The Fall of Srebrenica from the Dutch Perspective of View

Događaj iz srpnja 1995. godine u bosanskohercegovačkom gradu Srebrenici ostao je zapamćen kao povijesna tragedija, u kojoj nizozemska bojna, u sklopu mirovne misije UN-a, nije uspjela spriječiti genocid za vrijeme trajanja svog mandata. U svega par dana Vojska Republike Srpske likvidirala je preko 8000 Bošnjaka, pri čemu Nizozemci, pod okriljem UN-a nisu mogli postupiti aktivno jer nisu raspolagali dovoljnim ljudstvom, resursima i ovlastima. Kako i zašto je moglo doći do toga te tko je direktan krivac, pitanja su koja se i dandanas postavljaju u nizozemskoj javnosti koja je osjetljiva i na sam spomen Srebrenice. Nizozemsko društvo, svjesno svoje kolonijalne prošlosti, slovi za socijalno osviješteno društvo po pitanju kulture sjećanja, stoga još uvijek, nakon što je prošlo gotovo 30 godina, rat u bivšoj Jugoslaviji i Srebrenica ostavljaju gorak okus u nizozemskom društvu. Takav propust iz 1995. godine rezultirao je ostavkom nizozemske Vlade 2002. godine nakon što je provedeno istraživanje o uzrocima i odgovornosti(-ma) za srebreničku tragediju, i nakon što je ono objavljeno u izvješću Nizozemskog instituta za ratnu dokumentaciju (NIOD) pod nazivom: Srebrenica, een 'veilig' gebied: reconstructie, achtergronden, gevolgen en analyses van de val van een Safe Are (hrv. Srebrenica: Rekonstrukcija, pozadina, posljedice i analiza pada ,,zaštićene“ zone) u kojemu se pokušalo utvrditi što je pošlo po zlu i zašto se nije postupilo drukčije. Ovim radom nastojala sam iskoristiti svoje znanje nizozemskog jezika kako bih povijesni događaj mogla promatrati iz određene perspektive, odnosno nizozemske, a za to sam dobrim dijelom koristila djela nizozemskih autora, s naglaskom na memoare pukovnika Thoma Karremansa, tadašnjeg zapovjednika nizozemskih snaga u Srebrenici.The events that took place during July 1995 in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica remain a remembered historical tragedy in which the Dutch battalion, as part of the peacekeeping mission of the UN, failed to prevent genocide during its mandate. In just a few days, the Army of Republika Srpska liquidated over 8,000 Bosniaks, while the Dutch under the auspices of the UN could not respond effectively due to the lack of sufficient manpower, resources and authority. How and why it was possible to determine the direct culprit are questions that are still being asked today among the Dutch public, which remains sensitive to the mention of Srebrenica. The Dutch society, aware of its colonial past, is known for being a sensible society in terms of cultural memory. Therefore, almost 30 years after the war in the former Yugoslavia and Srebrenica, what happened in Srebrenica left a bitter taste in the Dutch society. Such an omission from 1995 caused the resignation of the Dutch Government in 2002 after an investigation into the causes and responsibility(s) for the Srebrenica tragedy was carried out and after it was published in a report entitled Srebrenica, een 'veilig' gebied: reconstructie, achtergroden, gevolgen en analyzes van de val van een Safe Are (English: Srebrenica: Reconstruction, background, consequences and analysis of the fall of the "protected" zone) in which an attempt was made to determine what went wrong and why it was not acted differently. With this work, I attempted to use my knowledge of the Dutch language, in order to observe the historical event from a certain perspective, namely the Dutch one, for this I used almost exclusively the works of Dutch authors, with an emphasis on the memoirs of lieutenant colonel Thom Karremans, the commander of the Dutch forces in Srebrenica at the time