Gwinnett County‘s Bosniak community observed the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, which claimed at least 8,372 lives, at a ceremony held on the evening of July 11 at the Gwinnett County Fallen Heroes Park in Lawrenceville.
Roughly 1,000 men, women and children of Bosnian origin attended the memorial at the park that commemorates Gwinnett residents who died in the line of duty in military or public safety service.
Many of the Bosniaks were clad in black T-shirts with “Srebrenica” written on their fronts in white lettering followed by “8372 lives…20 years.” In the middle of the front were etchings of 11 women leaning together around what appears to be a grave. On the back of the shirts read “Never Forget – Srebrenica – Genocide – July 11, 1995.”
Ismet ef Zejenlovic, the imam of the county’s Bosniaks, recalled the violence of the 1990s that destroyed the multiethnic Bosnian communities that had lived together for a thousand years with tolerance for their different religious beliefs and their ethnic identities.
He expressed “gratitude to the U.S.” for providing an open door for 300,000 Bosnians and the U.S. Congress for proclaiming the massacre at Srebrenica as a “genocide.”
He encouraged Bosniaks to “live well and justly,” “to raise children and build a future.”
Nicole Hendrickson, Gwinnett County’s outreach program director, and Keith Roche, a member of Lawrenceville’s City Council and the city’s mayor pro tem, both read from proclamations acknowledging the genocide and formally setting July 11th as “Srebrenica Remembrance Day.”.
Cpl. Brad Smith, who lived and worked in Bosnia for half a decade, part of an international police task force helping the region recover from the war that ended in 1995, said that the horror endured there would never be forgotten.
He also said that anyone who was unfamiliar with what happened could contact him. “I know the story and if you don’t, I’ll share it with you.”
Nail Cubro, president of the organization, the Bosniak Community in Georgia, recalled what has been often referred to as “the worst crime on European soil since World War II.”
He severely criticized Russia and Serbia for refusing to acknowledge the genocide. “The acceptance of truth is the only way for reconciliation ever to take place,” he said. “I’m calling on all Serbs to acknowledge and recognize their responsibility, or they will pass along the problem to their children.”
He also recalled that many still were angry that the Bosniaks, who had been isolated in a supposedly safe zone of Srebrenica were abandoned and betrayed by United Nations forces. “We are grateful for the U.S. airstrikes,” he added, but acknowledged that they were “a little late.”
Amra Ikic, youth president of the Community of Bosniaks in Georgia, said that Russia’s and Serbia’s refusal to acknowledge the genocide “was a slap in the face of all Bosnians, no matter what their religion.”
“Let us raise our voices for those without voices,” she pleaded.
Several Bosnians described their ordeals including their suffering as children from loss of family, starvation and terror.
Following the ceremony, they adjourned to their community center on Grayson Highway, which also has a section that serves as a mosque.
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