Source: Aa.com.tr
Written by: Vesna Bešić
Photo: Denis Zuberi/AA
Centers of culture, schools, gymnasiums... Dozens of such institutions and places, which were once places of education and places of culture in BiH. towns and settlements, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1992 to 1995, they were turned into places of detention for non-Serbs from those areas, places of terrible crimes, torture and executions, Anadolu Agency (AA) reports.
Until the beginning of the aggression, regardless of national, ethnic and religious background, everyone went to the same schools, got an education and visited the centers of culture. These were places of meeting and social life.
Cultural centers and many schools were turned into places for torture and killing after the outbreak of war. Only some have cultural centers in Drinjača, Pilica, Kozluk, and schools in Liplje, Grbavci, Petkovci...
"Agresija na Republiku Bosnu i Hercegovinu i sve ono što se dešavalo i činilo u periodu od 1992. do 1995. godine, jako ozbiljno je pripremano. Na prostoru Bosne i Hercegovine SDS, odnosno Radovan Karadžić, imali su jaku i značajnu ulogu. Jedan od njihovih osnovnih zadataka je bio da bukvalno dođu do svakog sela, mjesta, grada, svakog čovjeka u toj pripremi velikosrpskih ideoloških i političkih ciljeva. U tom smislu, jako je važna ta organizacija na lokalnom nivou gdje su formirali krizne štabove, formirali srpske opštine... Kada su odlučili da realizuju strateške ciljeve srpskog naroda, pogotovo prvi cilj koji je podrazumijevao eliminaciju Bošnjaka, Hrvata i svih onih koji nisu Srbi, to nisu mogli realizovati bez osnivanja zatočeničkih objekata, logora... Na prostoru svih općina, koje su zauzeli srpski vojnici 1992. godine, formirali su veliki broj tih zatočeničkih objekata", izjavio je Muamer Džananović, naučni saradnik Instituta za istraživanje zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava Univerziteta u Sarajevu.
Kako je kazao, zbog velikog broja bošnjačkog stanovništva, koje je u većini općina bilo u dominantnoj ili u apsolutnoj većini, bilo je neophodno da se u te namjene iskoriste najveći objekti na tim prostorima.
"Jako je bitno naglasiti da su u razdvajanju i dovoženju Bošnjaka i drugih naroda koristili autobuse, kamione firmi u kojim su Bošnjaci do jučer radili. Za njihovo smještanje u zatočeničke logore korištene su prostorije poslovnih subjekata, ranijih zatvora, policijske i općinske. Ono što je specifično, i veliki broj osnovnih i srednjih škola i domova kultura korišteno je u tu svrhu. Do početka agresije, bez obzira na nacionalni, etnički i vjerski predznak, svi su išli u te škole, školovali se, kulturno rasli, posjećivali te domove kulture. To su bila mjesta susreta, kulturnog osvještavanja", istakao je Džananović.
Naglasio je da su u tim radnjama, pored raznih vojnih i paravojnih formacija, učestvovale i komšije s kojima su do tada išli u školu i posjećivali domove kulture.
"The proof that the organization and goal was the establishment of those camps is the fact that the managers of most of those camps and detention facilities were people who were members of the crisis headquarters. In Foča, Mitar Šipčić was a member of the crisis headquarters, and he was the head of the guard in the secondary to the school in Foča, which is one of the most monstrous camps, torture centers for Bosniaks, especially for Bosniak women. The school in Foča is one of dozens of camps and detention facilities that have been formed," explained Džananović.
- Secondary school "Veljko Vlahović" -
"Veljko Vlahović" secondary school, used as a detention facility, is located in the center of Rogatica. Over 1,000 people were detained there. All the detainees were Bosniaks, except for two Serb women who were married to Bosniaks and one Serb family whose sons did not want to fight in the army.
"The conditions there were terrible, which can be said for any camp. Detainees stayed in rooms where they were crowded, they did not have conditions to sleep, they did not have enough food, water. They were tortured in different ways. Women, girls and girls and in Rogatica, they were taken out for interrogation, and they were mass-raped. The specificity of the camp in Rogatica is that the detainees were forced to sign a document in which it was written that they had 'voluntarily converted to the Serbian Orthodox faith.' into a human shield," Džananović pointed out.
Some inmates were transferred to Sušica, Batković, Kula na Ilidža, where their torture continued.
- Camp Trnopolje near Prijedor -
He believes that when talking about schools and centers of culture as camps and places of imprisonment, it is impossible not to mention Trnopolje near Prijedor.
"It was formed on the grounds of the school and the surrounding buildings, which included a gymnasium, a shop and a cultural center with a cinema hall, known as 'home'. What is interesting about that camp is that the Red Cross listed 23,000 inmates. Dozens tortured and killed. Bosniaks were taken out of that camp and later killed at Korićanske stijene. Imagine what kind of monsters those are, I'm talking about the local population that participated in all that. They take their neighbors to those places of detention, schools, gymnasiums, kill, torture, rape and then send their children to those rooms as if nothing had happened. And nothing changes in today's perspective, except that divisions are still advocated. Children today are guided by iconography in those schools, monuments, memorialization to that period, that those who were victims are actually to blame for everything that happened," Džananović pointed out.
He also touched on the events at the "Vuk Karadžić" school in Bratunac, a horrific torture center where at least 50 people were killed.
He reminded that Imam Mustafa Mujkanović was among those killed.
"They forced him to sing Chetnik songs, drink beer and hold up three fingers. When he held up two fingers instead of three, he was killed in a monstrous way. The continuity of the crimes that were committed in schools and centers of culture in 1992 were repeated in 1995. Bosniaks were brought to the Elementary School in Grbavci in Zvornik in July 1995, where horrific crimes were committed in 1992. It is specific that schools and detention facilities were continuously used for torturing and killing Bosniaks," Džananović told AA.
- Zvornik schools and centers of culture as places of execution -
The killings during the genocide against Bosniaks in and around Srebrenica in July 1995 were carried out to a significant extent in Zvornik schools and centers of culture.
An interesting example is Pilica, where 500 civilians were killed in the House of Culture on July 16. At least 400 Bosniaks from Zvornik were detained in the Dom in Pilica from June 5 to 8, when they were taken to be shot.
Those Bosniaks were separated from their families in the town of Bijeli Potok on June 1, 1992, and later underwent torture in the Zvornik camps, including the Karakaj Technical School Center.
The place of that separation is in the immediate vicinity of Petkovci, where Bosniaks were detained and killed in the elementary school on July 14, 1995.
Most of them, more than 1,000, were taken out of school and shot at the red mud dam near Petkovac.
He also cited the example of the Cultural Center in Čelopek, where members of various units, especially the "Yellow Wasps", brutally tortured civilians.
"Symbolically, they brought the Bosniaks to the stage of the cultural center, where until yesterday all the people of Zvornik came and watched various cultural events. This time fathers and sons, grandsons and grandfathers, neighbors were forced to have sex with each other. To fight each other, to fathers watch their sons being killed and vice versa. Different parts of the civilians' bodies were cut off. More than 100 civilians were killed or wounded," said Džananović.
- Children attend classes in classrooms where crimes were committed -
He is of the opinion that the "hidden" message that was sent to those stores at that time cannot be ignored.
"The last act in those houses of culture was the shooting and killing of Bosniaks. Those who committed those crimes obviously wanted to completely end their common life," explained Džananović.
As he said, there were dozens of detention facilities in the larger municipalities.
"According to what was proven before the International Tribunal and scientific research, 50 to 100 people were killed in all detention facilities. Thousands of people were tortured, tortured and raped," Džananović pointed out.
He emphasized that the curriculum today in those schools, which were once used as detention facilities, is aimed at the complete discrimination of ethnic minorities living in those areas.
"Teachers practically do not tell these children anything about the history of that building. Reconciliation cannot happen until the members of the people in whose name the crimes were committed come to light. Today, these children are being served a false picture of what is happening in those areas. The children do not know that they are in those perpetrators in which today they are educated for the monstrous crimes committed. Serving that educational system today is the continuation of the realization of those large-state criminal goals. In such a way, ethnic communities are separated even more," said Džananović.
Places of detention were schools in Sanski Most, Kalinovik, Kljuc, Bijeljina, Doboj, Višegrad, Vlasenica, Sokolac...