Srebrenica Genocide Memorial

Background

The massacre in Srebrenica began in Potocari, where some 25,000 Bosniak refugees had desperately gathered awaiting evacuation. After entering the city in 13 July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces, led by Ratko Mladic, moved into Potocari and separated many Bosniak men and teenage boys from the rest of the crowd before killing them; some women and girls were raped and killed as well. The Dutch UN peacekeepers stationed in Srebrenica (Dutchbat) were unable to stop the massacre, despite having their headquarters in the town. In all, about 1,200 innocent people were murdered at Potocari before the survivors were evacuated to Tuzla.

In October 2000 Wolfgang Petritsch, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, declared that the land in Potočari would be turned into a memorial and cemetery for the victims of the genocide. In May 2001, a foundation was established to oversee and finance construction of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial. Two months later, around the time of the sixth anniversary of the massacre, a foundation stone was laid for the memorial in front of a crowd of 15,000 people. The first memorial was held in July 2002 with about 20,000 attendees. The first 600 victims were buried in the new cemetery in March 2003.

Opening

The $5.8 million memorial-cemetery complex paid for with donations from private groups and governments. The United States provided $1 million toward the project. The memorial was opened by the former United States President, Bill Clinton, on 20 September 2003, when he told thousands of relatives of the Srebrenica massacre victims:

Bill Clinton was the President of the United States during much of the Bosnian war and presided over the Dayton peace agreement.

Anniversaries

On 5 July 2005, Bosnian Serb police found two bombs at the memorial site, just days ahead of a ceremony to mark the massacre's 10th anniversary, when 580 identified victims were to be buried during the ceremony, and more than 50,000 people, including international politicians and diplomats, were expected to attend. The bombs would have caused widespread loss of life and injury had they exploded, and were probably aimed at plunging the region into further bloodshed.

On 11 July 2007, 30,000 gathered to the 12th anniversary. Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, also attended. On 12 July 2007, a day after the 12th anniversary of the massacre and the burial of a further 465 victims, a group of men dressed in Chetnik uniforms marched the streets of Srebrenica. They all wore badges of military units which committed the massacre in July 1995.

On 11 July 2009, marking the 14th anniversary, some 40,000 Bosniak mourners, a number of western diplomats and civic associations from across the region attended the burial ceremony on Saturday for 534 newly identified victims. Among the victims were 44 teenagers. No Bosnian Serb high-level officials were present at the ceremony. Ethnically related incidents such as graffiti containing threats on a mosque and the vandalism of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national flag torn from the Bratunac town-hall building occurred. Members of the Ravna Gora Chetnik movement desecrated the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, marched in the streets wearing T-shirts with the face of Ratko Mladić and sang Chetnik songs. A group of men and women associated with Obraz "chanted insults directed towards the victims and in support of the Chetnik movement, calling for eradication of Islam". A full report of the incident was submitted to the local District Prosecutor's Office but no one has been prosecuted. Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a law banning fascist organizations and similar groups and the police there considered it "freedom of association".

On 11 July 2010, the 15th anniversary, 775 coffins of Bosnian Muslims and Croats which included one Roman Catholic Bosnian Croat. Serbian President Boris Tadić attended the ceremony. A statement by the US president Barack Obama was read:

On 11 July 2012, the 17th anniversary, about 30,000 people attended the ceremony and 520 newly identified victims were buried. About 7,000 individuals, including some survivors, embarked on a three-day and 110 kilometer long march in order to commemorate the march made by 15,000 Bosniaks who fled after the town fell to the Bosnian Serb Army. Rabbi Arthur Schneier of the Park East Synagogue in New York gave a speech at the Memorial. In Croatia, the Croatian parliament held a minute of silence and a speech was given by Nedžad Hodžić, a representative of the Bosniak community in Croatia. In Montenegro, the Montenegrin parliament, a Bosniak NGO forum, and the Alliance of World War II Veterans and Antifascists held a commemoration in Podgorica’s Pobrežje Memorial Park. The Serbian NGO Women in Black gathered in Belgrade for a performance called “We will never forget the genocide in Srebrenica” in remembrance. US President Barack Obama stated that "the name Srebrenica will forever be associated with some of the darkest acts of the 20th century." He added that the U.S. "rejects efforts to distort the scope of this atrocity, rationalize the motivations behind it, blame the victims, and deny the indisputable fact that it was genocide." UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that the genocide should never be forgotten or denied and urged that the world "prevent such atrocities from taking place."

On 17 November 2012, various war veteran groups from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia visited the memorial and paid tribute.