With the end of the Cold War, Yugoslavia dissolved, and Bosnia declared independence in 1992 through a referendum. However, Serbs, refusing to recognize Bosnia’s independence, besieged Sarajevo, triggering the Bosnian War. The war culminated in 1995 with the largest genocide in our near history, where Serbs killed 8,372 Bosniaks and subjected hundreds of women and children to all sorts of violence in Srebrenica.
Srebrenica, designated a “safe area” by the UN, housed 25,000 refugees. Dutch peacekeepers surrendered Srebrenica to Serbian commander Ratko Mladić on July 11, 1995. Serbian forces massacred men and assaulted women. Bosniaks fleeing to Tuzla were targeted by Serbian snipers, with only 3,000 surviving.
The Bosnian War claimed 312,000 lives and displaced 2 million. Identifying victims in mass graves, often dismembered, remains challenging. Over 500 mass graves have been found in Bosnia, and identified victims are buried annually on July 11.
This year, the United Nations officially recognized the Srebrenica genocide internationally. July 11 has been declared as the “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.”
Every July 11 and in every genocide worldwide, we recall the wartime address by the late Alija Izetbegović, Bosnia’s founding President: “You suffered great injustice in war. You are free to forgive or not forgive the oppressors. Whatever you do, do not forget the genocide, for forgotten genocide will be repeated. If we forget the genocide against us, we are doomed to relive it. I do not urge you to seek revenge, but never forget what happened!” Izetbegović added: “We wrote our history in blood. Our homes were burned and destroyed. Our enemies were not honorable; they committed despicable massacres. The world now understands the massacres through discovered mass graves. We cried out these truths, but there were no listeners.”
Alija’s words resonate not only for Bosnia but for many oppressed regions—from Bosnia to Palestine, Palestine to East Turkestan. In these days where forgotten genocides and atrocities recur, we pray with hope that the oppressed will eventually triumph.
