Auschwitz Liberated on This Day: Why Did We Allow Srebrenica Afterwards?

On this day, in 1945, the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz was liberated. The Association of Camp Detainees in BiH also joined the commemoration of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  

- We want to pay tribute to all innocent victims who perished due to fascist policies and misguided ideology during a dark period of modern European history – stated the Association of Camp Detainees of BiH.

The horrific crimes committed and the images of tortured Nazi camp inmates that circled the world contributed to the adoption of a large number of international documents and declarations aimed at preventing the recurrence of such crimes. Unfortunately, 50 years later, the scenario was repeated in the heart of Europe.

In the period from 1992 to 1995, genocide was committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and aggression was carried out against the sovereign and independent state of BiH. More than 200,000 civilians passed through 657 camps due to their different affiliations, were unlawfully imprisoned, and brutally tortured.

More than 30,000 camp inmates were killed.

The crimes in BiH proved that fascist ideology had reawakened on the soil of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The crime has been repeated, and its denial and failure to acknowledge it open the possibility for it to happen again in the not-so-distant future.

Today in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the culture of forgetting prevails instead of the culture of remembrance. The scale of the crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina is mostly kept silent, and the culture of remembrance is a theoretical concept.

Association of Camp Detainees of BiH: Let's Contribute to the Culture of Remembrance of Genocide

The Association of Camp Detainees in Bosnia and Herzegovina calls on all citizens to contribute to the culture of remembrance of past events, strengthening tolerance and mutual diversity, and combating all forms of xenophobic actions against others and those who are different.

Furthermore, the Association of Camp Detainees in Bosnia and Herzegovina urges international institutions in BiH and domestic political structures to act more decisively in maintaining the culture of remembrance, preventing recurrence, and emphasizing the necessity of adopting a Law on the Rights of Victims of Torture in BiH for all victims, camp inmates, regardless of their religious, national, gender, or other affiliation.