War memorialization in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remains a persistent and contentious subject. In the absence of state laws and regulations governing memorials, let alone a national commemorative strategy, the country’s memorial landscape is saturated with a wide range of memorialization efforts stemming from all levels of Bosnian society.
Džemil Hodžić was just a child when his brother Amel was tragically killed by a sniper during the siege of Sarajevo. Driven by a desire to find photos of his brother, he established the Sniper Alley platform in 2019, with the aim of collecting photographs, particularly those of children who lived through the Sarajevo siege. However, the Sniper Alley project is more than a mere collection of photographs, it is a testimony to survivor resilience.
Imagine you sit in front of a world map and get to pick any place in the world. That’s where you will go and live for a year. Harun Čandić sat at home one day and looked at that map showing the 60 countries where he could go volunteer for a year, including such places New York, Cape Town, and even New Zealand. However, with the world at his fingertips, he chose the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
Life can become entangled with distressing events, the consequences of which can be so overwhelming that they surpass a person’s capacity to cope with them. This is the fundamental basis for the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
In times of unpredictability, museums defiantly safeguard history. The History Museum, which is dedicated to the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina from its first mention until today, is no exception.
The fourth annual Srebrenica Youth School, organized by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) in collaboration with the Srebrenica Memorial Center, brought together 40 young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Western Balkans, and around the world to explore topics such as transitional justice, memorialization, and historical narratives, as well as to honor the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.