The Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, 1992-1995

Not far from the Sarajevo Cathedral, at Ferhadija 17, there’s a small bi-fold sign in the street, and footprints on the pavement directing you to into a recessed hall where you press a doorbell to get buzzed in. Ascending to the second floor, you find a compact museum consisting of historical footage, eyewitness accounts, maps, photos and artifacts documenting the atrocities carried out predominantly by the Bosnian Serb army and paramilitary forces. It also documents the brutality of Croat forces, who also sought to annex large pockets of Croat-populated areas within the borders of BiH. The museum presents a great deal of information on Siege of Sarajevo, the multitude of concentration camps and mass graves throughout BiH, the Srebrenica Massacre, as well as information on the actions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). 

The museum includes a great deal of ICTY documentation, as well as footage of trial proceedings.

The museum highlights the success of the ICTY, though obviously, many perpetrators will never be brought to justice.

Eyewitness testimonies include those who were imprisoned, those who witnessed the deaths of family members, as well as those who recounted being raped.

The sheer number of concentration camps that existed strains the limits of comprehension.

Lest one think that all this is just fabrication of myth, here is a photo taken by Bosnian Serb paramilitaries brazenly documenting their own brutality, much like the Nazis did during the Holocaust.

Though I had previously read numerous accounts of mercenaries fighting in Croatia and Bosnia, I was not familiar with the Greek and Russian involvement.

Greek mercenaries meeting with General Mladic, commander of Bosnian Serb forces, before the Srebenica massacre.

Greeks who participated in the occupation of Srebrenica, July 1995

Russians in Visegrad, 1993

Another photo that captures the irony of the international community's action/inaction is this memento from a Ukrainian unit that was tasked with protecting a UN "safe area" in Eastern BiH.

Note the "safe area" in flames in the background.