Bayless High School

Recording History BHS

By Emily Klein Bayless High School

Over the last few years, the Social Studies Department at Bayless High School has been working to expand the number of elective courses offered to students. This past spring, a mix of juniors and seniors enrolled in BHS’s first Bosnian American Studies class, which was co-taught by Dr. Monika Hasanbasic and Ms. Emily Klein. The course was offered through a partnership with Fontbonne University, which provided an opportunity for students to earn college credit, enjoy several visits from Dr. Benjamin Moore of Fontbonne, and to visit the Center for Bosnian Studies housed on Fontbonne’s campus. The class was an incredible learning experience for all involved.

“During my time in class this semester, I have developed more empathy and established a better understanding of the people living in my community,” one senior said. “The interview process and class content has provided me with a new perspective of the world. I am a better person leaving the class than I was going into it.”

At the beginning of the course, students studied the early history of the lands that would become Bosnia and presented summaries of their information to each other. We then studied the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the conflict that began as a result. We spent several weeks learning about the events of the Bosnian War, including the genocide and ethnic cleansing campaigns inflicted upon Bosnians. We did so by reading memoirs and accounts of the war, watching documentaries and movies, and analyzing the text of the Dayton Accords, which formally ended the conflict. We then moved to examine the trials of some of the major war criminals, and were incredibly fortunate to have Mr. Elvedin Pasic visit our class on two different occasions. Mr. Pasic was the first witness to testify in the International Criminal Tribunal in the Netherlands for the former Yugoslavia at the trial of Serbian General Ratko Mladic, one of the men who was eventually convicted of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his role in the war. Mr. Pasic shared both his personal story of his family’s experience in Bosnia during the war, along with what it was like to testify in front of an international tribunal. He brought along pictures and other artifacts from his time in the Netherlands for students to see, and graciously answered questions about his experiences.

“Having learning experiences like this really enhanced the class in ways other classes couldn’t have been done,” one student said after Mr. Pasic’s visit.

those who were involved in the war, one of the most important parts of the course is the interview that students are asked to conduct. The Center for Bosnian Studies at Fontbonne has been building an archive of interviews with Bosnians and Bosnian Americans, and, as part of the Bosnian Studies course, each student was tasked with interviewing someone of Bosnian descent. Many students chose to interview individuals who had direct experience in the war. For a majority of them, this was a direct family member - often, a parent. Other students interviewed friends, neighbors, or classmates. No matter who the interviewee was, students reported back that they learned details they never expected to, heard stories they had never been privy to, and gained a much greater understanding of the effect of war on the individuals who lived through it. All of those interviews were recorded (with the interviewee’s permission), submitted to the Center for Bosnian Studies, and cataloged where they will remain a living piece of history.

“Submitting the interview felt surreal, because now a trace of my existence has been written into history,” one student said after submitting his interview. “After death, people are forgotten, but by submitting the interview, I won’t be entirely forgotten as part of my existence still lives on in the interview.”

Students from Bayless and Affton schools at Fontbonne University’s Center for Bosnian Studies in May.

The interview process was an intense and emotional piece of the course for many of the students. As a class, we watched sample interviews, discussed best practices for interviewing, drafted and revised interview questions, and practiced interviewing each other prior to conducting the actual interviews. However, actually conducting the interviews and hearing previously unheard stories led one student to reflect that “I will never be able to fully understand what my family and the victims of the genocide have been through or are going through to this day, but I have been able to grow more empathetic and understanding toward them. This course has been one of my favorites I have ever taken.”

If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to contact Dr. Monika Hasanbasic or Ms. Emily Klein. The course is open to juniors and seniors, and course selection happens at the beginning of second semester each year.