I wanted to create this series because I believe that what happened 25 years ago in Srebrenica is part of Dutch history. Yet, before coming to Bosnia, I knew very little about what had happened. To be able to hear these stories, first hands from survivors was painful but necessary. As a storyteller, I regularly ask myself the question: what is the value of writing these stories down? How does the person sharing and reading benefit from this?
I created this series together with the
from Sarajevo. Our approach to this series was to cover stories of people who’s childhoods are marked by the genocide. I’m aware that Srebrenica is a sensitive topic for many people. I received messages of people saying that we are only sharing one side of the story. By sharing these stories, we are not delegitimizing your story or pain. Stories can exist side by side. I genuinely believe that’s the power of storytelling. Only if we listen to each other, can we begin to understand, heal, and work towards a better future.
I want to encourage you to investigate this topic more. Yesterday, I finished watching the three-part series of Coen Verbraak called: ‘Srebrenica – De machtelozemissie van Dutchbat.’ (Translated: Srebrenica – the powerless mission of the Dutchbat) which I recommend watching (Unfortunately It’s only in Dutch). This series is an extremely valuable document which adds an extra dimension to this story.
Last but not least, I would like to ask you to sign this petition, which pleads that Srebrenica must be included in the Dutch education system. A group of four young women called ‘Bosnian girl’ leads this initiative, so far they already collected 15.846 signatures but they need 40.000 signatures in total. Let’s help them out!
https://actie.degoedezaak.org/…/srebrenica-is…
We hope you learned more about the Srebrenica genocide through the personal perspective of these courageous survivors. Thank you all for being so involved with this series.
