Kadefa

Kadefa’s childhood was as peaceful, idyllic and tranquil as the countryside where she grew up in Voljavica, near Bratunac and Srebrenica in Bosnia. There was a river, rolling, green hills and good friends too. There was no difference between anyone who was a Serb, a Muslim or a Croat – everyone played together. Milada, Kadefa’s best friend at school, and afterwards, who she loved like a sister, just happened to be a Serb. It made no difference. All that changed in April 1992. By this point Kadeha was expecting a baby, nine months pregnant. She was on her way home from work when she discovered that Bratunac was filled with armed people: soldiers, police and paramilitaries. Together with Milada, Kadefa decided to avoid the soldiers and get to Voljavica through the forests. They reached Kadefa’s home without a problem and Milada stayed for lunch that day before leaving for her own home. This was, unbeknownst to them, the final time they would see each other. A couple of weeks later, on 7th May, Kadefa went into labour. It was impossible for her to reach a hospital with all the armed men around and so Kadefa’s mother-in-law and grandmother delivered the baby themselves. What should have been a wonderful day was marred by the fact Kadefa knew that villages around them were burning, and that she and her new baby were under threat from men who were filled with hatred. After only a few days, on 12th May, Kadefa and her family made the decision to flee. It was dangerous to go…but also too dangerous to stay. Kadefa begged her family to leave her – she could hardly walk because she had only just given birth and thought that she would endanger everyone else by slowing them down. Her husband refused to leave her and gallantly said that he would carry her if she couldn’t walk. So began the journey to what they hoped would be a safe place. Twenty-two days later, after walking through the forests, Kadefa and her family arrived in Srebrenica. They had no where to stay when they arrived in the town which was thronging with refugees who had fled their homes in the surrounding area, just like Kadefa. Since she had a new-born baby Kadefa was allowed to stay with sixteen other people in a house in the town. The place where she stayed had no running water, no electricity, and food was very scarce. It was to be Kadefa’s home for the next three years. It was a struggle to survive in Srebrenica; like other people, Kadefa searched incessantly for food, she tried to grow vegetables to give her child something to eat. Many of the women who were refugees in Srebrenica went looking for food in areas under the control of the Serbs – which was dangerous but necessary. These terrible conditions were made a little better when the United Nations declared that they would protect Srebrenica and that it would be a safe place to reside in. The United Nations did not live up to these promises. The Bosnian Serb attack on Srebrenica began in July 1995. As soon as the weapons started firing Kadefa and the others in the village knew that it would be impossible to defend against. People began to stream out of Srebrenica towards Potočari, where the UN had their base in the area. No one had any real idea what was going on but they did know one thing: they had to try to get away from the Serbs- to safety. Kadefa, who by now had two small children with her, initially made her way to her brother’s place by the petrol station in Srebrenica. The scene there was desperate – an immense, confused, and frightened crowd. The men began to leave in a column, trying to escape from the advancing Serbs through the forests. Kadefa’s husband, suspecting what his fate would be if he stayed to be captured by the Serbs, joined them. He gave Kadefa a hug, asked her to look after the children, and left. Kadefa knew that they had to keep moving, away from the Serbs and towards Potočari. Her daughter, who was three years old by now, walked without complaining about the blood in her shoes from painful blisters. When Kadefa arrived at Potočari she could already hear screams in the distance. The Serbs were there. They moved through the crowd, grabbing men and boys and taking them away. Men were being separated from women and small children. Being torn away from their families. Trucks were there to take the women and children away…without the men. The journey was a terrible one. Moving through hostile territory, the women and children were abused by Serbs who spat at them and taunted them as they travelled. Eventually, the truck that Kadefa was on arrived in Tuzla. She was able to live with her brother – eleven people crammed into his flat. Immediately, Kadefa began to ask anybody she could find if they had news of her husband. No one did. His fate was unknown. Kadefa waited… and hoped. It would be eight long years until Kadefa heard the news.

Kadefa’s husband had been found miles away in a place called Pilica. He had been killed by the Serbs there. Today, Kadefa, still mourns the loss of her husband and the over twenty close relatives that were killed. In a way, she thinks that the genocide also destroyed her – the Bosnian Serb perpetrators took away her heart, her soul and her joy. Nevertheless, Kadefa, urges everyone, particularly young people, to learn the lessons of the past. She still believes in the future and hopes that young people can talk together and build a future that is filled with harmony and love, rather than hatred.

The Genocide in Bosnia

Local Serbs took over Prijedor and began to discriminate against non-Serbs. People were forced from their jobs and made to put white flags on their houses. Soon murders began with 3,515 Bosnian Muslims going missing in this period. The people of Bijeljina witnessed the arrival of ‘Arkan’s Tigers’ in April 1992. The Muslim population was targeted, scores murdered, expelled or taken to camps. Mosques were destroyed as the Serbs attempted to wipe out any trace of Muslim life. Local Serb men were encouraged to take part in the socalled ‘liberation’ of the town.

Massacres by Serb paramilitary groups like Arkan’s Tigers in Zvornik killed nearly 4,000 Bosnian Muslims between 1992-95

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA

The Omarska camp was a concentration camp used to detain non-Serbs from the local area. Conditions in the camp were terrible and murder and torture were common. Hundreds were killed.

In April 1992 Foča was attacked by Serb military, police and paramilitary. The homes of Muslims were burned, mosques destroyed and men, women and children captured. Whilst the men were sent to concentration camps the women were often subjected to horrific sexual attacks. Hundreds were murdered. In July 1995 8,372 men and boys were murdered in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serbs. It was the single worst atrocity in Europe since the Second World War.

In May 1992 Serbs took over the town of Višegrad and declared it a ‘Serb’ town. Muslims lost their jobs and, as paramilitaries such as the ‘White Eagles’ moved in, murders began. Many bodies were thrown into the Drina river. In all around 3,000 men, women and children were murdered.

This map can only show a fraction of the important places and events that occurred during the Bosnian Genocide. For much more in-depth coverage please visit: https://www.srebrenica.org.uk/