Words to survive

The Holocaust (The Shoah in Hebrew) was the attempt by the Nazis and their collaborators to murder all the Jews in Europe. From the time they assumed power in Germany in 1933, the Nazis used propaganda, persecution, and legislation to deny human and civil rights to German Jews. They used centuries of antisemitism as their foundation.

In July 1995, with the back drop of the ongoing civil war, Bosnian Serb troops and paramilitaries led by Ratko Mladić descended on the town of Srebrenica and began shelling it. Around 8,000 Muslim men, and boys over 12 years old, were murdered in Srebrenica.

When ‘ethnic cleansing’ began in his neighbourhood, Safet narrowly avoided being sent to concentration camps with his father and older brother. Safet describes the fear he felt for his family, but the comfort that he had in the support and help from others.