The Memorial Center Srebrenica and the Balkan Research Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) have finished recording another hundred oral histories of people who survived the genocide in July 1995, with the aim of preserving from oblivion the testimonies of the members of the victims’ families, those who survived, but also those who believe that their story is part of the fight against denial and revisionism.
The “Lives behind the Field of Death” project was started in October 2020, when 100 testimonies of surviving witnesses of the genocide were recorded, which today are part of the permanent exhibition along with items donated by the survivors for permanent preservation in the memorial room opened in the Memorial Center in February of last year.
BIRN BiH and the Memorial Center through the MATRA project (The Dutch Fund for Regional Partnerships), give space to the families of the victims, sharing the stories of the people who were killed in the genocide in Srebrenica with the aim of contributing to “social change”, fighting against genocide denial, as well as against the discrimination of returnees – who lost their loved ones in the genocide.
After a series of positive reactions, the project continued with the recording of 100 new oral histories.
In July, before the commemoration of the genocide, a summer school will be held in the Memorial Center where the importance of oral history in the fight against revisionism and denial of genocide will be discussed, and an effort will be made to raise awareness of young people about the danger of such narratives and their consequences.
Emir Suljagic, director of the Memorial Center Srebrenica, pointed out that years of cooperation between the Memorial Center and BIRN BiH have resulted in the exhibition “Lives behind the Field of Death”, which has already been visited by numerous domestic and foreign delegations.
BIRN BiH Executive Director Denis Dzidic says that for BIRN BiH, cooperation with the Memorial Center and the recording of oral history is much more than a project.
“It is a strategic commitment to put our nearly twenty-year expertise and focus on survivors of systemic crimes into the service of giving a voice to those who are no longer there and to tell the story of a life and community that is almost gone today, as a result of genocide,” he explains.
“We will use the stories we record to fight against revisionism in every way – through our reporting, training journalists and new generations to learn about oral history, as well as through documentaries, which we hope will be especially interesting for young people,” adds Dzidic.
At the end of this project, it is planned to make a documentary film based on 100 previous and 100 new testimonies, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
