ATLAS OF CRIMES AGAINST SERBS - SHIELD AGAINST ATTEMPTED HISTORY REVISION

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 28 /SRNA/ – The third volume of the Atlas of Crimes Against Serbs During the Defensive-Patriotic War, presented today at the Belgrade Book Fair, focuses on 1994, the third year of the war.

This edition by the Republic Research Centre of War, War Crimes, and Tracing Missing Persons is significant because it serves as a kind of shield against attempted history revision.

Viktor Nuždić, director of the Republic Research Centre of War Crimes, stated at the promotion at the Republika Srpska stand that the Atlas is one of the most important publications in Srpska, as it has the form of a scientific paper and serves as a manual for media reporting on crimes against Serbs during the recent war.

"We also wanted to show that the victims had lives and that someone violently took them away," Nuždić said.

He noted that all three volumes aim to restore the identity of the victims in order to avoid forgetting them and to highlight the scope and scale of crimes against Serbs.

Nuždić pointed out that the Atlas of Crimes Against Serbs was created out of the need to conduct complete research on the suffering of Serbs with respect to specific locations, which has been done in all three published volumes.

He recalled that the first volume, covering 1992, documented 76 mass execution sites of Serbs; the second, dedicated to 1993, covered 11 sites; and the third covered seven.

"The other two volumes are a tribute to the Republiks Srpska Army, which protected Serbs from a repeat of the genocide of World War II," Nuždić said.

Siniša Simikić explained that at massacre sites such as the village of Jelečići, there is an effort to erase every trace of the existence of Serbs, as memorial plaques testifying to the atrocities and the victims are being destroyed.

"That is why the Atlas of Crimes was created to be a kind of homage to the victims, but also to the places where Serbs no longer live," Simikić said.

At the Republika Srpska stand, another publication by the Centre was also presented - the book "As an Ugly Dream, Look at the City One Last Time – Crimes Against Serbs in Mostar and Surroundings /1992-1995/" by Predrag Lozo.

Historian Lozo emphasized that the crimes and persecution of Serbs led to the near disappearance of the Serb community in the city on the Neretva River.

"The book includes testimonies from victims of the ‘Lora’ and ‘Dretelj’ prison camps, which Mostar Serbs were taken to, as well as other people who survived great suffering. I did not write this book; I only recorded it. It was written by the martyrs from `Lora` and `Dretelj,` as well as our neighbours who committed crimes," Lozo said.

He stressed that propaganda was the trigger for many crimes against Serbs in Mostar and the Neretva valley, as Western media portrayed Serbs as aggressors while concealing the horrific crimes committed against them.

Likewise, he pointed out, these media outlets constantly reported on the destruction of the Old Bridge, while they did not mention the demolition of the Žitomislić Monastery, nor the deportation of Serbs to camps, murders, torture, and persecution.