GREIF: ACADEMIC COMMUNITY’S OPINION ON SREBRENICA IS CHANGING

BELGRADE, JULY 11 /SRNA/ - Professor Dr. Gideon Greif, historian, director of the Serb-Israeli Cultural Centre at the University of Belgrade, and one of the leading experts in Holocaust research, has told SRNA today that the stance of the global academic community on Srebrenica and the alleged genocide is changing.

Greif, who was the president of the Independent Commission Investigating Suffering of All Peoples in the Srebrenica Region between 1992 and 1995, which concluded that the killings in Srebrenica in 1995 were a war crime, not genocide, said the academic circles believe there was no genocide in Srebrenica.

"The opinion on this is slowly changing. I am very satisfied with the success of my engagement in the field of academic research. Today, the academic community has a different perspective on Srebrenica. Academic circles support the stance on no genocide in Srebrenica, which only amateurs will deny, because what we were doing was done very professionally," Greif told SRNA.

Commenting on initiatives suggesting that Serbia, just as Republika Srpska did, should establish an International Commission to investigate the suffering of Serbs and Bosniaks in Srebrenica from 1992 to 1995, Greif said he supported such an initiative.

"It is necessary for Serbia to establish this. If necessary, I will personally contribute to the formation of such an institution," Greif stated.

When asked what can be done for the UN to engage more with the Holocaust issue and to precisely define what constitutes genocide, in light of Srebrenica, Greif responded that people must be educated, research, and learn, as education is the only defence against stupidity and ignorance.

Today in Belgrade, Greif attended a meeting of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee for the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region with professors from the European Institute Researching Holocaust and Totalitarianism from Madrid, where they discussed the culture of remembrance, the Holocaust, as well as attempts to revise historical facts and falsifications.

The organiser of this gathering, hosted by the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Dragan Stanojević, was Ambassador Ljiljana Nikšić, coordinator of the largest exhibition at the UN titled "Jasenovac – The Right to Not Forget."

At the press conference after the meeting, Nikšić said that 43 professors from Spain, headed by Carlos Vásquez, director of the European Institute Researching Totalitarianism and Holocaust, concluded their ten-day study visit to the region with their visit to Belgrade, during which they also visited Donja Gradina and Jasenovac.

She added that the Institute directly cooperates with the Spanish Ministry of Education, and that Director Carlos Vásquez works directly with the State Secretary of that ministry.

Nikšić thanked the Committee for the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region for hosting the professors from Spain, stating that by doing so, as well as through many other activities, the Committee has confirmed that it plays a historic role in fostering the culture of remembrance.