Authors
The primary ‘contributors’ to this project are listed in the left-hand navigation of Voices from the Drina. Their stories, like those of thousands of Bosniaks, highlight both the scale of the atrocities committed in Northern and Eastern Bosnia as well as the everyday struggle of their community to survive in the throes of genocide. They are:
Emir Suljagić
Emir Suljagić is a survivor of the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. He was born on 21st May, 1975 in Ljubovija, a town located in Serbia, by the Drina River which forms much of the border between Serbia and eastern Bosnia. At the start of the Bosnian War in 1992, Emir and his family became refugees when they fled Serb(ian) forces’ military campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against non-Serbs living in the Drina valley. In May 1992, Emir and his family took refuge in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, which was quickly becoming a last-resort enclave for Bosniak refugees. While surviving constant shelling from the surrounding Serb(ian) forces, Emir taught himself English and became an interpreter for the United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNPROFOR) stationed in the town. When the Srebrenica enclave, which had been pronounced a UN “safe area”, fell to Serb(ian) forces in July 1995, Emir and the other UN interpreters were deemed protectable by UNPROFOR and were therefore exempt from being handed over to the invading Serb forces.
Hasan Nuhanović
Hasan Nuhanović is a survivor of the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. He was born on 2nd April, 1968 in Zvornik (eastern Bosnia). When the war began in April 1992, Hasan was studying mechanical engineering at university in Sarajevo. His further education was violently cut short and he became, along with his family, one of the thousands of refugees of eastern Bosnia. In the second half of 1992, Hasan and his family arrived in the enclave of Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosniak refugees had gathered to escape the Serb(ian) onslaught. Like Emir Suljagić, Hasan also became an interpreter for the United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNPROFOR) stationed in Srebrenica. When the Srebrenica enclave, which had been pronounced a UN “safe area”, fell to Serb(ian) forces in July 1995, Hasan and the other UN interpreters were deemed protectable by UNPROFOR and were therefore exempt from being handed over to the invading Serb forces. However, UNPROFOR refused to protect Hasan’s father, brother and mother, who were all handed over to Serb(ian) forces and subsequently killed.
Hasan Hasanović
Hasan Hasanović is a survivor of the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. He was born on 7th December, 1975 in Bajina Bašta, which is a municipality located in Serbia, by the Drina River which forms much of the border between Serbia and eastern Bosnia. Hasan grew up in the village of Sulice, in Bosnia, 35km from Srebrenica, before moving to Bratunac in 1991. Along with his family, Hasan became a refugee at the start of the Bosnian War. Serb(ian) forces launched a brutal military campaign of “ethnic cleansing” in eastern Bosnia, aiming to remove the non-Serb population in order to create an ethnically homogenous Serb statelet. Like the thousands of other Bosniak refugees in eastern Bosnia, Hasan and his family made their way to the enclave of Srebrenica, where they had hoped they would be safe from the Serb(ian) onslaught. In July 1995, the Srebrenica enclave, which had been pronounced a UN “safe area”, fell to Serb(ian) forces. As a result, approximately 15,000 Bosniak civilians (predominantly men and boys) decided to flee Srebrenica, embarking on a horrific 70-mile “death march” through the woodlands. Hasan, his twin brother Husein, and his father were among those 15,000. While they were walking, Serb(ian) forces who had surrounded the woodlands shot at the fleeing refugees and in multiple instances ambushed groups of refugees, whom they killed. Hasan survived the death march. His twin brother and father did not.
The Women of Foča
Women across Bosnia and Herzegovina were targeted by ethnonationalist forces with sexual violence, including rape. As in every conflict, women’s bodies in Bosnia became a battlefield for male soldiers. In eastern Bosnia, Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) women found themselves at the intersection of oppressions, being shelled by Serb(ian) forces because they were Muslim and facing brutal acts of sexual violence because they were women. Serb(ian) forces seized towns and cities like Foča at the beginning of 1992. Bosniak women and girls, some of whom were teenagers, were forcibly detained by Serb(ian) forces, often being transported from one location to the next. During their detainment, women and girls were repeatedly raped by their captors. This atrocity took place over the course of several weeks and months. A group of women survivors from Foča testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Their testimonies, along with their anonymous tribunal ‘names’, have informed their profiles on the Voices from the Drina platform.
Alongside these primary contributors, many others appear in the timeline of posts from March 1992 (Bosnia’s independence referendum) to August 1995 (the arrival of the last Srebrenica survivors in free territory). They include those who were living in Eastern Bosnia’s Drina Valley, figures from the international community, as well as Bosnian Serb nationalists who were orchestrating the genocide.
List of all available authors
