Survivors
The trauma from the genocide is felt even by families of those who may not have experienced it directly, but whose parents have.
One of the guests on the evening shared her experience, “My name is Dzenana. I am a second generation survivor of the Bosnian genocide. Remembering Srebrenica means a lot to me as I see the impact of genocide every day in my family. In my father who has suffered and gone through a fair few concentration camps. My parents don’t really want to talk about it, it’s hard to talk through that I guess.
“I was born here (in the UK), I was brought up here. It’s difficult being away from your family (in Bosnia), being separated from your family, because of the war, because such things.. I’m sorry, I’m not very good at talking about it.”
Introducing Remembering Srebrenica, Amil Khan, Director, said, “For the last six years we are the sole organizer for the UK’s commemorations to mark Srebrenica Memorial Day. During this period we have organized over 6,500 memorial activities, and we have created 1,300 community champions who have pledged to stand up to hatred and intolerance in their communities.
“No matter how many times I go to Bosnia, it never ceases to move me quite deeply. My first visit has a profound impact on me and it actually motivated me to do what it is that we do. Because when you meet some of the survivors and see what they have gone through you do feel compelled to come back, to share those stories and to share the lessons, so when we say Never Again, we actually mean, Never Again.”
Speaking of downtime in an otherwise difficult situation, Amil continued, “It’s such a beautiful city. When you sit down in Sarajevo and you have a coffee, there aren’t very many places (in the world) where you can have a Church, a Synagogue and a Mosque within a hundred yards of each other.”
“When you do have that downtime this serves as almost a sad reminder that this is one of the most culturally integrated places in Europe, where Western civilization meets Eastern civilization. And if you consider what it went through, despite the fact of it’s beautiful and rich history and diversity, it just makes it that bit more poignant, that what happened did happen.”
Aida and Elvir are both professional musicians working at the National Theatre in Sarajevo. Speaking of the entertainment for the night Aida said, “We enjoy performing in these beautiful spaces. Occasionally it is sad (because of the subject tonight), but let’s see a bright future. We hope for it.”
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