Srebrenica, thirty years since the genocide in Europe

Genocide . Exactly thirty years have passed since this word returned to the forefront of contemporary Europe: on July 11, 1995 , when the Bosnian Serb militias led by Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic began rounding up ethnic Bosniak civilians (Bosnian Muslims, as they were more commonly known at the time) who had taken refuge in the town of Srebrenica , under the futile protection of a contingent of Dutch peacekeepers who did not lift a finger. In just a few days, the Serbs killed over 8,000 men between the ages of 17 and 70 and chased away women and children to carry out their ethnic cleansing , another term we learned then. Today, like every year, the anniversary is celebrated at the Memorial-Cemetery inaugurated in 2003 near the town, amidst the expanse of gravestones planted in memory of the victims. And this year too, as in 2021, when Fabio Tonacci went to Srebrenica for Friday , the remains of some of the victims will be recomposed, still recovered today in one of the mass graves that continue to be discovered in the surrounding countryside.

In Venerdì , available at newsstands and online, Chiara Privitera's reportage tells us about Bosnia today , 30 years after Srebrenica but also since the Dayton Accords that put an end to the fighting at the cost of leaving a country deeply divided along ethnic lines: "Those over forty still look at strangers and wonder if they killed someone in their family." Privitera met mostly with the youngest, those born after the war : they define themselves as "post-war" and feel they "have inherited a truce, not peace." But they are trying to build something that resembles it.

From the newsletter "Finalmente è Venerdì" of July 11, 2025. Click here to subscribe, it's free.