Srebrenica
Well over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred in mid-July 1995. There are still over 2,000 of these men and boys who have yet to be unearthed, identified, and laid to rest. Srebrenica is the city where the massacre occurred; Srebrenica area (specifically, the memorial center at Potočari) is the resting place as well as the Memorial center where the stories are told of the Genocide at Srebrenica.
I've visited this Center, this Cemetery, this area three times now. There is no "getting used to it" for me. Each time, I am affected in ways I won't attempt to describe. I can only do what I've done in the past - provide a few pictures of the gravesites. This year, my discovery is that of one Christian victim of the Genocide (an unintended victim for sure, since it was Christians who massacred the boys and men of Srebrenica). Otherwise, the pictures below show the cemetery, one of my students reflecting at the site, and the preparation of some of the 400-plus new graves that must be ready this week, for the over 400 new remains that have been identified this year and will be laid to rest ("in peace", to use the ironic turn of phrase).
I've visited this Center, this Cemetery, this area three times now. There is no "getting used to it" for me. Each time, I am affected in ways I won't attempt to describe. I can only do what I've done in the past - provide a few pictures of the gravesites. This year, my discovery is that of one Christian victim of the Genocide (an unintended victim for sure, since it was Christians who massacred the boys and men of Srebrenica). Otherwise, the pictures below show the cemetery, one of my students reflecting at the site, and the preparation of some of the 400-plus new graves that must be ready this week, for the over 400 new remains that have been identified this year and will be laid to rest ("in peace", to use the ironic turn of phrase).
I served in the Army patrolling Srebrenica, Potocari, Bratunac, Kravica, Zvornik, and others in 1999. Couldn't believe at the dawn of a new century people were still doing this to each other.
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