A large group of Italians is currently visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), touring several cities because they want to get to know our country and its people, natural beauty, but above all to learn more about what happened here during the war years from 1992 to 1995, and to learn, so that it would not happen again.
5.000 centers of the Association with more than one million two hundred thousand members
Around fifty members of Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana (ARCI), the largest Italian non-profit association not connected to the Catholic Church, after visiting Prijedor and Sarajevo last weekend, stayed in Srebrenica, from where they are going to Bijeljina and then to Tuzla.
The leader of this group is Andrea Rizza Goldstein, a well-known figure to people in Srebrenica because he has been coming to Srebrenica and BiH for many years, often multiple times a year. Since 2017, he has been coming with the ARCI organization.
“ARCI is the largest network of non-governmental associations in Italy, founded in 1957 precisely with the mission of working on a cultural and social level on the so-called defascistization of society through educational, cultural, artistic projects, youth activities in schools… The core activities and themes we work on strengthening are human rights, anti-fascism, anti-discrimination, and strengthening democracy etc. In Italy, we have around 5.000 cultural centers with more than one million two hundred thousand members,” Andrea said.
Before coming to Srebrenica, this group first spent the night in Prijedor and then went on a three-day visit to Sarajevo, which Andrea continued to talk about:
“Prijedor is a very significant place because it is where humanity, for the first time after the Second World War, saw concentration camps behind barbed wire. There, we had meetings where we talked about the particularities of the wartime events here, after which we came to Sarajevo. In Sarajevo, among other things, we visited the War Childhood Museum, the City Hall, the Tunnel of Hope, the Historical Museum of BiH, had other meetings and lectures, and then we came to Srebrenica.”
Last stop Srebrenica
About what all the Italians he leads in Srebrenica want to learn more about – whether they are students on excursions, older people, or members of some organizations – Andrea also said this:
“Since 2017, we have had this project ‘Ultima tappa Srebrenica’ (Last Stop Srebrenica) because we believe that what happened in BiH, especially Srebrenica, should have led the world to stop and try to understand how it could have happened and be allowed to happen, because unfortunately, now we are watching the same things happening in Gaza. For years, we have been saying that we need to work much more on the prevention of mass crimes. The world has indeed made a lot of progress. We invented human rights and permanent courts for war crimes, but still, we see that we have a big problem in preventing and averting genocide. What is happening in Gaza now must concern these young people because of their future. Just as the generations after the Second World War had to think about why there were death concentration camps, now we have to find out what and why happened in the former Yugoslavia, why such a bloody war broke out… because, unfortunately, instead of remaining in the past, it is happening again in another form with the same essence. We are exposed to such policies where someone decides that because of the religion you belong to, the color of your skin, or the wrong identity in the wrong place, you are not allowed to live, which we believe is not right,” said Andrea Rizza Goldstein.
He clearly and loudly names the occupation of Gaza by Israel as genocide, regardless of the fact that his father is Italian and his mother is a Jewish woman from Zagreb whose almost entire family was killed in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz during the Second World War.
Tahari Sedo is a young man born in Italy whose parents are originally from Morocco. This is his first time in BiH.
“My impressions are very positive because it is clear that this was a small town with beautiful nature and a developed economy, where something happened. At the Memorial Center, we learned what happened. Still, I see that there is hope for the future here. We had the chance to see children of different nationalities playing football together, just like in our country. I really liked that because I saw that their relations are completely normal, as they should be. I think that the future should be built on these natural human qualities to be together. If they can play sports and work without caring about religion, nationality, skin color, or other differences, why couldn’t they also live in peace and build a shared future,” said Tahari, and mentioned a detail that positively surprised him in Srebrenica:
“In Italy, there are people from Serbia and Albania, and I know how heated and tense their relations are in the diaspora, especially during sports matches. Here, we watched a football match between Serbia and Albania in a cafe where local Serbian guys were also present, and they applauded at the end, even though Albania won. I didn’t expect that at all. I was very nicely surprised by this sportsmanship independent of nationalism, which also gives hope for the future.”
Sejla Kadric learned about this organization in Italy and the study trip they organize in BiH through a friend, which immediately drew her to join and come to learn more about her roots since her parents are originally from Doboj Istok, and Sejla was born and lives in Italy.
“It was very interesting for me to hear more about what happened here. I only had information from stories I heard in the family. I want to know more, and although all this was painful, I am very happy because these are my people, this is my language, this is my food… It feels like I cried every day because I think I truly feel how hard it is to live here, but also how there is hope and desire for things to get better… Here, children are playing together, which gives hope, but I also see there are still a lot of tensions, and I, as well as all my fellow Italians, would like to learn something from what happened and change it for the better,” said Sejla Kadric, N1 writes.
Photo: illustration
