“W: As I said, when I was fixing up my house and a Serb (unintelligible) says, what are you doing, like because I was investing money. Well I said I’m working, I mean, I came back and I want to fix it up so it’s nice, so it cheers me up, so I get away from the refugee life, from the dirtiness. Moving and (?) back and forth. I came to my house to at least fix it up. He says what are you doing, investing money. I said so what, as if I will…I came back. And he’s looking at my house, not the ruined one but the next one, yeah, the third (?). Not the one that lives there, he doesn’t say anything to us. The one that’s there now. So I said I’m working so I can enjoy it. He says who knows, as if I might not survive here. I said oh yeah well next time I leave, it won’t be like the last time, I said. This time I will personally burn it. He said I won’t have time for that. In those words –“
Survivor stresses how returning to old home and fixing it empowers her, but also mentions the threats she still receives from others
Actor: Srebrenica survivor
Item type: Quote from group interview
Date: feb, 2023
DoJ Researcher: Siri Driessen
DoJ Research project: Back with a mission
Language: English
Original language: Bosnian
Context
Whereas much research in veteran care is characterised by a focus on the individual veteran and is conducted from a clinical perspective, in this study we use an interdisciplinary and relational perspective in which the encounters between veterans, their families and the local Bosnian population take centre stage. The knowledge gained from this will then be used to inform developments in national and international veteran care.
‘Back with a mission. Reconsidering return trips from a relational perspective’ iis an interdisciplinary research project that studies whether and how return trips to mission areas help war veterans, their partners and Bosnian citizens to give meaning to their war experiences.
In early 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Defence announced that it would organise return trips to Srebrenica for Dutchbat III veterans (stationed in Srebrenica during the genocide of July 1995) as a gesture of recognition and care. This project empirically analyses the encounters between Bosnian genocide survivors and veterans. It critically reflects on the possibilities and limitations of these encounters as a means of restoring relations between these different groups. In addition, a comparison is made with return trips to other areas of former UN missions, such as Lebanon.
The project builds on insights gained in an earlier pilot study (2019-2021) on return trips by veterans (which resulted in a report and recommendations for the itinerary of the trips). ‘Back with a mission’ is linked to the Dialogics of Justice research project at the University of Humanistic Studies and is a collaboration with Leiden University Medical Centre.
