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I am placing a wreath today at the memorial in
Stražište cemetery in solemn memory of the victims of the genocide
in Višegrad. I am doing so in cooperation with the University of
Sarajevo Institute for the Research of Crimes Against Humanity and
International Law; the Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada;
and the Bosnian American Genocide Institute and Education Center,
Chicago, IL, USA. I thank them for their support. I am especially
grateful to Prof. Dr. Smail Čekić for all his help with planning and
arrangements.
In May 2012 sixty souls were laid to rest in
Stražište cemetery. Their human remains had been exhumed from the
Drina river and Lake Perućac beginning in August 2010. At that time,
repairs on a nearby dam had caused the river level to drop. It then
became possible for the first time, and perhaps for the last time,
to find the victims who had been murdered on the Ottoman bridge and
thrown into the river in 1992. Perhaps the perpetrators thought they
had hidden the evidence of their crimes once and for all. However,
due to the heroic efforts of Bosnia’s Missing Person’s Institute and
the International Commission on Missing Persons, the bones of the
victims were recovered from the riverbed. I know this because I
accompanied the government exhumation team and I witnessed the
discovery of the human remains. These were the very victims who were
laid to rest in the cemetery in 2012, and whose memory we honor
today.
It is important to note that non-Serbs in Višegrad
suffered many atrocities during the genocidal aggression from 1992
to 1995. On two separate occasions Bosniak women, children, and
elderly men were forced into houses that were set on fire. They
perished in the flames. These are known and will be remembered as
the Pionirska Street (June 14, 1992) and Bikovac (June 27, 1992)
tragedies. In the case that convicted two of the perpetrators,
presiding ICTY Judge Patrick Robinson wrote that "In the all too
long, sad and wretched history of man’s inhumanity to man, the
Pionirska street and Bikavac fires must rank high. At the close of
the twentieth century, a century marked by war and bloodshed on a
colossal scale, these horrific events stand out for the viciousness
of the incendiary attack, for the obvious premeditation and
calculation that defined it, for the sheer callousness and brutality
of herding, trapping and locking the victims in the two houses,
thereby rendering them helpless in the ensuing inferno, and for the
degree of pain and suffering inflicted on the victims as they were
burnt alive. There is a unique cruelty in expunging all traces of
the individual victims which must heighten the gravity ascribed to
these crimes." Also, on this occasion, we must recall that one of
the most heinous detention centers and rape camps was located in
Višegrad. Finally, it must be said that in Višegrad the highest
percentage of the victims of the aggression and war crimes were
women and children.
We remember the Višegrad victims today, as we also
remember the victims of genocide in Srebrenica, following the recent
commemoration of the July 1995 genocide, as well as the victims of
the genocide in Prijedor municipality who were murdered, and who
suffered as well forcible displacement and imprisonment in
concentration camps. We remember, indeed, the victims of the war
crimes that were committed from Bihać to Sarajevo; from Mostar to
Bijeljina.
Today we condemn and we resist the culture of
genocide denial in Višegrad and in Republika Srpska by laying our
wreath at the memorial in the Stražište cemetery. Our wreath reads:
“To the Memory of the Victims of the Višegrad Genocide: May Truth
Lead to Justice.” We would also like to recognize and honor the
citizens and activists who created this memorial in the cemetery in
order to tell the truth about the genocide. These citizens and
activists have inspired us because they have kept their hearts open
to the hope that the truth will lead to justice. We thank them for
their courage. By our presence we stand with them and we affirm the
right of all refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes
without risk of intimidation, persecution or discrimination. We
would like to express our hope for the future of a unified
multicultural Bosnia and Herzegovina, operating as a democratic
society under the rule of law, and fully integrated within the
region. We owe nothing less to the victims of the Višegrad genocide.
Thank you,
David Pettigrew, PhD
Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut
State University,
Steering Committee, Yale University Genocide
Studies Program,
International Team of Experts Institute for
Research of Genocide, Canada,
Board Member, Bosnian American Genocide
Institute and Education Center, Chicago, IL, USA |
