Luka Dakskobler

Stories: 15 YEARS AFTER THE GENOCIDE

About 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War. They sought shelter in a UN military base in Potocari on the outskirts of town as the Bosnian Serb forces were advancing toward them. The refugees thought they would be safe under Un protection. But when the Serbs came, Dutch forces opened the gates and let the Bosnian Serb Army take the men and boys away, never to be seen again. 8,000 of them have been killed on July 11, 1995, and until July 19. Their bodies were thrown into mass graves, then coming back weeks later to escavate them and rebury them somewhere else to conceal the crime. The identification of body parts from these mass graves has been going on for years. Each year, the newly dentified bodies are buried at the Potocari memorial cemetery just across the former UN military base. Over four thousand bodies have been buried so far, but thousands more are waiting to be identified. The 2010 July 11 memorial ceremony and burial of newly identified remains was the largest mass burial in Europe's modern history. 775 coffins were carried to their graves after a ceremony attended by an estimated 60,000 people and many representatives of international community, including Serbian president Boris Tadic. But no representatives from the UN, and nobody representing the Bosnian Serbs. 

  • Bosnian women check the list of names of identified bodies in front of the Potocari memorial center, Srebrenica, July 10, 2010.
  • Bosnian women enter a hall full of coffins to search for their loved ones in the Potocari memorial center, Srebrenica, July 10, 2010.
  • A man and a woman search for their relatives remains among rows of coffins that would be buried the next day at the Potocari memorial center.
  • A man prays among rows of coffins at the Potocari memorial center, July 10, 2010.
  • Flowers rest on a coffin in the Potocari memorial center, Srebrenica, July 10, 2010.
  • Hikers on an annual March of Peace arrive to the Potocari memorial center in Srebrenica, July 10, 2010.
  • Srebrenica2010-photoLukaDakskobler-023
  • Coffins are carried from the hall to the Potocari cemetery where they will wait to be buried the next day.
  • A long line of coffins snakes from the hall across the road to the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica, July 10, 2010, a day before the mass burial of 775 newly identified bodies from the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
  • The large number of coffins becomes evident as they continue to be brought to the cemetery and placed into rows. Tens of rows and the new coffins arriving for as long as to seem the line would never end.
  • Women mourn among the lines of coffins at the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica the day before the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
  • Lines of coffins at the Potocari cemetary before the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on July 11, 2010.
  • A woman cries at the coffin of a loved one at the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica on July 11, 2010, before the memorial ceremony and mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
  • A woman prays among the rows of coffins at the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica on July 11, 2010, before the memorial ceremony and mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
  • Srebrenica2010-photoLukaDakskobler-024
  • Srebrenica2010-photoLukaDakskobler-022
  • Crowds of people watch the memorial ceremony at the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica before the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on July 11, 2010.
  • Thousands of people pray during the memorial ceremony at the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica before the burial of 775 victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on July 11, 2010.
  • Coffins are taken to the graves during the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Potocari cemetery, July 11, 2010.
  • Relatives help bury their loved ones during the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Potocari cemetery, July 11, 2010.
  • A coffin is layed into a grave at the Potocari cemetery during the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Potočari cemetery, July 11, 2010.
  • A woman reacts in mourning at the arrival of her loved one's coffin during the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Potocari cemetery, July 11, 2010.
  • A woman who fainted is taken to the ambulance during the mass burial of 775 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Potocari cemetery, July 11, 2010.
  • Stories
    • Slovenia wildfire 2022
    • Exhibition Affliction-Geist
    • Anti-government Protests 2020
    • The Pandemic
    • Zero Waste Ljubljana
    • The Krampusse of Duplje
    • Urban beekeeping
    • The Astronaut
    • Land Grabbing in Senegal
    • The Girl Inside
    • Safeguarding the Venetian Lagoon
    • Anti-Government Protests
    • Air Lyra
    • 15 Years After the Genocide
    • Saving the Marble Trout
    • The Sad Lake
    • The Long Nights on the Marmara Sea
    • Student Protests in Ljubljana
    • The Bora
    • Tito's Infamous Prison Islands
    • The Zice Carthusian Monastery
    • Floods in Slovenia 2010
    • Medieval Reenactments
    • No More Bella Italia
    • Ice Engulfs Slovenia
    • National Fly Fishing Championships
    • Flash floods in Zelezniki
    • The Middle East
  • Who they are
    • Mary Wilson of the Supremes
    • The Jason Cale Band
    • Martina Marenčič
    • Darko Đurič
    • Andrew Obeng
    • Linda Tellington-Jones
    • Florence Williams
    • Benka Pulko
    • In passing
    • Idols
  • On Set
    • Wake Me
    • Going Our Way 2
  • Events/News
  • Tearsheets
  • Multimedia
    • Affliction-Geist
    • The Girl Inside
    • Air Lyra
    • The Long Nights on the Marmara Sea
    • 15 Years After the Genocide
    • National Fly Fishing Championships
  • Info
    • Bio
    • Awards
  • Contact
  • Slovensko

All photos on this site are © LUKA DAKSKOBLER. Any use without permission is subject to a fine. Site design © 2010-2023 Neon Sky Creative Media