HORRORS OF THE HOLOCAUST & SREBRENICA LIVE ON

SPECIAL EDITION: Dear readers, it takes only 10-15 minutes to research this fact-packed article. It comes with our commentary to Mr. Anthony Lerman's OP/ED in the Guardian and more information about the Srebrenica genocide, including a little known fact that many Srebrenica victims had been gassed with chemical weapons.

In his latest OP/ED article for the Guardian, titled "Holocaust day of reckoning won't come," a highly respected Jewish author Antony Lerman - the former director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research - reminds Guardian readers that "we can never close the book on the Holocaust or Srebrenica."

The figure is not 7,000 but higher

Although Mr. Antony Lerman, whom we deeply respect, uses a figure of 7,000 dead at Srebrenica, unfortunately the figure of victims is higher. The figure of 7,000 is just an approximation of a minimum and is used in trials. Usually, the Office of Prosecutor will quote "7,000 to 8,000" dead at Srebrenica. However, recent DNA results have shown that a minimum of 8,100 died at Srebrenica - based on blood samples. Additionally, it is important to understant that the Serb forces "targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica." Of those 40,000 Bosniaks targeted for extinction, at least 8,372 were summarily killed and 30,000 forcibly expelled in a massive scale ethnic cleansing campaign. Re

Holocaust and Srebrenica: 'Never Again'

As Mr. Lerman correctly observes in his excellently written OP/ED for the Guardian:

"After the Holocaust we may have believed that "Never again" was so deeply seared into Europe's liberal consciousness that a Srebrenica massacre was inconceivable. Instead, we learned that "Never again" meant "Never again will Germans commit mass murder against Jews in Europe." The wall came down on the same day as the commemoration of Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom in Germany, but it was not a sign that the past had finally been overcome, rather that a true reckoning had yet to take place. True reckonings with such horrors will never be easy to achieve. Bosnian Muslims know this, as do European Jews."

Reckoning not Easy

According to Mr. Lerman, there are at least two related reasons why the process of reckoning with such horrors has never "been either perfect or complete." As Mr. Lerman argues:

First, inescapably, these horrific events live on in the politics of our time. It would be naive to think that the meaning of Srebrenica or the Holocaust can ever be considered in a context free from politicisation, much as we might recoil from this fact. The outcome of the trial of Karadzic has a direct bearing on whether Serbia will find a home in the EU.... The second reason why we neither can nor should abandon the quest for a true reckoning is because Srebrenica and the Holocaust are key reference points when we are forced to confront certain major moral and ethical issues relating to the future of Europe.

There is No Controversy

Mr. Lerman knows that genocide deniers are poised to attack (and in many cases harrass) people they disagree with, so he rightfully explained that:

I'm sure someone will take me to task for linking Srebrenica and the Holocaust. "Well, it wasn't Auschwitz," they will say. Yes, of course it wasn't Auschwitz. But as Timothy Snyder explains: "Auschwitz, generally taken to be an adequate or even a final symbol of the evil of mass killing, is in fact only the beginning of knowledge". For me, one meaning of Snyder's words is that Muslims should not be attacked for identifying with the Jewish tragedy, for dramatising their current experience of demonisation in Europe by referring to themselves as the "new Jews". In the light of Europe's unfinished business, as symbolised by the Karadzic trial, this could help to generate a new knowledge and understanding, based on sharing histories, to combat anti-Muslim racism and would not devalue the Jewish experience of persecution one jot.

Auscwitz & Srebrenica: Victims Gassed

There were no gas chambers in the Srebrenica ghetto, where as many as 80,000 Bosnian Muslim refugees faced hunger and starvation in 1992/93. But, it is a little known fact that the Srebrenica genocide victims were attacked and gassed with poisonous chemical weapons in July 1995.

From 1992-95, Serbs kept Srebrenica enclave under the siege. At the time, Srebrenica was the biggest European concentration camp besieged by genocidal Serb forces that regularly blocked humanitarian convoys from entering Srebrenica causing many refugees to start dying from starvation in winter 92/93 and in 1995. Furthermore, Serbs never demilitarized around Srebrenica, even though they were required to do so under the 1993 demilitarization agreement. Diego Arria who initiated the visit of the UN Security Council delegation to Srebrenica in April 1993, and was at its head, described the situation in the enclave as "genocide in slow motion".

Those who survived Srebrenica genocide and vicious attacks against them "...described mortar shells that produced a strange smoke, one that spread out slowly." Survivors testified that some people then began to hallucinate and act irrationally, killing themselves or their friends. Human Rights Watch believed the chemical used was B-Z, a non-lethal agent that incapacitates people. It is a chemical the army of the former Yugoslavia possessed." (Source: Federation of American Scientists) The evidence remained "inconclusive" due to inability of Human Rights Watch to properly test the samples and, in our opinion, due to some "leftist" circles within HRW who seemed to accept eyewitness testimonies with mean-spirited scepticism (Just take a "wording" of this HRW 1998 report, it seemed as it had been written by a leftist-apologist Srebrenica massacre denier who was trying to mask his scepticism with few objective statements even stating that the allegations might be "false." Imagine questioning testimonies of Holocaust victims in this "sceptic" way and even suggesting they are "false"?) However, HRW quickly corrected itself by stating few objective conclussions worth noting from this "inconclusive" report:

"...it is likely that if a chemical agent was used during the trek from Srebrenica to Tuzla, the people most affected by it are no longer alive to tell their story, having been killed by Serb forces following their incapacitation by BZ or a similar substance. Secondly, Human Rights Watch did not have the resources to do systematic sampling for BZ or a BZ-like compound. Moreover, Human Rights Watch has also not been able to obtain other types of evidence that have been said to exist, including transcripts of Serb radio transmissions from the time of the Srebrenica events.... The United States government apparently took the allegations seriously enough to conduct an investigation, reported to have taken place in late 1996 or early 1997. The results of this investigation have not been made public, but in late 1996 or early 1997 the U.S. intelligence community had information suggesting that chemical weapons may have been used in Srebrenica. The government’s refusal to release the findings may, according to a U.S. official interviewed by Human Rights Watch, be based on a belief that making this information public might hurt the international effort to effect peace in the former Yugoslavia."

In 1995, a team of the U.S. Defense Department experts interviewed a number of Srebrenica survivors in the summer of 1996, and concluded that their accounts supported allegations of the use of chemical incapacitants. The conclusion was deemed highly significant by the department. This information was sent up the chain of command. In late 1996, the U.S. intelligence community had information that chemical weapons may have been used in Srebrenica. A large investigation, which included physical sampling, was undertaken in late 1996 or early 1997 by the U.S. Government. The results of this investigation are not known to us.

One official told Human Rights Watch in December 1996 that ''we do not see an advantage in declassifying those documents relating to chemical weapons use in Bosnia. We have spoken with people and received assurances that other channels are being pursued that we believe would be more effective and achieve a more favorable outcome than simply publicizing theme.'' That is where it's been left. (Source: The 1998 U.S. Congressional Hearing on Srebrenica Genocide)

In 2006 opening statements, the U.N. Prosecutor McCloskey stated that “criminal orders in war are as a rule issued verbally”, and that a few exceptions existed to the rule. One of the most striking ones is a report sent on 21 July 1995 by General Zdravko Tolimir from Zepa to General Radomir Miletic, acting Chief of General Staff of the VRS. Tolimir is asking for help to crush some BH Army strongholds, expressing his view that "the best way to do it would be to use chemical weapons". In the same report, Chemical Tolimir goes even further,proposing strikes against refugee columns leaving Zepa, because that would "force the Muslim fighters to surrender quickly", in his opinion. (See: SENSE Tribunal: Tolimir Requested Chemical Weapons).

Zdravko Tolimir has been charged with genocide, extermination, and other serious human rights violations. Currently, he is awaiting his trial at the Hague.

PHOTO: Bosnian Muslim woman Hajrija Ademovic prays at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari, near Srebrenica on October 26, 2009.

***

SELECTED RESEARCH ARTICLES, PHOTOS, AND VIDEOS FOLLOW:

::: SELECTED READINGS::::

1. Bosnian Jewish politician Sven Alkalaj demands memory of Srebrenica genocide to be honored every day >> read here >> ...
2. Nazi Serbia participated in the Holocaust >> read here >> ...
3. Serbian involvement in the Holocaust and the Destruction of Jewish people in Serbia >> read here >> ...
4. Jews and Bosnian Muslims have joint experience in genocide and persecution in Europe >> read here >> ...
5. Serbs raped Bosniak women in Potocari during Srebrenica massacre >> read here >> ...
6. Srebrenica facts, compiled by the U.N. Court >> read here >>> ...
7. Theodor Meron [Polish-American Jew] concludes that Serb forces had targeted 40,000 Bosniaks in Srebrenica for extermination >> read here >> ...
8. DNA Results: 6,186 Srebrenica Genocide Victims and Support an Estimate of 8,100 Victims, ICMP >> read here >> ...
9. List of murdered children, boys, and teens (under the age of 18) in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre >> read here >> ...

::: VIDEOS :::

1. Srebrenica: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum WATCH NOW...
2. Lost Images of the Srebrenica Genocide WATCH NOW...
3. Witness: How is it possible? WATCH NOW...
4. Massacre of 62 Bosniak children, 152 wounded. WATCH NOW...
5. Slaughter of Bosniak children in villages around Srebrenica in 1992. WATCH NOW...
6. The Trauma of the Blue Berrets (Dutchbat). WATCH NOW...
7. Genocide Prevention Month. WATCH NOW...
8. Srebrenica Memorial Quilt. WATCH NOW...
9. Gen. Ratko Mladic footage leaked. WATCH NOW...

::: PHOTOS :::

1. Massacre of Muslim children around Srebrenica in 1992/3. VIEW HERE
2. Fourteenth anniversary of Genocide. VIEW HERE
3. Preparations for Burial of genocide victims. VIEW HERE
4. Srebrenica genocide peace march. VIEW HERE
5. Srebrenica convoy leaves Sarajevo, heads to Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari. VIEW HERE
6. Convoy with DNA-identified genocide victims arrives in Srebrenica. VIEW HERE
7. Preparations for the anniversary of genocide in Srebrenica. VIEW HERE
8. Thirteenth anniversary of genocide in Srebrenica. VIEW HERE
9. Boxer Adnan Catic (Felix Sturm) pays tribute to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide. VIEW HERE
10. Sead Bekric - child victim of Srebrenica. VIEW HERE

::: COMPLETE ARCHIVE :::

Take a look at our archive of 4 years worth of genocide research:
LIST of ALL TOPICS IN THE ARCHIVE