Potocari Center to be the most complete monument to victims in the world by 2029

The Memorial Center in Potocari will get a new library with books and materials on war crimes on July 9, and by September this year, one of the most modern multimedia halls will be put into operation at the Center, writes the BH news agency Patria.

In this hall, visitors will have access to over 700 hours of video material related to statements of Srebrenica survivors, footage from the Hague Tribunal, and other video material that has even the slightest connection to the genocide in Srebrenica.

And all of this is just a small part of what the management of the Memorial Center in Potocari plans to build at this location in the next 15 years.

It is envisioned that the Memorial Center in Potocari will be the most complete of all Centers commemorating crimes in the world, even more modern and comprehensive than the most famous Jewish Museum in Berlin.

A development strategy has also been prepared. It is divided into phases. Three phases of five years each. The money needed to fulfill all plans is enormous, but no one working at the Center doubts that the money will come. Primarily from international funds.

Hasan Nuhanović, who worked on the development strategy of the Memorial Center from 2014 to 2029 on behalf of the Potocari Memorial Center, told the Patria agency that the Memorial Center will one day cover more than 120,000 square meters, not counting the cemetery, and that it will not only be a place that will preserve the memory of the genocide from oblivion, which is its priority, but there are hopes that the Center will also offer new jobs to the local population.

- This is a project that requires millions of marks. It is clear that we cannot build it in a short period, but in the next 15 years, as foreseen by the new development strategy, we can do a lot – says Nuhanović.

After the library and multimedia hall, the reconstruction of the building where the Dutch soldiers and their generals were housed will begin, who are among the most responsible for the deaths of thousands of Bosniaks in the then UN protected zone.

- All details from that building will be preserved and conserved, such as the graffiti that Dutch soldiers wrote on the walls – says Nuhanović.

As for the cemetery in Potocari, its arrangement is completed. We are still waiting for the burial of the remaining approximately 2,000 murdered Bosniaks, whose bones have not been found or identified.

This year, on July 11, at least 161 victims will be buried in Potocari, writes Patria.