Srebrenica
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| Srebrenica Сребреница |
|
 |
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| Country | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
|---|---|
| Settlements | 81 |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Osman Suljić (SDA) [1] |
| Area | |
| - Total | 527 km2 (203.5 sq mi) |
| Population (1991) | |
| - Total | ? |
| - Municipality | 36,666 |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Area code(s) | 56 |
| Website | www.srebrenica-opstina.org |
Srebrenica (Cyrillic: Сребреница, pronounced [srɛˈbrɛnitsa]) is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, it was the site of the Srebrenica genocide. On March 24, 2007, Srebrenica's municipal assembly adopted a resolution demanding independence from the Republika Srpska; the Serb members of the assembly did not vote on the resolution.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Demographics
In 2005 there were about 4,000 Bosniaks in the municipality, about a third of the population.
| Year of census | total | Muslims | Serbs | Croats | Yugoslavs | others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 36,666 | 27,572 (75.19%) | 8,315 (22.67%) | 38 (0.10%) | 380 (1.03%) | 361 (0.98%) |
| 1981 | 36,292 | 24,930 (68.69%) | 10,294 (28.36%) | 80 (0.22%) | 602 (1.65%) | 386 (1.06%) |
| 1971 | 33,357 | 20,968 (62.85%) | 11,918 (35.72%) | 109 (0.32%) | 121 (0.36%) | 241 (0.72%) |
| 1961 | 29,283 | 14,565 (49.74%) | 12,540 (42.82%) | 71 (0.24%) | 1,967 (6.71%) | |
| 1953 | 46,647 | 23,545 (50.47%) | 106 (0.45%) | 22,791 (48.86%) | ||
| 1948 | 39,954 | 20,195 (50.55%) | 52 (0.13%) | 19,671 (49.23%) | ||
| 1931 | 35,210 | 17,332 (49.2%) | 17,766 (50.5%) | 103 (0.29%) |
The borders of the municipality in the 1953 and 1961 census were different. In 1953 Muslim by Nationality was not an option for the census, so the group called themselves Yugoslav. Yugoslav was not an option in 1948, so they were classified as other.
[edit] The town of Srebrenica
| Year of census | total | Bosniaks | Serbs | Croats | Yugoslavs | others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 5,746 | 3,673 (63.92%) | 1,632 (28.40%) | 34 (0.59%) | 328 (5.70%) | 79 (1.37%) |
[edit] Economy
Before 1992, there was a metal factory in the town, and lead, zinc, and gold mines nearby. The town's name (Srebrenica) means "silver mine," the same meaning of its old Latin name Argentaria.
[edit] Local communities
The municipality (општина or opština) is further subdivided into the following local communities (мјесне заједнице or mjesne zajednice):[3]
[edit] History
The earliest reference to Srebrenica was in 1376, by which time it was already an important centre for trade in the western Balkans, based especially on the silver mines of the region. The existence of ore was already known at the time of the Roman Empire, and the settlement Domavia was near a mine. By the time of the first reference to Srebrenica, a large number of merchants of the Republic of Ragusa were established there, and they controlled the domestic silver trade and the export by sea, almost entirely via the port of Ragusa (Dubrovnik).[4] During the 14th century, many German miners moved into the area.[5]
In the middle of the 1420s, the army of King Tvrtko II of Bosnia fought to gain control of the town, which was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1440.[6] The Franciscan monastery was converted into a mosque, but the large number of Catholics, Ragusa and Saxon, caused the transformation of the town to Islam to be slower than in most of the other towns in the area.[7]
With the town in the Ottoman Empire and less influenced by the Republic of Ragusa, the economic importance of Srebrenica went into decline, as did the proportion of Catholics in the population.
[edit] Srebrenica genocide
During the War in Bosnia (1992–1995), the Srebrenica region saw heavy fighting. Hundreds of victims fell in the first years of the war, also among the civilian population. The town at the centre of the municipality became a Bosnian Muslim/Bosniak enclave surrounded by Serbs. In April 1993, the United Nations declared Srebrenica a UN safe area, guarded by a small unit operating under the mandate of United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). The town was captured by the Army of Republika Srpska in July 1995, as it remained, along with Žepa and Goražde, the two remaining pockets of Muslim troops in Eastern Bosnia. Following the town's capture, approximately eight thousand (8 372) Bosniak men of fighting age were massacred by Serbian forces. All women, and men below 16 years of age and above 55, were sent by Serbian forces by bus to Tuzla. The remaining men were massacred. The Srebrenica Genocide is considered the worst massacre in post-WWII European history to this day, and the criminals responsible for it are currently being prosecuted.[8]
The Srebrenica genocide is referred to as a genocide by the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [9] and the International Court of Justice. The decision of the ICTY was followed by an admission to and an apology for the massacre by the Republika Srpska government.[10]
In 2007 verbal and physical attacks on returning refugees were repeatedly reported of the genocide region around Srebrenica.[11]
[edit] Gallery
|
Panorama of Srebrenica |
 The Orthodox church |
 Interior of the Orthodox church |
 The franciscan Catholic chapel |
 The White Mosque |
 Fast Food Seka, on the place of a pre-1990s-war mosque (tombstones on the right) |
 The main road toward west |
 The main road from west toward the centre |
 The old town (Stari Grad) |
 Ruins of Mount Guber thermal centre |
 Potocari Genocide Memorial |
 Potocari Genocide Memorial |
[edit] See also
- Srebrenica Genocide
- Bosnian Genocide
- History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Srebrenica Genocide Memorial
- Srebrenica Massacre of Children 1993
- Fiction stories about Srebrenica women: "Integration Under the Midnight Sun" by Adnan Mahmutovic [3]
[edit] References
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Srebrenica pushes for partition". B92. 2007-03-25. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/globe-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=03&dd=25&nav_category=123&nav_id=40340. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Konstantin Jireček: Die Handelsstrassen und Bergwerke von Serbien und Bosnien während des Mittelalters: historisch-geographische Studien. Prag: Verl. der Kön. Böhmischen Ges. der Wiss., 1879
- ^ Mihailo Dinić: Za istoriju rudarstva u srednjevekovnoj Srbiji i Bosni, S. 46
- ^ Noel Malcolm: A Short History of Bosnia, Macmillan, London 1994; S. 22
- ^ A Short History of Bosnia, S. 53 ff.
- ^ "Srebrenica reburies 308 victims of massacre". msnbc.com. 2008-07-11. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25639691/. Retrieved on 2009-07-11.
- ^ "Krstic - Judgement". International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 2004-04-19. http://www.un.org/icty/krstic/Appeal/judgement/index.htm. Retrieved on 2009-07-11.
- ^ "Serbs sorry for Srebrenica deaths". BBC. 2004-11-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3999985.stm. Retrieved on 2009-07-11.
- ^ "7th Session of the UN Human Rights Council" (in English). Society for Threatened Peoples. 21 February 2008. 2. http://forum-menschenrechte.de/cms/upload/PDF/ab_05-2008/aides_memoires/Bosnia_Herzegowina-GfbV.pdf.
[edit] External links
- Opština Srebrenica - Srebrenica Municipality (Bosnian)
- Official site of a Bosnian NGO Citizens Associations "Women of Srebrenica" (Bosnian)
- The Advocacy Project partners with Bosnian Family (BOSFAM)
