The destruction of Cultural Heritage in Srebrenica

The White Mosque is the oldest mosque in Srebrenica. Located on a hillside overlooking the town center.

Before war



After Gen. Ratko Mladić´s forces overran Srebrenica in July 1995, they blew up the minaret and destroyed the mosque.

In March 2002, the Islamic community received permission to rebuild the White Mosque and workers began to prepare the site



The photo below shows the rebuilt mosque. Of the dozens of mosques destroyed as part of the "ethnic cleansing" of this area in the 1992-1995 war, this was the first to be rebuilt...





[Edited by cupo on 18-07-2006 at 17:48 GMT]

Čaršijska džamija - Market Mosque also known as - Mosque of Hadzi Selman

Srebrenica´s Market Mosque occupied a prominent spot in the town´s main square, located halfway between two other local landmarks overlooking the market from nearby heights - the White Mosque and the Serbian Orthodox Church.It is old mosque, built in 1836 and named after its founder Hadzi Selman Efendi. It was topped by a traditional wooden minaret and stood on the site until 1990, when it was replaced by a new, modern mosque with a tall and slender minaret.



In 1995 the mosque was first looted and then destroyed with explosives by Bosnian Serb forces after they overran Srebrenica in July 1995.



The destruction continued after Dayton, as Bosnian Serb authorities leveled the site and cleared away the rubble, as can be seen in a photo taken in the summer of 1998 (photo below, showing still fresh bulldozer tracks).



In April 2006 eleven years after the fall of Srebrenica and the massacre of thousands of its Muslim residents, the spot on the main square where the Market Mosque once stood was covered with weeds.

Vidikovac mosque also known as mosque of Azem Begić. A modern mosque, built by Azem Begić just a year before the war, in the Soločusa neighborhood on the outskirts of Srebrenica, on a hill overlooking the main road leading into town.



The mosque suffered minor damage from shelling during the 1992-1995 siege, but was still standing when Gen. Mladić´s troops entered the town in July 1995. After the surrender of Srebrenica and the expulsion and murder of its Muslim inhabitants, the Vidikovac mosque and its tall minaret were destroyed with explosives. he force of the blast destroyed the entire west wall of the mosque, toppled the minaret and caused it to collapse into the building. The ruins can still be seen on a hilltop on the side the highway from Srebrenica to Potočari...

Red brook mosque

This is an old neighborhood mosque, dating from the 18th-19th century, with a traditional Bosnian wooden minaret, located in the section of town known as Crvena Rijeka (Red Brook). The neighborhood is named after the little stream flowing by it; the stones in the river bed are colored red by the high mineral content of the water, which local residents believe has curative powers. The historic Crvena Rijeka mosque was designated for legal protection by Bosnia´s Institute for the Protection of Monuments. The modern imam´s house next to the mosque held the offices, library and archives of the Islamic Community of Srebrenica; it was also used for religious education classes...



On 11 January 1993, while Srebrenica was under siege by Serb forces, the mosque was hit by a bomb dropped from a military aircraft that came across the Drina river from Serbia, according to residents.. Two years later, in 1995, the old wooden mosque was destroyed by the Serb aggressor...

Petrić Mahala mosque also known as Mosque of Ibrahim Efendi

Mosque of Ibrahim Efendi was an old neighborhood mosque with a traditional wooden minaret, in the Petrić Mahala section of Srebrenica...The mosque was looted and its minaret blown up by Bosnian Serb Army troops after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995...



The mosque with its toppled minaret was still there when the first IFOR peacekeeping troops arrived in Srebrenica in early 1996..The Petrić Mahala mosque was fully destroyed by the Serb aggressor authorities long after Dayton...photo taken in the summer of 1998, shows only rubble and a garbage dumpster on the bulldozed site where the mosque once stood...



Photo taken in the summer 2006



[Edited by cupo on 19-07-2006 at 05:22 GMT]

Orthodox Cathedral Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God

Built in 1903 on a prominent hilltop overlooking the center of Srebrenica and the market square, the Orthodox church is an imposing monument and the center of religious life for Srebrenica´s Orthodox Bosnian Serb community, who made up about a quarter of the population before the recent war.

During the 1992-1995 siege of Srebrenica, the small dome-shaped roof on top of the church steeple was destroyed by a projectile, reportedly fired by Bosnian Serb forces that were shelling the center of town. Otherwise, the structure of the church and its roof do not appear to have been seriously damaged in the war, as can be seen in photos taken in 1993



Early 1995...However, the interior is said to have been vandalized by the besieged Muslims; at one point a flock of sheep were reportedly penned inside the church for several days...



When the city was taken by General Mladić´s forces in July 1995, the general visited the Serbian Orthodox church with a group of officers and a Serbian flag was planted over the church´s entrance...



Greek paramilitary volunteers who took part in the capture of Srebrenica alongside the Bosnian Serb forces were also granted special permission to fly the Greek flag from the damaged church steeple (photo shows Greek volunteers with the flag, at a Sept. 1995 ceremony where Radovan Karadžić decorated them for their role in the July events)...



After the war, Srebrenica´s Serbian Orthodox church was renovated, its interior refurbished, and its damaged steeple repaired...



[Edited by cupo on 19-07-2006 at 05:31 GMT]

In accordance with the decision of the High Representative for Bosnia - Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petrich, the location of Potočari near Srebrenica was dedicated as a memorial and cementery for the people who were killed at the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995...

Before the beginning the construction of the Memorial Center a memorial stone was placed at Potočari on which was inscribed on all four sides: Srebrenica July 1995

The memorial stone is now found at the entrance of the Memorial Center close to the musale and the fountain...

Commencement of construction of the memorial center in Srebrenica

The beginning of the construction of this complex officially started on Octobar 11.2002, by the unveiling of a memorial plaque of the future Memorial Center. The plaque was unveiled by the representative of the vitcim`s family, and High Representative, Mr. Paddy Asdown, US Ambasador to B&H, H.E. Clifford Bond, the Head of the B&H Islamic Community, Mr. Mustafa Effendi Ceric, the Srebrenica – Potocari Foundation representatives attended the event...

Burial of the first identified victims

Several months after the commencement of the works, the premises of the sacral component were partially constructed, and conditions were created to bury, on March 31.2003, 600 identified mortal remains of Srebrenica`s victims who had died tragic deaths...the burial was attended by several thousand members of the victim`s families and numerous representatives of political, diplomatic and religious establishment in Bosnia and Herzegovina...

Srebrenica March 31.2003 burial of the first 600 identified victims of genocide....