Memorial Center issues call for collection of items for preparation of permanent exhibition

(Patria) - The Srebrenica Memorial Center is in the process of preparing a comprehensive exhibition that will cover more than 4,000 square meters, and which will best display the scale of the genocide in Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports Anadolu Agency (AA).

To this end, the Memorial Center has issued a public call for the collection of items and materials for the preparation of a permanent exhibition.

"Dear mothers, dear relatives of genocide victims, dear compatriots and friends, journalists, photographers, historians and researchers, and all of you who have various information, materials and items, we kindly ask you to provide them to us for permanent possession, for the needs of realizing the activity ahead of us. The Memorial Center is on the verge of realizing one of the largest and most important projects since its establishment – a large, comprehensive, and permanent exhibition entirely dedicated to the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Srebrenica," the Memorial Center's call states.

The Center reminds that all mass crimes committed in recent history are based on planned and strategic killing, persecution, and various forms of traumatization of victims, which lasts until all traces of the crime are ultimately erased.

"Genocide involved all forms, primarily dehumanization, and then the destruction and erasure of collective, as well as individual identity. As an institution that deals with the memory of genocide, the Memorial Center, through its projects, programs, and existence, will always be the greatest bulwark against genocide deniers, but in this case, we cannot do it alone. For the realization of the largest exhibition that will faithfully and consistently portray our story in detail, we need help," the Memorial Center states.

The call is directed to individuals who spent the war or part of the war in Srebrenica (were originally from Srebrenica or other towns/places in Podrinje, and sought refuge in Srebrenica), survived the Death March, or had family members killed in the genocide. The call is directed to individuals directly or indirectly affected by the crime of genocide. If they have items that belonged to them or their close relatives killed during the genocide, they are asked to come forward and donate them in order to preserve the facts and evidence of the suffering of innocent civilians in the period 1992-1995.

The Center believes that the story of Srebrenica cannot be told without the story of the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Mass graves from July 1995 in and around Srebrenica cannot be explained without knowledge of the mass graves in and around Zvornik and Prijedor in 1992. The siege of Srebrenica cannot be explained without the siege of Sarajevo. The massacre at the football field in Srebrenica in April 1993 cannot be understood without understanding the artillery attack on Tuzla's Gate. Therefore, we want to tell a complete story, and if you have any documents, artifacts, or items from that period that will explain it, we earnestly invite you to contact us," the Memorial Center states.

Items for this public call include, but are not limited to:

– clothing and footwear that belonged to genocide victims or survivors; especially handmade footwear, cans, or packaging of canned food,

– personal items of genocide victims such as: watches, cigarette cases, lighters, personal documents, and other items including those found with victims in mass graves,

– improvised devices such as stoves, lamps, wood carts, and the like,

– clothing used in Srebrenica made from parachute cloth or tent canvas used for air-dropping food in 1993,

– backpacks, notebooks, textbooks, toys (purchased or handmade)

In addition to the above, families and relatives of victims can also provide:

– documents, diaries, notes, letters that arrived in or were sent from the Srebrenica enclave via the Red Cross,

– newspaper articles,

– photographs (family, group, or individual, school, or any other photos on which you or your murdered family members appear),

– audio and video material – audio and video recordings that speak about the life of the population of central Podrinje from the beginning of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially when Srebrenica was a United Nations 'safe area'.

"Whether you live in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have returned to your pre-war place of residence, or have moved to one of the countries of the world after the war, please contact us and help with one of the most important projects for the generations to come after us – the Srebrenica Memorial Center. Let us together be the voice of those who are no longer with us, and because of whom we have pledged to protect and spread the truth about the genocide in Srebrenica," the public call from the Srebrenica Memorial Center reads.

The Srebrenica Memorial Center is a unique institution among similar institutions in Europe. It is entirely led by survivors or relatives of those who did not survive the genocidal operation of the RS police and army in July 1995.

"For all of us, what we are doing today is a question of what will remain after we are no longer alive. But this is not just our legacy, but the legacy of a people who have every right to remember the attempt at their own destruction in the historical, political, military, cultural, and media context in which it occurred," the Memorial Center emphasizes.