Music is not a magical tool that can be used in isolation to ensure the construction of lasting peace and reconciliation. However, if utilized correctly as a medium, it can provide an excellent means of facilitating dialogue that enables conflict to be discussed in an artistic setting.
From May 28th to August 21st, 1992, over 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats were confined, tortured and killed at the Omarska camp in entity of Republika Srpska. Despite the extent of the atrocities committed at Omarska, the former camp pointedly lacks any form of memorialization as a result of entity of Republika Srpska’s enduring war crimes denial. This marks a symbolic continuation of genocide, perpetuating survivor’s trauma and impeding efforts towards reconciliation.
On May 23, 2012, Emir Hodžić went viral for standing alone in Prijedor’s main square, wearing a white armband on his left arm. The white armband, now used as a symbol of remembrance, commemorated the decree issued by Serb nationalist authorities in Prijedor (Crisis Committee of the Serbian District of Prijedor) on May 31, 1992, ordering the non-Serb population of Prijedor to hang white sheets outside their homes and to wear a white armband.
In 2013, the largest mass grave site in Europe since World War II was discovered on the outskirts of Prijedor in northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Last month, the Post Conflict Research Center and Sarajevo Memorial Center organized the inaugural International Youth School Prijedor in May 2024. The school included a visit to the Tomašica mass grave, an international conference on the use of detention camps, and participation in the White Armband Day memorial walk.
During the War in BiH, places of everyday life suddenly turned into epicenters of the most horrendous crimes imaginable. Schools and factories were transformed into campsites that were used to detain the civilian population and inflict collective trauma. The infamous camps in the Keraterm tile factory and the local school in Trnopolje offer insightful examples for analyzing the Bosnian Serb camp system during the war.