Some thoughts on genocide

I spent a quiet day today reading Adam Lebor's book, Complicity with Evil. It is a searing indictment of the United Nations for its complicity in th genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, and, now -- even as I write -- in Darfur.

Having just spent time in Sarajevo and visited Srebrenica it brought the tragedy of what happened there into vivid focus.

Lebor's thesis is that the United Nations essentially allowed these tragedies to happen when it could have stopped any of them by acting forcefully in the beginning. In each case -- certainly in the case of Bosnia and Rwanda -- it knew precisely what was coming and did nothing. These were, in the words of Lebor, carefully if not meticulously planned genocides.

While the UN and its leadership -- Boutros Ghali and Kofi Anan in particular -- come in for the brunt of the responsibility, they are not alone.

This was not a mattter of ancient hatreds, as some people termed it. These were people who had lived in harmony. [As was evident from what remains in Sarajevo.]

Lebor's point is that not only did the UN fail miserably in this case, it continues to do the same in the case of Darfur. He also faults the Arab League which, when it met on this topic in 2004, came up with its standard explanation for all its problems -- it blamed Israel and Jews.

Lebor's thesis, in additional to the failure if not complicity of the UN, is that a "rich European Muslim culture what could have forged a new relationship between Islam and the West vanished forever under a rain of Serb artillery shells." [p. 249]

Islamic countries sent mujahideen fighters to Sarajevo and other parts of Bosnia. Their type of Islam was and is very much at odds with that of the Bosnians'. Some of these mujahideen were connected with AlQaeda. They have helped more radical Islam to take root in Bosnia.

[Interestingly, I heard from a number of Bosnians complaints that the only help they get from Muslim countries is mosques, rather than help to their very weak economy.]

For people who care about these tragedies, this is an important book. For those who feel that they don't know enough about these tragedies, this is an essential book to read.

On Sarajevo and genocide: Some reflections from home

This past week was a remarkable learning experience. I met fascinating people doing fascinating work on various aspects of genocide. I realize that there is much I have yet to learn but I walk away with one overriding conviction.

Scholars must do scholarship. Politicians and ideologues can do ideology and politics, but scholars must concentrate on scholarship and let the facts lead them where they may.

This is true whether it is in reference to the Holocaust, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia among a myriad of other places. Scholars must be allowed to ask tough questions and to follow the facts. There will always be differences of opinion on how the facts should be interpreted but the facts must never be shaped to fit a particular outcome.

Sometimes scholars might ask questions which seem to suggest that they are diminishing the suffering of a particular group or are suggesting that it was the group's "fault." In fact, they might be doing what scholars do: asking uncomfortable questions.

For example, let's say a genocide occures in the wake of a group declaring its independence when the group in question did not have the power to protect its people. In response to its declaration of independence it's people get massacred and genocide is committed against them.

The group which declared its independence explains that it thought the world would not let such a thing happen and expected the world organizations [e.g UN and NATO] to come to their defense. The organizations, not surprisingly, fail to do so and genocide occurs.

Who's at fault?

I don't think such a scenario in any manner, shape, or form diminishes the horror of genocide or the complete guilt of those who committed the act. They have done something for which they carry full responsibility and should be punished accordingly.

However it does leave open the quesion: does the independence declaring group carry some responsibility? Can we fault the leaders who acted in this manner without sounding as if we are in some way condoning the genocide?

Nor should scholarly findings be determined by vote. That's just nuts.

From Sarajevo: A survivor of the siege reflects on his experience

Dzido, a young Bosniak [Muslim] who was here for part of the siege and was then a teenager, reflected for me about what happened here. He told me that in his apartment block there lived two Serbs who worked in the national bakery.

During the siege it became exceptionally dangerous to stand on bread lines or to gather at places where food could be found because these places became targets for shells and bombs.

These two Serbs would bring food back to the apartment each evening to save the other inhabitants of the building [most of whom were Bosnia Muslims] from subjecting themselves to danger. His story and so many others reflect the fact that this was a city that was really integrated.

On Monday night I was interviewed by one of the most well known newscasters here. She was described to me as the Christine Amanpour of Bosnia. She's a Serb. The deputy commander of the forces which defended this city was a Serb.

Eventually he was evacuated out of the city with his family because he needed medical treatment. He was rescued [evacuated] by the Jewish community -- whom he describes as

"more Sarajevian than the rest of the Sarajevians... After all they have been here longer"

He says that when he asked why are you helping me he was told:

"You are a Sarajevian. We are Sarajevians. And we won't forget how we were helped in the 1940s."

My point is that Jews, Moslems, and Serbs lived together. There may well have been tension but there was also real integration. Lots of young people told me they dated people from the other group and did not give it a second thought.

As a student of the Holocaust it seems to me that, just as it is important to focus on the horrors and to tell that story, it is also important to make people understand that there was another way in which people lived before the war.

There was a time in the 1970s and early 1980s when survivors of the Holocaust were a bit hesitant about focusing on the story of the rescuers. One said to me: "Won't that make other people think that everyone was a rescuer when, in fact, rescuers were few and far between"

I responded that no, I did not think that would be the case. Rather, I said, it will show that the answer sometimes given about the reaction of bystanders in Europe to the Holocaust: "There was nothing they could do," is simply not true. There was a choice to do otherwise and some people made it... at great risk to themselves and their family.

So too in this troubled region. There were and are people who have made choices to break the mold of distrust and hostility. In Sarajevo they made that choice for many many years.

Dzido told me that when he met some foreigners in the old city of Sarajevo they asked him if before the war there were separate restaurants and cafes to which Muslims and Serbs frequented. [She did not mean by law but by custom]. Dzido said to me:

"I looked at her like she was crazy. We were all Sarejavians. We are all Sarejavians."

He is a compelling young man and over dinner on my last night here, he said:

"After what I went through what is most important to me in life are human relationships."

It seems well worth remembering.

From Sarajevo: A Kurdistani and a Turk

Ragip Zarakolu, the wonderfully sweet and incredibly brave Turkish publisher, [who publishes books on the Armenian genocide] with Choman Hardi, the talented and passionate Kurdistani [who reminded me of something so important]

It happened here... If only it could happen elsewhere.

From Sarajevo: On meeting a real hero who put his job on the line and lost or... won

One of the participants in this conference is a man named John Evans. A long time State Department employee who served in many important posts including American Ambassador to Armenia.

Apparently he was much beloved in this country and went everywhere without a guard or entourage.

Then, about six months after taking up his post, he went to a conference in Berkeley and spoke about the "genocide of the Armenians." Despite the fact that President Reagan has used the same term, Evans had contradicted current State Department policy.

He told the State Department what he did and lost his job as a result [not immediately but clearly as a result]. He is now writing a book about this.

I hope it sees the light of day in the near future.

From Sarajevo: Scenes from the synagogue and the Jewish cemetey

This is the only remaining functioning synagogue in Sarajevo. It's Ashkenazi but the prayers are according to the Sephardic tradition with some Ladino [Judeo-Spanish]. The design and architecture shows, as do so many synagogues world over, the influence of the architecture of those in whose midst Jews live.




The other synagogue was built in 1521. Today it is a newly refurbished museum. This picture is taken from relatively new upper level built in 1821.

The community actually had good relations with all groups. As one Bosniak [Bosnian Muslim] said to me: The Jews are more Sarajevian than most people from Sarajevo. They have been here longer.




The Jewish community is lead by a fascinating man, Jakob Finci. He is the first member of his family not to be born in Sarajevo in 350 years. [He was born in an Italian concentration camp after his family was deported from Sarajevo. He talked about the relations the Jewish community has had with Serbs, Muslims, and Croats. During the recent war the community was caught in between.

He has dreams of some sort of reconciliation effort along the lines of what happened in South Africa, though he recognizes that religious differences make it more complicated. He pointed out that Willy Brandt, who went to Warsaw and fell on his knees in an act of contrition, had spent most of the war in Norway, i.e. he did not have anything to personally apologize for.

So too, it is necessary to find those who have committed crimes and wrongs [on all sides] and for them to engage in reconciliation. I told him that I thought it was way too early to try this.... but who knows? Right now the history seems to real and too raw.


In the hills above Sarajevo is the Jewish cemetery. During the recent war it was used by snipers from both sides [Serbian and Bosniak (Muslim)] to shoot at the city below. The reason is obvious. From it you have a very clear shot right to the center of the city and to the area that became known as "Sniper's Alley. The yellow building you see is the Holiday Inn, built for the Olympics, but famous during the war because many journalists stayed there and it was virtually destroyed.



It was mined heavily and was only recently returned to the Jewish community after being 98.2% de-mined. Nothing, Jakob Finci was told, is 100%.

It contains some distinctive tombstones which are so old that their inscriptions are virtually unreadable.

From Sarajevo: One sign says it all

In front of the Gazi Husrev-Bergs mosque in the old city of Sarajevo there is a sign informing you what you cannot do inside. It's a commentary on the history of this city.

In case you cannot decipher the symbols I have printed a large shot below:


NO: loud talking, smoking, cellphoning, MACHINE GUNS, pets, bikes, short skirts [or as some observors said: sexy blond ladies], eating, or snuggling.

Machine guns....

From Srebrenica 2007: A mass funeral

Srebrenica July 11 2007: A mass funeral and a remembrance of things not so past.

[photos by Joshua Clark]


Some of the caskets waiting to be hoisted on the shoulders of family and then passed through the crowds on the way to their graves. Sometimes the caskets only contain a portion of the body because skeletal remains were reburied and, in the course of so doing, were destroyed. Over 400 of these were buried.


Moslem women standing near the memorial which lists the names of people who were the victims of this genocide.

From Srebrenica: A mass grave

This particular grave, according to what we were told by those in charge of the project, was a "secondary" grave, i.e. the bodies were reburied here in a place where the remains would be less easily discovered. Hence the bodies are not whole and often families receive remains over a number of years as they are identified.

[Pictures by Joshua D. Clark]

From Srebrenica: On attending a mass funeral and seeing a mass grave

We spent the day in Srebrenica, together with thousands of others, to mark the anniversary of the day on which Bosnian Serbs took control [actually the Dutch UN so-called peacekeeping forces gave it to them] of a large number of Bosniaks [Bosnian Muslims] and then preceded to take the men and boys and massacre them.

We began with a visit to a mass grave that is being excavated so that the bones can be DNA analyzed, returned to the family, and then properly buried. After that we went to the memorial site in Srebrenica and attended the funeral of over 450 people.

As you will see in the pictures, the coffins [covered in green cloth] are carried by family members [if there are any] and passed through the crowd. They were then buried by the family in plots which had been prepared.

On the way to the event I reread Samantha Power's chapter on this topic. It is a chilling reminder of how the world -- including the United States of America -- fiddled as this horror took place.

While there have been larger killings [in terms of numbers, e.g. Rwanda] in recent years, it is particularly mind boggling to think that this could occur in Europe adjacent to the European powers 40 years after the Holocaust.

As I have said here before: Never again has become again and again and again.

From Sarajevo: Correction

Re the Carla del Ponte post: some other Serb leaders have been charged but they have not been brought to trial because they are on the lam [and are obviously being hidden].

From Sarajevo: Off to Srebrenica

We go today to Srebrenica for the commemoration of the 1995 massacres. A number of bodies have been exhumed and will be reburied. This was the largest mass killing in Europe since World War II. More later.

From Sarajevo: Carla del Ponte

We are gathered to listen to Carla del Ponte, the Chief Prosecutor at the ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia). She is the one who prosecuted Milosevic.

She is a bit of a controversial figure here in BBosnia and Herzegovina. There are those who are upset with her that only Milosevic was charged and not the many others who participated in the tragedies in this country, including at Srebrenica

Some people, I learned last night when I appeared on Bosnia's leading news show, are upset because they allege that she received some documents which she used in the case against Milosevic but which she did not allow to be used in a subsequent case brought by Bosnia against Serbia for the crime of genocide. [Some people believe she cut a deal with Serbia.]

A Ph.D. student at the university here just challenged her on this. She denied that she did it. She said quite clearly that the decision about the use of the documents this was made by the judges not her.

She also made another point which I do understand. She said that they received all sorts of documents "under the table." She was quite clear that, since she did not know the source or could not be sure they were genuine, they could not be used in court.

Others are upset that Milosevic was charged but those who worked closely with him, e.g. Karadzic, were not. Again, she strongly asserted that this was a decision made by the Security Council and not by her.

I can't comment on the specifics of these issues but I can say that these issues -- including whether genocide happened in Sarajevo itself and not just in Srebrenica -- are burning matters here. People’s pain is palpable.

Talk about the here and now-ness of history.

And tomorrow we go to Srebrenica for a reburial of some of the bodies which have recently been exhumed.

From Sarajevo: Listening to the President of Bosnia Herzegovina

I am sitting in a plenary session of the International Association of Genocide Scholars listening to the President of the country who has come to address us. His presence is indicative of how important it is to the country that this meeting is taking place here.

He began by noting that Serb leaders had made it clear before the killings that they were planning on killing Bosnian Muslims. It is striking that in so many cases of genocide and/or mass killings the perpetrators make their intentions clear, e.g. the Holocaust, Rwanda, and here.

Tomorrow we go to Sebrenica. It is the anniversary of the massacres there and some of the bodies which were left in ditches there have been exhumed and will be reburied.

I saw the film which will be part of the memorial at this site. There were many things about it which struck me. First and foremost, of course, the mass killings. The largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust.

But, as someone who studies bystanders, I was absolutely floored by the behavior of the Dutch so-called peacekeepers who essentially walked away and left the Bosnian Muslims to a certain fate of death at the hands of the Serbs.

The Dutch alone were not responsible but a great measure of shame seems to fall on their shoulders.