If you have seen one of the iconic jumps from the Old Bridge, you know that it is typically met with applause, whistles, and gasps of delight from locals and visitors alike. This morning at precisely 11:07 AM, a young member of the Mostar Diving Club jumped from the Old Bridge alongside a shower of white lilies to commemorate the events of this day – July 11 – in 1995. 

The dive this morning was met with silence. 

A moment of silence in memorial and witness to the atrocity of genocide that unfolded in Srebrenica 24 years ago where nearly 9,000 Bosniaks (mostly men and boys) were killed and the families to which they belonged were forever shattered. Today, in the village of Potočari at the Memorial Cemetery, the remains of 33 individuals who have been identified over the past year were interred in their final resting place. Still, over 1,000 victims remain missing and families wait to gain closure through the slow process of discovery and identification of bodies so that their loved ones can one day also be put to rest in the Memorial Cemetery. 

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If you are visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and would like to learn about Srebrenica, we recommend visiting the Memorial Center at Potočari and taking a guided tour – it is easily accessible as a day trip from Sarajevo and you can go by bus, car or an organized tour group. If you are unable to visit the Memorial Center, we highly recommend the Galerija 11/7/95, centrally located in Sarajevo (next to the Cathedral). At the Galerija, be sure to opt for an audio tour in your language and take the time to sit at the computer monitors upon initial entrance to the curated exhibits. The computer program will guide you through the details of the events leading up to the genocide to give you a full understanding of how and why the genocide occurred in Srebrenica and impress upon you why we must work together to prevent such atrocities in the future. 

Never Again.