HORRORS OF THE HOLOCAUST &

SREBRENICA GENOCIDE LIVE ON

In his latest OP/ED article for the Guardian, titled "Holocaust day of reckoning won’t come," a highly
respected Jewish author Antony Lerman – the former director of the Institute for Jewish Policy
Research – reminds Guardian readers that "we can never close the book on the
Holocaust or Srebrenica."

The figure is not 7,000 but higher

Although Mr. Antony Lerman, whom we deeply respect, uses a figure of 7,000 dead at Srebrenica,
unfortunately the figure of victims is higher. The figure of 7,000 is just an approximation of a minimum
and is used in trials. Usually, the Office of Prosecutor will quote "7,000 to 8,000" dead at Srebrenica.
However, recent DNA results have shown that a minimum of 8,100 died at Srebrenica – based on blood
samples. Additionally, it is important to understant that the Serb forces "targeted for extinction the
40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica." Of those 40,000 Bosniaks targeted for extinction, at
least 8,372 were summarily killed and 30,000 forcibly expelled in a massive scale ethnic cleansing
campaign. Re
Holocaust and Srebrenica: ‘Never Again’
As Mr. Lerman correctly observes in his excellently written OP/ED for the Guardian:
"After the Holocaust we may have believed that "Never again" was so deeply seared into
Europe’s liberal consciousness that a Srebrenica massacre was inconceivable. Instead, we
learned that "Never again" meant "Never again will Germans commit mass murder against
Jews in Europe." The wall came down on the same day as the commemoration of
Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom in Germany, but it was not a sign that the past had finally
been overcome, rather that a true reckoning had yet to take place. True reckonings with
such horrors will never be easy to achieve. Bosnian Muslims know this, as do European
Jews."

Reckoning not Easy

According to Mr. Lerman, there are at least two related reasons why the process of reckoning with such
horrors has never "been either perfect or complete." As Mr. Lerman argues:
First, inescapably, these horrific events live on in the politics of our time. It would be naive
to think that the meaning of Srebrenica or the Holocaust can ever be considered in a context
free from politicisation, much as we might recoil from this fact. The outcome of the trial of
Karadzic has a direct bearing on whether Serbia will find a home in the EU…. The second
reason why we neither can nor should abandon the quest for a true reckoning is because
Srebrenica and the Holocaust are key reference points when we are forced to confront
certain major moral and ethical issues relating to the future of Europe.
There is No Controversy
Mr. Lerman knows that genocide deniers are poised to attack (and in many cases harrass) people they
disagree with, so he rightfully explained that:
I’m sure someone will take me to task for linking Srebrenica and the Holocaust. "Well, it
wasn’t Auschwitz," they will say. Yes, of course it wasn’t Auschwitz. But as Timothy
Snyder explains: "Auschwitz, generally taken to be an adequate or even a final symbol of
the evil of mass killing, is in fact only the beginning of knowledge". For me, one meaning
of Snyder’s words is that Muslims should not be attacked for identifying with the Jewish
tragedy, for dramatising their current experience of demonisation in Europe by referring to
themselves as the "new Jews". In the light of Europe’s unfinished business, as symbolised
by the Karadzic trial, this could help to generate a new knowledge and understanding,
based on sharing histories, to combat anti-Muslim racism and would not devalue the Jewish
experience of persecution one jot.

Auscwitz & Srebrenica: Victims Gassed

There were no gas chambers in the Srebrenica ghetto, where as many as 80,000 Bosnian Muslim
refugees faced hunger and starvation in 1992/93. But, it is a little known fact that the Srebrenica
genocide victims were attacked and gassed with poisonous chemical weapons in July 1995.
From 1992-95, Serbs kept Srebrenica enclave under the siege. At the time, Srebrenica was the biggest
European concentration camp besieged by genocidal Serb forces that regularly blocked humanitarian
convoys from entering Srebrenica causing many refugees to start dying from starvation in winter 92/93
and in 1995. Furthermore, Serbs never demilitarized around Srebrenica, even though they were
required to do so under the 1993 demilitarization agreement.
Diego Arria who initiated the visit of the UN Security Council delegation to Srebrenica in April 1993,
and was at its head, described the situation in the enclave as "genocide in slow motion".
Those who survived Srebrenica genocide and vicious attacks against them "…described mortar shells
that produced a strange smoke, one that spread out slowly." Survivors testified that some people then
began to hallucinate and act irrationally, killing themselves or their friends. Human Rights Watch
believed the chemical used was B-Z, a non-lethal agent that incapacitates people. It is a chemical the
army of the former Yugoslavia possessed." (Source: Federation of American Scientists) The evidence
remained "inconclusive" due to inability of Human Rights Watch to properly test the samples and, in
our opinion, due to some "leftist" circles within HRW who seemed to accept eyewitness testimonies
with mean-spirited scepticism (Just take a "wording" of this HRW 1998 report, it seemed as it had been
written by a leftist-apologist Srebrenica massacre denier who was trying to mask his scepticism with
few objective statements even stating that the allegations might be "false." Imagine questioning
testimonies of Holocaust victims in this "sceptic" way and even suggesting they are "false"?) However,
HRW quickly corrected itself by stating few objective conclussions worth noting from this
"inconclusive" report:
"…it is likely that if a chemical agent was used during the trek from Srebrenica to Tuzla,
the people most affected by it are no longer alive to tell their story, having been killed by
Serb forces following their incapacitation by BZ or a similar substance. Secondly, Human
Rights Watch did not have the resources to do systematic sampling for BZ or a BZ-like
compound. Moreover, Human Rights Watch has also not been able to obtain other types of
evidence that have been said to exist, including transcripts of Serb radio transmissions from
the time of the Srebrenica events…. The United States government apparently took the
allegations seriously enough to conduct an investigation, reported to have taken place in
 late 1996 or early 1997. The results of this investigation have not been made public, but in
late 1996 or early 1997 the U.S. intelligence community had information suggesting that
chemical weapons may have been used in Srebrenica. The government’s refusal to release
the findings may, according to a U.S. official interviewed by Human Rights Watch, be
based on a belief that making this information public might hurt the international effort to
effect peace in the former Yugoslavia."

In 1995, a team of the U.S. Defense Department experts interviewed a number of Srebrenica survivors
in the summer of 1996, and concluded that their accounts supported allegations of the use of chemical
incapacitants. The conclusion was deemed highly significant by the department. This information was
sent up the chain of command. In late 1996, the U.S. intelligence community had information that
chemical weapons may have been used in Srebrenica. A large investigation, which included physical
sampling, was undertaken in late 1996 or early 1997 by the U.S. Government. The results of this
investigation are not known to us.
One official told Human Rights Watch in December 1996 that ”we do not see an advantage in
declassifying those documents relating to chemical weapons use in Bosnia. We have spoken with
people and received assurances that other channels are being pursued that we believe would be more
effective and achieve a more favorable outcome than simply publicizing theme.” That is where it’s
been left. (Source: The 1998 U.S. Congressional Hearing on Srebrenica Genocide)
In 2006 opening statements, the U.N. Prosecutor McCloskey stated that “criminal orders in war are as a
rule issued verbally”, and that a few exceptions existed to the rule. One of the most striking ones is a
report sent on 21 July 1995 by General Zdravko Tolimir from Zepa to General Radomir Miletic, acting
Chief of General Staff of the VRS. Tolimir is asking for help to crush some BH Army strongholds,
expressing his view that "the best way to do it would be to use chemical weapons". In the same report,
Chemical Tolimir goes even further,proposing strikes against refugee columns leaving Zepa, because
that would "force the Muslim fighters to surrender quickly", in his opinion. (See: SENSE Tribunal:
Tolimir Requested Chemical Weapons).
Zdravko Tolimir has been charged with genocide, extermination, and other serious human rights
violations. Currently, he is awaiting his trial at the Hague.