Srebrenica, Sarah Wagner

1. Chapter 1

It is somewhat embarrassing to admit that I knew nearly nothing about the Srebrenica genocide before reading this book. It was not something that we covered in high school and I do not believe it to be well known in the US, at least as far as I know. It is strange to think that something so horrible developed and culminated within my lifetime, and so recently in the past. I feel that part of the reason it is not more well known is because it does paint the west and the international community in a certain negative light.

Srebrenica became essentially a refuge for Bosniaks under a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Bosnian Serb forces, and was described as a hellish place. I was struck particularly by the description of people having to use battery acid to disinfect wounds, because they had no alcohol, and of course by the death and starvation described. It was both curious and sad how the UN peacekeepers were described to have failed the refugees, particularly the delays for close air support, delayed far beyond usefulness. I was struck by the image of men, young and old, being stripped in every essence of their identity, by having their possessions discarded, and burned and buried en masse, and again in secondary graves. I almost felt that such happenings had to be incredible, and yet I knew rationally that these events were once current events in my life.

In particular, the exchange between father and son about their contrary optimism and pessimism for UN intervention highlighted the remarkable gap between the technological military superiority of the west and their failure to prevent ethnic conflict that has roots that stretch back hundreds of years. Technoscientific superiority does not in itself solve the complex problems of society and politics that plague the human race.


2. Chapter 2 described the current day atmosphere of Srebrenica and of the Bosniaks who have returned, mostly middle-aged women, with very few men or young people. A theme of motherhood and loss and identity is highlighted, most notably in the association Women of Srebrenica. Their remembrance pillows and mounted pictures of the missing and victims highlight the need for these women with shared suffering to share their stories and preserve the identities of the missing, and thus shape their acceptance or not of DNA identification. Part of the non-acceptance is rooted in mistrust, both ethnic and of the international community which they remember to have failed them.