What Caused The Bosnian Genocide

The lost of life is always a tragedy in our history and even worse is the lost of life during a genocide. Many know about the Holocaust and the six million Jews that were killed because the Nazis’ thought that they were a superior race to the Jews, but another genocide is the Bosnian Genocide. The Bosnian Genocide was a tragic time period where the attackers the Bosnian Serbs killed thousands of Bosnian Muslims that lived in Siberia. The Serbs thought that they were a superior race and that the Bosnian Muslims should be killed. The phrase “ethnic cleansing” was mainly used during this genocide, where the Serbs believed that the Bosnian Muslims should be cleansed from the world starting with Siberia. This all took place in Siberia, which is
located in Russia, north of Asia. The countries that were involved with this horrific event were Siberia, the Dutch, the United States of America, and the UN. In Bosnia the climate of the country is usually hot summers and cold winters. During the time of the Bosnian Genocide it was in July, so the weather would be hot or sunny. For most parts of Bosnia the terrain is mostly mountains and valleys. Most of the killing of the Muslims happened in the Valley. This ghastly event on April of 1992, Yugoslav republic of Bosnia Herzegovina declared its’ independence from Yugoslavia. Over the next few years the Bosnian Serbs began to attack Bosnian Muslims. In reading this essay we hope that you gain a deeper understanding about the Bosnian Genocide.

When Bosnia gained its independence, the country had to decide if they wanted their religion to be Muslim or Serbian Orthodox.
The cleansing started when the Serb soldiers declared the religion was going to be the Serbian Orthodox. The Serbian Soldiers targeted many Muslim men, and many Muslim men were killed and attacked. Many Muslims were killed and taken out of the country and went missing. The Serbs soldiers took away many Muslims family and relocated them to camps. Many family were left with no information and did not know where they were. Another event that caused the killing of the Muslims was whet the Serbs decided to take over Bosnia. The Serb soldiers created many new laws and made many restrictions. Many of the Muslim’s rights were violated. Muslims men were targeted and the Serbs Soldiers captured many men and did not give any information to the families. Men were eventually killed and could not escape from the Serbs
soldiers.
The most terrible example of this “ethnic cleansing” was the Srebrenica Massacre.
During the war, Serbs attacked the city of Srebrenica beginning on 1993. On July 13, 1995, Serbs entered Srebrenica to take control of it. After taking away weapons from UN soldiers, Serbs sent away women and children. Many Muslims were taken away from their home and relocated to camp and were brutally abused and were beaten to death. The United Nations tried to help the many Muslims family and Muslims by creating safe areas for them to stay but the Serbian Soldiers acted on that and stated relocating the Muslims to other camps. 23,000 Muslims were relocated and taken to another camp. Within the 23,000 Muslims and 8,000 Muslims men were killed. Remaining men were taken by the Serbs to be relocated or killed. Many men were executed over next few days. Many people also got killed trying to get away. In the Srebrenica Massacre, over 8,000 Muslims were killed. Serbs killed thousands of unresisting Muslims. Many Muslims tried to escape but failed to do so and were brutally taken back to the camps to be
killed.
After continuous attack by UN, Serbs finally “entered into negotiations on the future of Bosnia” (Gall and Gleason). After few years of war, peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina was completed in Dayton, Ohio, on November 21, 1995. Because of the agreement, many NATO peacekeepers were sent to the area. Cleansing in Bosnia has ended, and now Bosnia includes more diverse religions. There are three main religions in Bosnia: Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslims. The country of Bosnia has now embraced many new religions and has created a diverse group of citizens. The population in Bosnia has increased to 3.9 million. After the war, Bosnia has kept peace within the country. Many of the Bosnians have immigrated to United States in the first half of the 19th century. Currently, many former Bosnian Serb generals are imprisoned as war criminals, however judges are having a hard time with these trials due to the fact that they have so many information that they have to go through in order to get the true information. Many bodies from the Srebrenica Massacre are still unidentified and many people are looking for their lost family members.
The documentary “A Cry From the Grave” showed in a deep way the struggles of what the Muslims went through when being hunted by the Serbs. In the documentary, it also showed stories of survivors that are now scarred for life because of genocide. At the end of watching this documentary I have learned more about the world and how this world is broken. There are so many large genocides because people did not like other people’s skin color or race, and that is what makes me mad. These different races like the Serbs and the Muslims should be able to live together peacefully, but the Serbs felt that the Muslims should be cleansed from Serbia.
The Bosnian Genocide was such a shameful side of man that was shown by the Bosnian Serbs. Throughout the weeks of researching and studying the terrible events that took place during Bosnian Genocide we have learned so much about the mass killings of the Serbs. Over one hundred thousand people died in the genocide, because the Serbs thought that they needed an ethnic cleansing of Muslims. We hope by reading this essay about the Bosnian Genocide you have grasped the extent of what the Serbs did to the Muslims. This horrific event can and should be prevented from ever happening again. It all starts with you by not treating or judging someone differently because of their race or how they look like. All humans should live together free from being judged by another person, and to feel comfortable with every human in the world.