Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 10:38 AM
Just a few miles from Srebrenica, the village of Kravica has become notorious as the site of one of the worst massacres of the war in Bosnia. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces herded more than a thousand Muslim men and boys into a warehouse on the outskirts of Kravica and slaughtered them with grenades and machine-gun fire. Today, Kravica is an overwhelmingly Serb village -- but the residents claim to know nothing of what happened in the warehouse. Their narrative of suffering is completely different, revolving around an attack on their homes and farms by Srebrenica Muslims two and a half years earlier, in January 1993.
I visited the farm of Ratko Nikolic in a tiny hamlet in the hills above Kravica. He showed me the charred remains of eight houses that, he said, had been torched by Muslim forces who attacked the village on the Serbian Orthodox Christmas, Jan. 7 (See video above). He was not at home at the time of the raid, but was captured later by Muslim forces and taken to the jail in Srebrenica, where he was beaten and tortured by his captors. His account of these beatings was accepted as credible by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague in the trial of Naser Oric, the leader of the Muslim forces in Srebrenica.
The court found that half a dozen Serb detainees in the Srebrenica police station died of the injuries they sustained in multiple beatings. Nikolic still bears the scars of several smashed ribs and a throat slashing. He says he too would have been killed had he and a fellow prisoner not been exchanged for one of Oric's relatives captured by the Serbs. Although the court found that the beatings had taken place, with Oric's knowledge, it acquitted the Srebrenica commander on the ground that he did not exercise command control over the prison.
Kravica residents claim that more than 5,000 Serbs were killed in fighting in eastern Bosnia, and raids by Oric's forces. They claim that Serb farmers were slaughtered in their beds by Muslims operating from Srebrenica, and in some cases beheaded. While the atrocity stories are often exaggerated, and the casualty figures inflated to equate Serb suffering with the Srebrenica massacre, there remains a core of truth to the Serb narrative that should not be completely dismissed. It is clear that there were victims on both sides. I will attempt in a later post to sort out the truth of the Serbian claims from the lies and exaggeration.
Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic has frequently pointed to the raids by Oric's forces, and the mistreatment of Serbs in Srebrenica, as justification for acts of "revenge" against the Muslim population of Srebrenica. To my mind, nothing can justify the cold-blooded executions -- without trial -- of eight thousand men and boys. On the other hand, it is necessary to listen to the narratives of both sides in order to understand what happened in Srebrenica in July 1995.
Please, can you explain what made you believe that "the Kravica Serbs swore to take revenge on Srebrenica"? Have someone told you that or are you assuming it?
Did you know that on that Christmas, 3.000 Muslim soldiers attacked the Kravica region? They killed indiscriminately: man, woman, child, quite the same. For instance, Vladimir Gaji? was only four years old and the oldest woman victim was Mara Boži? (84). Other Serbs from Kravica region saved their lives by jumping into the cold waters of the river Drina and escaping to Serbia.
Also, there was another massacre in Kravica during the World War II, when the Croatian-Muslim Ustasha forces killed 111 people on July 1944.
Regards,
Dušan Vukoti?
One of Reasons Why Oric Counter-Attacked Kravice
On 10 May 1992 — eight months before Naser Oric’s counter-attack on Kravica and in the first days of the Bosnian war — Serbs from the village of Kravice participated in the massacre of Bosniak civilians in the Bosnian Muslim village of Suha in the municipality of Bratunac, adjacent to Srebrenica. They sexually tortured young women and girls and then killed 38 unarmed Bosniak residents. They dumped their bodies in a local mass grave. Among the 38 exhumed remains were those of nine children ranging in age from 3 months to 11 years, several women and mostly elderly men. One of the victims was the 9-months pregnant Zekira Begic-Hrustanbasic.
http://danieltoljaga.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/prelude-to-the-srebrenica-genocide/
Serbs from Kravica Attacked First (Oric Judgment)
From the Oric Judgment:
Like other Serb villages around Srebrenica, the heavily militarized Serb stronghold of Kravica was used as a ‘launching pad’ for brutal attacks on neighbouring Bosniak villages and the town of Srebrenica itself. In the case of Kravica, the Hague Tribunal established it was the Serbs who attacked first:
“The fighting intensified in December 1992 and the beginning of January 1993, when Bosnian Muslims were attacked by Bosnian Serbs primarily from the direction of Kravica and Ježestica.” (ICTY, Ori? Trial Judgement, para. 662)
The Hague Tribunal found no convincing evidence that Bosniak forces were responsible for the destruction and casualties in Kravica and a number of other Serb villages (Šiljkovi?i, Bjelovac, Sikiri?, Fakovi?i and Divovi?i) because the Serb forces used artillery in the fighting in those villages. In the case of Bjelovac, Serbs even used warplanes. Not excluding the military justification for the Bosniak attack on Kravica, the Tribunal noted that,
“… the village guards [in Kravica] were backed by the VRS [Bosnian Serb army], and following the fighting in the summer of 1992, they received military support, including weapons and training. A considerable amount of weapons and ammunition was kept in Kravica and Šiljkovi?i. Moreover, there is evidence that besides the village guards, there was Serb and Bosnian Serb military presence in the area.” (ICTY, Ori? Trial Judgement, para. 664).
http://danieltoljaga.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/debating-genocide-deniers-part-iiii/
When the village Kravica was attacked by Oric and his men in January 1993, around 11 civilians were killed, alongside around 35 soldiers. And those figures come from the war-time Bosnian Serb government.
I am not defending the killing of civilians, but the fact is that there was a military base in Kravica, from which the Srebrenica enclave was attacked. And again, I am not degrading the suffering of any war victims, I am not coming up with excuses for the attack on Kravica, but we should put things into perspective. From early spring 1992, Serb forces have terrorized the non-Serb population throughout the Podrinje region, with thousands of murdered civilians and many more driven from their homes as a result.
Serb forces have commited atrocities against the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica and Potocari at that time, with the massacre in the village of Glogova om 8th of May 1992 as the worst example. And there were people, men, women and children being burned alive in Visegrad, there were people being executed in their homes and on the streets of Bijeljina, Zvornik, Brcko.
Now, all these facts are not about showing "the Serbs startet it!". That would not be very constructive. Rather, it is important to show what kind of attacks and what kind of massacres, or "massacres", were commited in what region, what town, and at what time. The attack on Kravica in January 1993 was primarily an attack on the Serb armed forces, but that still is no excuse for the killing of civilians in the village, or taking civilians as prisoners into Srebrenica, beating and killing some of them.
One cannot compare victims in a quantity. Every single victim is a huge tragedy and a crime. But soldiers killed in battle are not victims. Also, the manipulation with numbers of victims should be avoided at any cost. There are those that claim that "only" 3.000 Bosniaks were killed in Srebrenica, while some 3.250 Serbs were killed in the same region, in and around Srebrenica and Bratunac. That is the victim count, some say, but there is absolutely no evidence for that. And there are tendencies to count soldiers killed in battle as victims, giving them the same status as civilians killed by military forces. So that way, one can say that the "Muslim" forces "massacred" some 46 people in the village of Kravica, and that is simply not true.
Having said all this, NOT ONE Serb civilian's death can be justified by the atrocities commited by Serb forces from Spring to Winter 1992. And NOT ONE Bosniak civilian's death can be justified by the attack on Kravica or any other Serb village. It is like people tend to forget that not only "Muslim" forces carried out attacks. The Serb forces where throughout the war the more aggressive side, thanks to the military advantage they had.
The worst part of all of this is that people do not acknowledge the tragedy of the "other" side's victims and "their own" side's crimes. What the army does is not the responsibility of the civilian population. In that way, all should have more understanding for each other's suffering, and it should not matter that in the whole Bosnia and Herzegovina at least 35 000 Bosniak civilians and some 8 000 Serb civilians were killed. They were all people, they all have families. They, as victims of the war should be able to reach out a hand to "the others" and offer condolences. Because everyone's pain is equal. But somehow, people don't see "the others" as equally worth human beings.
We must bring it down to a human level, with real people telling real stories, and not use statistics, myths, or other means of manipulations to lessen the suffering of "the others", and at the same time inflate the suffering of one's own side.
Really a sorrowful history. Thank you for realistic post.
http://www.berkeley-term-papers.com/
The muslim-army did not only attack Kravica. All in all thex attacked about 50 Serbian villages around Srebrenica.
http://www.srebrenica-facts.com/downloads/zerstoerte_serbische_doerfer.pdf
They killed allmost 3300 Serbs:
http://www.srebrenica-facts.com/namensliste_tote_serben
COURT: Serbian Propaganda About Srebrenica Discredited
Wrong. No "50 Serbian villages" but only several Serb villages were counter-attacked by Naser Oric, because they were military bases from which Serbs launched brutal attacks on Srebrenica. (Read the Oric trial judgment under legal findings; the Hague Tribunal did not exclude military justification, because Naser Oric's forces only defended themselves).
What Happened 8 Months BEFORE Oric Attacked Kravica?
On 10 May 1992 — more than three years before the July 1995 Srebrenica genocide, eight months before Naser Ori?’s counter-attack on the Serb village of Kravica and in the first days of the Bosnian war — Serbs from the village of Kravice, with the help of the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) and other Serb forces in the region, participated in the massacre of Bosniak civilians in the Bosnian Muslim village of Suha in the municipality of Bratunac, adjacent to Srebrenica. They sexually tortured young women and girls and then killed 38 unarmed Bosniak residents. They dumped their bodies in a local mass grave. Among the 38 exhumed remains were those of nine children ranging in age from 3 months to 11 years, several women and mostly elderly men. One of the victims was the 9-months pregnant Zekira Begi?-Hrustanbaši?.
http://danieltoljaga.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/the-1992-suha-massacre-one-of-reasons-why-naser-oric-attacked-kravica-in-1993/
As for Serb losses around around Srebrenica, they were 10 times less than reported by Serbian nationalist sources. Here is a study by the Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo:
The allegations that Serb casualties in Bratunac, between April 1992 and December 1995 amount to over three thousand is an evident falsification of facts. The RDC's [Research and Documentation Center] research of the actual number of Serb victims in Bratunac has been the most extensive carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina and proves that the overall number of victims is three to nine times smaller than indicated by Serbia and Montenegro .
Perhaps the clearest illustration of gross exaggeration is that of Kravica, a Serb village near Bratunac attacked by the Bosnian Army on the morning of Orthodox Christmas, January 7, 1993 . The allegations that the attack resulted in hundreds of civilian victims have been shown to be false. Insight into the original documentation of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) clearly shows that in fact military victims highly outnumber the civilian ones. The document entitled “Warpath of the Bratunac brigade”, puts the military victims at 35 killed and 36 wounded; the number of civilian victims of the attack is eleven.
In addition to information received from relatives and family members of the victims and inspection of cemeteries, RDC has collected all existing primary sources, official documents and documentation of RS Ministry of Defense and Bratunac brigade of VRS, as well as research by the Serb authors. The victims have been categorized on the basis of two time-related criteria: the first was the municipality of residence at the time of the beginning of war; the second was the municipality of premature and violent death.
After all the sources have been processed, cross-referenced and reviewed, the results showed that 119 civilians and 424 soldiers classified in the first group died in Batunac during the war. Under the second category the number of civilians is somewhat higher (119) whereas the number of soldiers is 448. The result demonstrates that 26 members of other VRS units other than Bratunac brigade of VRS fought and died in combat in the municipality of Bratunac .
RDC inspection of the military cemetery in Bratunac showed that of 383 victims buried it is impossible to ascertain the exact cause of death for 63 victims, even though they may have died during the war. In addition, 139 victims who have lived elsewhere at the time of the outbreak of war and died in fighting either in their places of residence or elsewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are now buried in Bratunac military cemetery. 48 victims buried in Bratunac fought and died in Hadži?i; 36 fought and died in Srebrenica; 34 and died in Vogoš?a; 3 in Konjic and 3 more in Ilijaš; 2 fought and died in Sarajevo, two more in Ilidža; one in Trnovo, Pale and Tuzla each.
Of the remaining victims from outside Bratunac one lived in Kiseljak, but died in Hadži?i; one lived in Srebrenica and died in Jajce; three lived in Travnik and died in Hadži?i, three lived in Ilidža and died in Hadži?i, nine lived in Sarajevo and died in Hadži?i, one lived in Hadži?i and died in Vogoš?a, one lived in Zenica and died in Vogoš?a, one lived in Zenica and died in Srebrenica. Furthermore, one victim lived and died in Tuzla , one lived in Bosanski Brod and died in Olovo, one lived in Srebrenica and died in Biha?. Lastly, two individuals who lived in Kakanj and died in Hadži?i are buried in the military cemetery in Bratunac, one who lived in Hadži?i and died in Ilidža, two who lived in Vitez and died in Hadži?i; four residents of Konjic who died in Hadži?i, two residents of Pale who died in Hadži?i, seven residents of Zenica who died in Hadži?i, one resident of Vareš and one resident of Kakanj, who both died in Ilijaš.
The number of victims from Central Bosnia buried in Bratunac is consistent with the population movements after the war, especially the Serb population from the suburbs of Sarajevo . Under the Dayton Peace Accords, the suburbs of Sarajevo held by the VRS were to be re-integrated into the city of Sarajevo . The then leadership of the RS called on the local Serb population to leave Sarajevo and even take the graves of their loved ones with them. In fact, such a large majority followed the instructions that parts of the city of Sarajevo remained deserted for months. The remnants of their loved ones have been buried in Bratunac after the war, but their deaths are presented as the result of actions taken by the Bosnian Army units from Srebrenica.
As importantly, a number of foreign nationals (mainly from Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia) are included in the overall figure of Serb victims in Bratunac. At least 15 such individuals lost their lives in Bratunac as a result of fighting; it may be of some significance that all of them were members of a paramilitary group that arrived to Bratunac in April 1992, upon invitation of Bratunac Serb Democratic Party and in coordination with the State Security Service of Republic of Serbia (see testimony of Miroslav Deronji?, President of Municipal Board of SDS Bratunac, at International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). Some of those individuals are Vesna Krdžali?, Dragica Mastikosa, Aleksandar Grahovac and Sreto Suzi? who all died in combat on May 29, 1992 . Subsequently, they were all classified as “victims of Muslim terror” by the RS authorities. However, individuals from Serbia continued arriving to Bratunac throughout the year 1992, if the death records of the Bratunac brigade are to be trusted: one such individual died in fighting in August (Žarko Komnenski) and one more in November (?uro Vujaklija). Furthermore, death records show that “volunteers” arrived from Serbia to Bratunac even in 1993, such as Dragan Mili?ev, who died in combat in January 1993 and Dragoslav Stankovi? who died in February 1993.
Ratko Mladic has been described as "one of those lethal combinations that history thrusts up occasionally-a charismatic murderer." What drove the Bosnian Serb military commander to order Europe's deadliest massacre since World War II? Could it have been prevented? Michael Dobbs, a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum fellow, investigates.
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