Community figures join Interfaith delegation to sites of Bosnian genocide
Jewish community leaders have spoken of their visit to Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Tuzla after joining an interfaith delegation to the sites of the 1995 Bosnian genocide.
The four-day trip, which returned on Wednesday, included heart-wrenching tours of where 8,000 Muslims were slaughtered by Serbs in the space of a week.
Interfaith activists joined hundreds of other participants from around the world as guides for the ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ programme explained that 20 years on, hundreds of new bodies are still being found and identified from the mass graves.
Among those making the visit were Leonie Lewis from Jewish Volunteering Network (JVN), Neil Martin from Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade (JLGB) and Josh Cass from Forum for Discussion of Israel and Palestine (FODIP).
“What struck me was how integrated the Bosnian Muslims had been,” said Lewis, who is also the co-chair of Faith Forum for London.
“Just like the Jews in Europe in the 1930s, they were fully immersed in society, even in terms of names and looks. The parallels were there for all to see.”
After the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, nationalist forces rose to prominence across the region, particularly in Serbia, sparking the bloodiest war in Europe in over a generation.
For four years (1992-1996) the city of Sarajevo was besieged, with 15,000 people killed. In 1995 the city of Tuzla was also attacked, with hundreds dead, while in Srebrenica 8,372 Muslim men and boys were killed by forces loyal to Gen. Ratko Mladić in a matter of days, in what is now widely accepted as genocide.
Communities Minister Stephen Williams, who led a UK delegation, said: “The 20th anniversary serves as a prompt that we must not only strive to remember the past but also learn lessons from it, and prevent repeats of its atrocities.”
Ifath Nawaz, vice president of the Association of Muslim Lawyers, said the visit was “an opportunity for current and future generations to understand and witness the magnitudes of hatred and xenophobia particularly in the current climate when far-right extremism is on the increase”.
Meanwhile Lewis expressed sadness that “the lessons from the Holocaust have still not been learned,” adding that Srebrenica was “virtually on our doorsteps”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
