New Oral History Memorial Tells Srebrenica Survivors’ Stories

The new memorial room, entitled 'The Lives Behind the Fields of Death', opened on Tuesday at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, with the intention of highlighting survivors' stories and combatting genocide denial.

A joint project by BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, it contains 100 video testimonies from survivors and personal items that they donated to the Memorial Centre's museum collection. The testimonies can also be watched online on a special BIRN site.

BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina's director Denis Dzidic said he was grateful to the 100 survivors and the family members of those who were killed in the July 1995 genocide for deciding to share their worst experiences and publicly speak about the consequences of genocide.

"This platform and memorial room aim to bring the Srebrenica story back to people's personal experiences and contributing to reducing genocide denial and the misuse of genocide for political purposes. Nobody can remain unmoved by these stories," Dzidic said.

The project was supported by the Netherlands, whose ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jan Waltmans, told the opening ceremony that one reason why the exhibition is important because it gives "a human dimension" to the facts and figures about the genocide which have been determined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

"We must never forget the Srebrenica genocide, neither the victims nor the survivors. The second reason is that education remains a cornerstone in attempts to prevent future wars, atrocities and genocides," said Waltmans.

"During the first six months of my term in office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through conversations, I have learned a lot about the pain and sorrow...