Gathering their last atoms of strength after a day-long hike along the path their father failed to cross, Sacir Sabic‘s three daughters say they set out on the “Peace March” with the hope of learning something about their father’s fate and with the request that those who know the truth reveal to them where his bones are. While they wipe the tears from each other’s faces and comfort the youngest one, who didn’t even remember him, they say that throughout their lives they missed everything about their father and that his grave would mean a lot to them today.
Emina Skokic does not remember her father. She was born on May 21st, 1995, about 50 days before the genocide in Srebrenica, when her mother fell ill after a difficult childbirth. She built a picture of her father from the memories of her sisters and brother.
“I feel so many emotions, I am sad when I see all of this, it’s hard for me, in a way, I have the feeling that we need to cross this path for him, because he didn’t manage to cross it. They haven’t found him yet, maybe it’s a sign for us that we should go this way so that they might find him,” says Emina, Sacir Sabic‘s youngest daughter, through tears.
Trying to hide her tears and remain strong while talking about her father, Hanifa Talovic, the oldest of her sisters, says that she has been coming to funerals in Potocari for years, even though she never buried her father. Her father’s grave would mean a lot to her, to know that his soul has found eternal peace and that she can send prayers to him. That is why, she says, they tirelessly search for his remains, hoping that some of the “Peace March” sections could help them in this.
“The last thing he said was to take care of them, to keep a good eye on my mother,” noted Hanifa, adding that he was killed at the age of 39.
Suppression of memories of trauma from Srebrenica
After saying goodbye and hugging their father for the last time, the sisters, with their mother and brother, set off on their way to Potocari, where they got their worst memories, which years later they try to suppress in order to continue living a normal life.
In her most beautiful girlhood, she was surrounded by scenes of war and the fear that she would not be able to protect herself and save herself from the hands of soldiers. She says that she needed extra help because of her fear, because the trauma suppressed her memories.
When they came to Potocari in July 28 years ago, the third sister – Nermina Filekovic, then 14 years old, did not understand well what war was and why they had to be separated from their father.
The desire to come to their father’s grave in the valley of white tombstones
Looking for the last chance to find their father, while fearing that he has been taken forever by the Drina, the three sisters send a plea to all those who know where his remains are.
Although every year they try to come to the valley of white tombstones and recite the prayers of the murdered victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, they would like to be able to visit their father’s grave as well, even if there was only one bone in it, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
