Hasan Hasanović carried the body of his murdered brother for 20 km: How will I face my mother

That July of 1995, Hasan Hasanović lay on his stomach in the rugged terrain around Srebrenica, contemplating what he would tell his mother about his brothers. That was his biggest worry. The death of his two youngest sons would break her already fragile heart. Hasan had already left his younger brother Hajro in the Srebrenica forests. If he also left Hasib, what would be left of her life.

- I decided I wouldn't leave Hasib's body, even if I lost my own head – says Hasanović. This 41-year-old member of the BiH Armed Forces, who lives with his family in Tuzla today, survived one of the greatest human tragedies after the fall of Srebrenica in 1995.

Hasan's father died of starvation in besieged Srebrenica in 1993, and Chetnik shells killed Hasan's two younger brothers, Hajro, who was 18 at the time, and Hasib, a year older, in the column of men who tried to reach free territory through the forests.

In an interview with the BiH news agency Patria, Hasan recalled the days when he had to leave one brother lying dead and carried his other murdered brother on his back for about 20 kilometers to the free territory of Nezuka.

The media reported on his fate back in 2009. However, Hasan himself wants to remind people again. It is difficult for him. However, he wants to constantly remind future generations, Bosniaks, that they know what can happen to them if they are not aware of who they are and where they live. He only regrets that the photo of him caressing his murdered brother's face is not displayed among the photographs in the "Museum of Genocide" at the Memorial Center in Potočari.

- We were somewhere around the Bratunac rocks when our neighbor Osmo, who was 15 years old, caught up with me in the column and told me that Hajro had been killed. My world collapsed. The column was so long that we in the middle of the column couldn't know what was happening at the beginning or the end of the column. There were thousands and thousands of men and children. Osmo then took me to Hajro. We managed to turn him onto his back and cover him, and then we had to move on – Hasan recalled for Patria.

A few days later, the Chetniks killed his other brother, Hasib. The then 19-year-old student of the School of Civil Engineering Technicians in Srebrenica, an excellent student with all A's, succumbed to wounds sustained from a mine. Hasan was also wounded in the leg by the same mine.

- I carried his body for about 20 kilometers to Nezuka. Only when I later looked at the photos of me caressing my brother's face did I see that I had been barefoot the whole time, but I didn't notice it that day – says Hasan.

- If you ask me how I endured it, the answer is very simple. I thought we would all be killed. Tens and hundreds of people were dying every day. I didn't think I would survive either. My body meant nothing to me anymore. But, again, I had some hope that maybe it wouldn't be like that, and that it would be at least a little easier for me if I carried my brother to free territory, even if he was dead – says Hasan.

Two months after Hasib's death, Hasan found his grave in the atheist cemetery in Tuzla. He was saddened by this.

- They took him from me in Nezuka and took him somewhere. Later I searched for him and finally found him in the atheist cemetery. I felt bad. I dug him up with friends and transferred his coffin to the Muslim cemetery. I found Hajro's bones in 2009. I buried him next to Hasib. Let them be together – says Hasan.

On July 11, he will go to Potočari again for the funeral. He will bury his cousin. No one but Hasan will lower him into the grave, writes Patria.