'They Were Just Children': The Aggressor Extinguished the Childhood of 261 Bosniak Children in Vlasenica

(Patria) - "They Were Just Children - Crimes Against Children of Vlasenica 1992-1995," is the title of a monograph by author Husejin Omerović, which was published two days ago.

The book predominantly discusses crimes against Bosniak children in Vlasenica during the period 1992-1993 in the area of the pre-war municipality of Vlasenica, as well as during the occupation of the UN safe zone of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Omerović tells Patria in an interview that his motive for researching the truth and writing the book about the aforementioned crimes was to establish the complete identity of each murdered child.

He also wanted, he says, to investigate and describe the circumstances in which the children were killed, then the locations and methods of murder, the mass graves where the remains of some children were found, as well as the places and dates of their burial.

His goal was also to determine the structure of the children, to rescue them from oblivion and place them in the history of indelible times.

Through long-term and exhaustive research, Omerović determined that 261 children from the area of the pre-war municipality of Vlasenica were killed during the mentioned period. This, Omerović specifies, is 10 percent of the total number of victims from the Vlasenica area (2,637).


Cover and back page of Omerović's book

Of the total number of murdered children (261), Omerović found that 98 minor boys were killed after the occupation of the UN safe zone of Srebrenica in July 1995.

- 197 male (75%) and 64 female children (25%) were killed. The remains of 55 children have not yet been found - states Omerović.

In his monograph, he published 185 photographs of murdered children, and 48 pictures of gravestones of murdered children for whom he could not obtain photographs.

And there are 28 red roses for children for whom he could not obtain either photographs or pictures of gravestones, because they were very young children and children whose belongings and photographs were destroyed.

The appendix to the book also contains a list with data on the murdered children of Vlasenica.

Among other things, the author included a comparative review of crimes against children in other occupied or besieged places - Prijedor, Goražde, Višegrad, Sarajevo, central Podrinje, Croatia, Kosovo, Ukraine, and Palestine (Gaza).

The promotion of the book "They Were Just Children - Crimes Against Children of Vlasenica 1992-1995," by author Husejin Omerović, will be held at the Preporod premises in Vlasenica on Friday, April 19, starting at 6 PM. In addition to the author, Dr. Sead Muratović and Prof. Hajrudin Mešić will also speak about the book.


Omerović: Long-term and exhaustive research

About the author

Husejin Omerović was born on August 17, 1957, in the village of Skugrići, municipality of Vlasenica. He completed primary school in his birthplace, secondary school in Sarajevo, and the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Oriental Studies, in Priština in 1982.

From the beginning of the aggression against our country, he was a member of the Armed Forces of our country, and he was demobilized in May 1996.

Among other things, he worked at the Federal Ministry of Defense, the Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law of the University of Sarajevo, and was also a professor at the American University in Sarajevo.

Omerović is also the author of another book - "Victims of Genocide in the Vlasenica Area 1992-1995" (2016.).

(D.K.)