lens culture
Le retour à la terre
Michel Slomka

Le retour à la terre

Il y a bientôt vingt ans, le 11 juillet 1995, débutait le plus grand massacre de civils que l’Europe a connu depuis la fin de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. En s’emparant de la ville de Srebrenica et de sa région, les Serbes de Bosnie ont achevé leur programme de nettoyage ethnique envers les Musulmans du pays, tuant huit mille hommes et déportant leurs familles. Pourtant, des années plus tard, des enfants, des femmes et des survivants qui ont tout perdu ont décidé de revenir vivre chez eux malgré les cauchemars du passé et les difficultés du quotidien.

Photos
19
Status
Public
Created
Jan 29, 2016
Updated
Feb 09, 2022
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Photos (19)

Cover
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Twenty years after the conflict, the city is still in ruins.
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Dželaludina Pasić-Nukić, Sadmir’s wife, looks through the window, in Soloćuša, four kilometers away from Srebrenica. Sadmir grew up in this house, and lived there during the three years of the war. It was burnt down in 1995, and was still in ruins when he came back in 2006. Sadmir and Dželaludina met on the bus. They got married in 2008 at Srebrenica’s mosque.
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Potoćari cemetery. The names of the 8,300 executed men are written on this stele.
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Evening prayer at Potoćari memorial.
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A victim’s relative on the bus to Srebrenica.
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More than 8,000 men were killed from July 13th to July 20th, 1995. The Serbian army of Bosnia dug massive graves to hide the bodies. In 2014, 1,000 people were still declared missing. The organization "Women of Srebrenica" campaigns for the pursuit of search operations.
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Jasmin Zulanović, 27, came back to where he used to live, on the banks of the Drina banks. There is no job there. He tries to earn his living anyway, cultivating fields.
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Soloćuša hills, seen from Sadmir’s house. On this road from Srebrenica to Potoćari, men left their families to try to escape in the woods. "I had to say goodbye to my father, Sadmir said. He hugged and kissed me. Told me to pray. And left. That was the last time I saw him."
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In 2010, 990 bodies were identified. Chances to find the remaining 1,000 missing people lessen and lessen. In 2014, 154 bodies were found and identified.
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The day of the funeral, two young women leave flowers on the graves, in Potoćari cemetery.
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Friday prayer, Srebrenica mosque
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Lamija, evening prayer.
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Dželaludina and Lamija near Dželaludina’s father’s grave, Mevludin Pasić.
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Sadmir is praying near his uncle’s grave. Maybe one day a new grave will be erected where he’s standing. His father’s body was never found.
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Nukić’s family. "Today, Dželaludina says, I live in Srebrenica again and I want to stay here. It’s hard, but someone has to do it, in memory of my father, who may be watching me and may be proud of me. I have to do it, for those who died for us, so that we can live. So that one day, our town recovers its beauty. And because, I hope, better days will come."
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