The Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina has handed over to the Srebrenica Memorial Center “868 cases consisting of several thousand individual items of clothing and footwear,” which were found in graves where genocide victims were exhumed.
A statement from the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that they are continuing their activities to store and permanently preserve items found in mass graves.
Saliha Đuderija, a member of the Board of Directors of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that in the first phase, 402 artifacts found in mass graves were handed over.
“In this case, it is about clothing and footwear for which, after exhumation, it was not possible to define which victim they belong to, and thus it was not possible to identify them, or hand them over to the families. Now these items, like the artifacts handed over previously, will testify to the crimes committed, to the mass graves,” she said.
The detector previously wrote that the previously found objects included, among other things, cigarette cases, combs, documents, glasses, banknotes, watches, chains, keys, lighters and other objects, which, in accordance with legal solutions and regulations on the preservation of artifacts in museums, will be permanently stored and preserved within the Memorial Center.
Emir Suljagić, director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, emphasized that this is a very important step for the Memorial Center, and that this is all that remains of many victims, and is also proof of the existence of those killed in the genocide.
“These objects will testify to the crime committed and prove that these people lived and point to the consequences of the genocide committed,” said Suljagić.
The statement states that the found objects were moved by order of the State Court, with the coordination of several institutions, including the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the Tuzla Commemorative Center, the Srebrenica Memorial Center and the competent police agencies.
“A special depot has been built within the Memorial Center where the objects will be permanently housed. This creates a safe space in which the memories and traces of those who are still waiting for their full recognition are preserved,” they explained in a statement, reported BIRN BiH.
