A commemorative gathering was held in the Croatian Parliament on the occasion of Remembrance Day for the genocide in Srebrenica. Numerous shocking testimonies were presented, including that of Hasan Hasanovic. He was left without 74 family members during the war, among them two brothers whom he promised his mother that he would take care of them. He managed to take the body of one of the brothers to free territory. He carried it 27 kilometers.
“I finished primary and secondary education in Bratunac and Potocari with excellent results. I was also enrolled in college, and because of going to the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) in 1991 I gave up everything,” Hasanovic began his emotional address.
“I escaped from the aggressor army that was heading for Vukovar”
After serving his military service in Belgrade, in what was then Tito’s Guard, his unit was tasked by Veljko Kadijevic, commander of the Yugoslav General Staff, to attack Vukovar.
“My decision was to escape from the army. I consider it an honorable act. I escaped from the aggressor army, which went to Croatia not to defend something, but to destroy and kill,” he emphasized while speaking in the Croatian Parliament.
He successfully returned to his hometown, but then the war started in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
“My professor burned my home village to the ground. Even today, he lives in Bratunac”
“On May 13th, my Serbian language teacher, who still lives in Bratunac, entered my village, which he was going to burn to the ground. My village and village of Ravno became the first villages in BiH to be burned to the ground,” he emphasized.
Already in the following months, displaced persons from the east of the country began to arrive in Srebrenica.
“My father died of hunger at the age of 44”
When I remember how hungry I was then, I go and kiss the bread I have today. During the 18 days of Ramadan in 1993, I did not see any bread with my eyes. During that period, my 44-year-old father died of hunger. My friend’s baby died. Shortly before his father’s death, his 77-year-old mother was killed. Her 13-year-old neighbor and her 15-year-old brother were killed with her. In 1995, everyone in their family was killed, and that family was left without any descendants,” Hasanovic said.
“They are holding hands, but they are dead”
His 74 close relatives were killed, among them his eighteen-year-old brother.
“I promised my mother that he would manage to reach the free territory, but he died on the first day. Next to him was Nazif, with his son Mersed. They were holding hands, but they are dead. They were killed with an anti-aircraft machine gun. There were huge holes in them. People were killed with heavy weapons,” he underlined.
“He said to tell my mom that he didn’t suffer, that he was brave…”
He stepped on a mine with his second brother.
“He was seriously wounded, I thought I would carry him towards the free territory, without giving up. I was 22 years old. Because of a promise to my mother, I did not give up, not knowing how far it was to the free territory. After 9.5 hours, my brother asked me to put him down. He also asked me to put his head on my lap. Then he said a sentence that I’ve been waking up to for 28 years. He told me to tell our mom that he didn’t suffer and that he was brave. Looking into my eyes. He was killed without any reason,” Hasan stated, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
