's Bosniakvictims of genocide. Those who worked toestablish this monument have faced harass-ment and intimidation by local authorities,who want the monument either removedfrom the cemetery grounds altogether, orhave the word "genocide" removed fromthe monument.

This culture of genocide denial is wide-

spread throughout Bosnia, especially in theSerb Republic entity of Bosnia, which hasbeen cleansed of its non-Serb population.

While in Bosnia, I met Satko Mujagic, asurvivor of the notorious Serb-run deathcamp Omarska, and members of the grouphe founded, the Guardians of Omarska. Thegroup's main purpose is to provide supportfor survivors of the concentration campsand their families, as well as to memorializethe atrocities committed against these inno-cent victims. This isn't easy. Survivors whoreturn to the towns and cities from whichthey were driven away often live in a cli-mate of hostility and fear. It's common forlocal authorities to ban any memorials atsites like the Omarska concentration campin the Prijedor municipality of north-west-ern Bosnia. Survivors are often barred fromvisiting sites where atrocities were commit-ted against them and their loved ones.They're also forbidden to use the word"genocide".

Seventeen years after the end of theBosnian war, the citizens of this country arebattling a different sort of demon - a perva-sive culture of genocide denial, one thatsteadfastly refuses to acknowledge the ex-tent of the horrors committed during thewar, yet at the same time glorifies war crim-inals and their supporters.

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