Genocide through the eyes of an eight-year-old: 'Stay with me, don't leave me for a second'

(Patria) - In July 1995, Adem was eight years old. He remembers leaving his native village of Sastavci near Srebrenica with his mother and younger sister.

He also remembers the buses and trucks and the attempt by soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska to separate him from his mother when they arrived in Potočari, part of the United Nations safe zone.

At that time, boys and men were separated from women and girls, and many were killed in the genocide.

"Stay with me, don't leave me for a second," Adem Mehmedović recalls his mother's words from July 1995.

Then, he, his mother, and younger sister fled the village of Sastavci. Seeking refuge in Srebrenica, a UN safe zone, they arrived in Potočari.

There, they were met by buses and trucks intended for the evacuation of women and children. Then eight-year-old Adem also remembers being greeted by a soldier of the Army of Republika Srpska at the bus.

He told them that his mother and sister would go on one bus, and he on another. His mother did not want to be separated from him. He recalls sitting next to his mother and her warning him, "don't raise your head, someone will see you."

At the time, he did not understand, but today he knows that underage boys were separated from their mothers and taken to their deaths.

Finally, they arrived in the town of Kladanj - to safety. Later, they were reunited with his father, who had escaped death through the forest.

Most children were separated from their fathers in those days. Their mothers were their only support. To this day, says Adem, they have not sufficiently spoken about the burden they carried.

Adem returned to Srebrenica 20 years later. He lives there, as he says, between the past and the uncertain future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As a historian, he has spoken with many who survived the genocide.

Below, watch Adem's harrowing testimony in an interview with Radio Free Europe.