Voices from the Drina | Bosnian Genocide Education

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I can’t understand how this is happening in 1992. Are the EC and Western leaders going to stand by while we are killed?

We’ve been left no choice but to leave our hometown of Bratunac. The terror is too great under Serb occupying forces. We’ve left our belongings and property under the care of our Serb neighbours, who drove us out of Bratunac. My heart is broken.

We’ve fled Bratunac. I ran out of the house wearing a tracksuit and slippers. We’re fleeing across a forest right now. We’ll probably end up in Srebrenica. The shelling is coming from across the Serbian border. My Edin tells me its “MLRS firing 12 rockets at a time”. I’m in shock.

I’m being detained by Serb occupying forces in the Vuk Karadžić School in Bratunac. There are over 500 Bosniak men being held here with me. Atrocities are taking place every day.

We’re still in hiding in the woods above Bratunac. Dad and I are watching villages around Bratunac go up in flames. Thick pillars of light-coloured smoke. We don’t want to believe this is happening. If we believe it’s happening, it means we’ve reached a point of no return.

I’ve just been told by my cousin that my Uncle Zekir was detained in a concentration camp by Serb forces. They released him, only to kill him once they’d driven him to his home. I will never forget my cousin’s sobbing.

🧵 Bosniaks in Bratunac are being deported, and the men are being killed. A thread.

I was put on a bus of women and children to be deported out of my hometown. Two men called Butko and Sabahudin managed to get onto the bus. Butko turned to me and asked if I had a headscarf he could disguise himself with. I did so I gave it to him.

Butko and Sabahudin’s names were called by Serb soldiers who began searching the bus for any men. Butko (wearing my headscarf) and Sabahudin of course did not answer.

The bus set off, then minutes later it was stopped by Serb soldiers. One guy, who was a Serb neighbour from Srebrenica, entered the bus and put his hand on Sabahudin’s shoulder. “What are you playing at?” He said to S.