BOOK ON CRIMES AGAINST SERBS IN MOSTAR PROMOTED

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 10 /SRNA/ – The book "Like a Bad Dream, Take One Last Look at the City" describes the historical context in which a system turned its sharpest instruments against Serbs in the Neretva Valley and Mostar, stated historian and author Predrag Lozo.

Lozo pointed out that war activities were deliberately and systematically transferred from the territory of Croatia to the region of Herzegovina.

He emphasized that the most valuable part of the book consists of between 500 and 700 original testimonies sourced from the archives of the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes, and Missing Persons, the archives of the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, as well as individual collections of statements.

"These statements are very powerful in themselves and bear witness to a particular era. The book also addresses the prolonged effects of these crimes - when we look at the current demographic state of Serbs in Mostar or the Neretva Valley, it is more than ten times smaller than it was before the war," Lozo told journalists in Banja Luka at the book's promotion.

According to him, there are testimonies about mistreatment and sexual abuse — crimes that to this day have not been prosecuted — due to the prevailing narrative in BiH that only court-processed crimes can be discussed.

"It is our duty to record this, so it remains for future generations — not so that they become obsessed with the past and its crimes, but so that in times of crisis we remember that everything first depends on how one person treats another, on questions of morality, and then on how the system treats an endangered individual," Lozo said.

He noted that during the war, more than 1,000 individuals of Serb nationality were detained in Mostar alone, and that an entire community was subjected to systematic crimes against Serbs.

Lozo reminded that in the past, Mostar was one of the key religious, cultural, and national centers of Serbs throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Acting Director of the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes, and Missing Persons, Viktor Nuždić, said that over the past 10 years, the Center has published dozens of works related to the Defensive-Patriotic War and the suffering of the Serb people — a suffering that was both tragic and heroic.

Nuždić emphasized that "Like a Bad Dream, Take One Last Look at the City" is a valuable publication that focuses on the events in the Neretva Valley.

"With this, we are sending the message that we are one united Serbian people," said Nuždić.

He pointed out that in many cases, one-sided narratives of truth have been imposed, and that the mission of the Republic Center is to clarify for future generations what really happened.

The book, subtitled "The Crime Against Serbs in Mostar and Surroundings 1992–1995", was published by the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes, and Missing Persons.