During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-1995, hundreds of sites were used as detention camps and facilities for civilians. These sites, mostly schools, went back to their primary purpose after the camps ceased to operate. As a result of genocide denial and historical revisionism, most of these sites are unmarked to this day. This talk aims to show how distortion of the truth leds to the rewriting of history or highjacking of the truth on the analysis of four towns – case studies- where camps were operated by Bosnian Serb authorities: Višegrad, Bijeljina, Prijedor and Bileća. One of the primary aims of the camps was 'collective traumatization' and by the intentional re-use of sites of mass atrocities, thirty years on, the local authorities continue to take part in the denial of the crimes committed at these sites.
Dr. Hikmet Karčić is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for the Research of Crimes against Humanity and International Law, University of Sarajevo.