Skulls and other remains of massacred tribespeople used in the colonial era for experiments to push claims of European racial superiority were handed over by Germany to Namibia at a church ceremony in Berlin. In what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century, soldiers of German Kaiser Wilhelm slaughtered some 65,000 Herero and […]
Continue Reading“When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer,” wrote the German poet Bertolt Brecht in 1935. This Saturday marks twenty years since the genocide in Srebrenica, denial of this genocide continues to poison the debate and efforts of reconciliation. The failure to prevent this genocide falls upon parts of Europe, the United States and United Nations. As of this year, 8,372 graves bear the names of the murdered Bosnian Muslims. Forensic experts continue to find human remains. Radovan Karadžic and General Ratko Mladic await verdicts in trials for directing genocide. Dutch forces shoulder much of the blame. For example, peacekeepers forced thousands of Muslim families out of their compound after pressure from Mladic’s troops. Last year, the Hague ordered the Netherlands to compensate the families of over 300 men murdered in the genocide. Dutch troops were so eager to leave, that outside of one exception, ignored signals of the looming offensive. They failed to report ‘troop movements, new reinforcements coming into the area, and large amounts of fuel being sent to the enclave’. A recent Observer article claimed the UN provided [...]
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