0`06

On July 11th 1995, Serb forces occupied the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. Previously Srebrenica was under the protection of the United Nations, but the Dutch UN forces no match for the Serb army. UN peacekeepers could only stand by and watch as thousands of people were killed; they were under strict orders not to intervene.

0'36: Bob Stewart, former commander of the British UN contingent:

"The Dutch battalion was there to protect the people. They didn’t do it. They should have done it. "

0 `44: Hatidza Mehmedovic, widow
"Those who were meant to be protecting Srebrenica should be held responsible for the mass murders. Nobody can give us back our children. No amount of money in the world can alleviate our suffering. "

1 `01: Johan de Jonge, former UN soldier, Netherlands
"We Dutch were viciously accused of helping deport the local people. They thought we were helping the Serbs. These allegations were made by local people as well as collected from various media but the charges were untrue."

 
1 `20
The reality of what happened in the Balkans during July 1995 can never be forgotten by the soldiers who were there. Normally, veterans get together to remember heroic deeds and to help each other adapt to civilian life; in this case, the memory of war brings shame instead of pride: whatever happened at Srebrenica deeply burdens the former soldiers.
In a few hours, a peace march will start in the former war zone. For the ex-soldiers this only revives the trauma of their failure.

1 `53: Adje Anakotta, former UN soldier, Netherlands
"We totally understand and sympathise with the people in Srebrenica. We want them to know that we feel the tragedy just as much as they do. We are all in despair. We have all been abandoned - both the people of Srebrenica and us soldiers. "

2 `11 K
In 1993, the French UN General Morillon granted a protection order on Srebrenica to ensure that the Serbs kept peace with the Muslims.

450: The UN then called inexperienced Dutch soldiers to Srebrenica. All were under the impression that there would be no need to fight, and that police presence would be enough to deter the Serbs.

2 `42 K
But Serb General Mladic had other plans. On the surface, he was a caring man. In front of television cameras, he pledges safety for the young girls: ‘mothers of Srebrenica’. But behind the scenes is a different story. From morning till night he forced thousands of Serb families to separate, dragging husbands and fathers to their death.

3 `21 K
The role of the Dutch commander Tom Karremans is also controversial. Ratko Mladic plied the UN officer with gifts. Soon after ordering his soldiers to execute thousands of Muslims - seven to eight thousand unarmed Bosnian men were shot. Even after these distressing scenes: the Dutch peacekeepers helped the Serb forces to separate men and women. Without knowing it, they were becoming henchmen of the Serbian mass murder.

4 `04 OT Stewart
"They could’ve actually opened fire and protected the people, by putting the soldiers as a protection force around the people who had been herded up for a start."

4 `14 OT Henry van de Belt, former UN soldier, Netherlands
"Fighting was absolutely not an option; that would have been pure suicide particularly for the local people. If we had fought, the Serbs would have flattened us. (5 sec) There would have been many, many more victims. "

4 `40 K
Whilst the UN peacekeepers returned to their bases, thousands of people tried to escape over the mountains. Only twice did they take heed of NATO’s protective air strikes. During this time, Bosnian Serb forces kidnapped large groups of Dutch UN soldiers to be used as human shields against NATO attacks.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice classified the massacre of Srebrenica as genocide. National belief in the UN’s ability to preserve peace without the use of weapons officially crumbled.

5 `25 K
Henry is one of the few soldiers to return to Srbrenica after 1995. His stance is to look past it and to the future.

5 `36 OT Henry van de Belt, former UN soldier. Netherlands
"A hairdresser in Srebrenica is a friend of mine. He has lost 97 family members. At our last meeting he told me, we can no longer cry, we must continue. But there were few who think so. The people are so traumatized, so embittered that they all hate it here. "

6 `00 K
The Serbs used mass graves to bury the dead and later scattered the bodies in order to blur the tracks of their crime. The identification of the corpses involved is still a gruesome guessing game. Every year, new graves are found, and only a fraction can be identified clearly. A parliamentary investigative committee in the Netherlands accepts responsibility for the murders but have not been proven guilty.

6 `Henry 31 OT
"During the first years home from Srenbrenica I drank constantly. I was a professional soldier, I had lived in the barracks– I needed to drink so that I wouldn’t have to face it. Some have not even managed to return. They were killed or committed suicide. Those guys saw no way out."

 
7 `04 OT Lizanna Marie de Jonge, wife of a former UN soldier
"I get the feeling that there is no possible way to find my husband. At one time I thought it was possible but I reached a brick wall. At a certain point you can’t take anymore. You have to change and take back your life."

7 `22 K
In The Hague, a different type of reclamation is taking place. Bosnian Muslims have sued the Dutch government for the failure of its troops. The Dutch UN soldiers were themselves Muslim refugees to the Serb militias. The government deflects criticism on the grounds that their soldiers were only slightly armed and were in a hopeless situation from the start.

  7 `55 K
Each year new names are added to the list of victims to be identified. The memorial in Potocari - not far from Srebrenica - is now deserted; in a few days, thousands of people are expected for the 13th anniversary of the massacre. Even some of the former Dutch UN soldiers will be there, hoping to find rest for their trauma. The Serbians responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica are still at large.

Reporter: Alexander Steinbach
Collaboration: Birgit Augustin
Camera: Bart van de Werf
Editing: Andrea Handlos