MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR SERBIAN VICTIMS IN THE VILLAGE OF BREŽANI, JUNE 30, 2009

        The people of this region say that years go by, but that for them there is nothing new under the sun. Nothing good, anyway. The inhabitants of this village are still in pain, which presses down on them as a heavy burden, because the criminals who murdered their loved ones have never had to face the bar of justice. Each year, on June 30, the people of Brežani gather in the center of their village around the monument erected in honor of the victims of the Bosnian Moslem attack in 1992.

        While the priest is reading prayers for the repose of the victims’ souls, you can hear the sighs and the sobbing of Serbian mothers who are mourning their sons, daughters, husbands, brothers, and all the rest who were executed on that day. Many of them find it exceedingly difficult to discuss the events of that day because memories are still very vivid and painful. Those who have the strength to talk about it, are clear and unambiguous in their criticism of the Serbian authorities at the time the tragedy was unfolding. During the several months of siege, the villagers were being assured that relief was on the way and that they would eventually be evacuated, but of course nothing came of it.

        That lack of empathy and support came in handy to their Bosnian Moslem neighbors who attacked the helpless village, which had been under siege from the beginning of April. In contrast to the Serbs, the Bosnian Moslems were quite well organized. They wasted no time, and on June 30, 1992, at 5 o’clock in the morning, they commenced a concerted attack upon the village. The assault was staged from almost all directions in order to reduce the probability that a single Serbian villager would evade destruction. Women and children tried to save themselves by running into the forest, while the elderly and the men remained in their homes in an attempt to defend their village from the Bosnian Moslem onslaught. Unfortunately, all those who were unable to escape were murdered on their doorstep. That included some very old persons, some of whom were over 80 years of age. Perhaps the unbridled Bosnian Moslem hordes saw them as a threat.

        After murdering part of the population of the village, the Bosnian Moslem attackers proceeded to torch most of the Serbian houses. As if even that was not considered enough, they chose to express their hatred in the most uncivilized of ways, by desecrating graves at the Serbian cemetery. That was, perhaps, the most dramatic way to articulate the degree of hatred that was felt toward those who until virtually the day before were their neighbors. One of the villagers told us that he ultimately had to replace his father’s picture on the gravestone because Bosnian Moslems desecrated it by drilling two holes where the eyes used to be. Other locals told us that some of the graves were dug open, perhaps because the desecrators expected to find something of value inside. Since then, the villagers have managed to renovate their cemetery and cobble back together many of the broken headstones. But some headstones still bear the marks of violence they suffered in 1992, as the pictures show.

        The survivors had to wait for nine months before they were finally able to go back and properly bury their loved ones who had perished in the massacre. During the intervening period, the bodies of their sons lay strewn all over the village, prey to wild animals who were devouring human body parts. The mothers of Brežani had but one objective, and that was to return to their village as quickly as possible in order gather up their sons’ bones and to bury them in a decent and civilized way. Since the bones were strewn around in several locations, some of which were overgrown with thick vegetation, almost every time the mothers returned to the place of execution to light a memorial candle, they would run into additional bones which were not noticed before. All those bones were collected and interred together.

        They say that they found some bodies which exhibited evidence of having been burnt. Clearly, it was not enough to murder a human being, it was also necessary to leave a personal stamp upon the corpse.

        Today, the village of Brežani counts but 50 inhabitants. There used to be over 200. Those who survived the horrors of the war in many cases have found refuge in nearby locales or in neighboring Serbia. Those who remain avow their belief that in spite of everything justice will catch up with those who murdered their loved ones on their doorstep, and in such bestial fashion. And who then went on to torch their homes and to desecrate the gravestones of their ancestors.

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