The Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial: Promoting (In)Justice?

Commemorating by Marching: Memorialization and Resistance Practices of the Srebrenica Genocide

“…This denialism is also spatially visible through the erection of a Serb memorial near Potočari (Mulaj 2017, 138). This sign of Serb collective memory centers on the violence committed by Bosniaks against the Bosnian Serb community in the area and contests the narrative that links this land to the Srebrenica genocide (Braun 2014). This memorial stands at odds with the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center, which is located at the site where atrocities took place and is now both a burial ground for the victims of the genocide as well as a place of commemoration.…”

“…In 2017, a museum opened right across the street, built inside the battery factory that served as the quarters of the UN battalion tasked with protecting the enclave of Srebrenica in 1995 (Hoondert and van den Berg 2020; PAX 2017). Braun (2014) consequently argues that the memorialization of the genocide in Srebrenica "tells a story of Bosnian Muslim victimhood and Serb aggression" (195) and has, as such, exacerbated friction between the two communities. This tension between Serbs and Bosniaks in the area derives in part from contestations over space, as the two communities attach different memories and hence different meaning to the space in and around Srebrenica.…”

“…According to a large part of the population, there is still no justice with regard to the war crimes committed during the Bosnian civil war (Bell 2018, 3;Hasanovic 2016;Hasanovic and Petrila 2021;Nuhanovic 2007Nuhanovic , 2019. Looking at how the Bosnian community commemorates the atrocities, different scholars have discussed the Srebrenica-Potočari Genocide Memorial Center, established in 2003 (Braun 2014;Cohen 2017;Pollack 2003) as well as the annual commemoration of the genocide internationally (Halilovich 2015). The Marš Mira is a less investigated practice of commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide, one that is characterized by its active and participatory nature, as participants engage in a three-day march through the landscape where the atrocities took place.…”