Surviving the Bosnian Genocide

Selma Leydesdorff is Professor of Oral History and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. She is author of We Lived with Dignity: The Jewish Proletariat of Amsterdam, 1900–1940 and editor (with Nanci Adler, Mary Chamberlain, and Leyla Neyzi) of Memories of Mass Repression: Narrating Life Stories in the Aftermath of Atrocity.Kay Richardson is a retired editor with 30 years of experience in international scholarly publishing. During her 13 years of residence in the Netherlands, she gained fluency in Dutch and developed an abiding interest in Dutch history and culture.

"With sensitivity and compassion, Leydesdorff . . . interviews about 50 female survivors of the Srebrenica massacre . . . in this valuable oral history. 6/21/2011"—Publishers Weekly"Surviving the Bosnian Genocide provides a clear, concise analysis of conditions in Srebrenica and the genocidal massacre in Potocari. As an author, Leydesdorff manages to organize excerpts from dozens of interviewees in a manner that allows their words to carry the weight of the experience, while interjecting herself only to provide the necessary historical perspective to maintain its readability. Ultimately, this collection of experiences succeeds at placing the human toll of mass atrocities in the forefront of the historical discussion in a way that preserves the emotional scars such events leave in their wake."—Oral History Review"Leydesdorff's book focuses on the notorious selective massacre in July 1995 of 8,100 disarmed Bosnian Muslim men by Serb nationalist forces under the comand of General Ratko Mladic, in the area around the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia . . . The women speak of the shock, in the early days of the war, of seeing trusted Serb neighbors turn into rapists and murderers; of their own fathers, husbands, and sons forced to take up arms; of weeks spent living rough with their children in the forests to avoid slaughter; of hunger, homelssness, and virtual imprisonment in the enclave; and of the bitter moment of escape that was simultaneously the moment of loss, the last glimpse of a husband or son. They also spoke (reluctantly and elliptically) of rape and described surviving brutal attacks by Serb men. The memories of these victimized women are the 'little' sorrows of war, Leydesdorff says, seldom deemed worth listening to, neglected in the political histories.Jan. 2012"—Women's Review of Books"A book of remarkable integrity that gives the victims voices, faces, families, and lives. . . . The author succeeds in creating an honest and sensitive picture from the jumble of stories, emotions, and reminiscences. . . . A work of great social relevance."—Internationale Spectator"Surviving the Bosnian Genocide . . . meaningfully adds to an endless bibliography on the war, cultural trauma, and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina through a gendered perspective. To this end, both cultural literacy and sensitivity interpenetrate this study admirably."—Human Rights Quarterly"An important contribution to the scholarship on the experiences, memories, and traumas of genocide and on the wars in Bosnia. . . . Leydesdorff is one of the best oral historians of women's lives and their memories and experiences of genocide."—Melissa K. Bokovoy, University of New Mexico

• AcknowledgmentsOn the Publication of the English EditionList of abbreviationsPreface: What Happened BeforeSabaheta's Story1. Farewell: The Desolation, the Women2. An Orphaned World: Life before the War3. War is Coming4. Living on the Run, Living in Danger5. A Human Shooting Gallery—Srebrenica 1992-19956. Violence7. Departure without ArrivalNotesIndex