Oral History Methodology and Interview Guidelines

When genocide occurred against the Bosnian Muslims (known as Bosniaks) in Srebrenica in July 1995, it was a horrendous individual and collective trauma for all involved. People were in shock, in crisis, and initially unable to understand or articulate what had happened. Most all aspects of the community impacted by the genocide were destroyed. For years individuals and families were trying to navigate the chaos that followed the war and the genocide. It was difficult for survivors to rebuild their lives while focusing on the missing, identifications of their loved ones, and burials. Fighting for justice with the international community and establishing the Memorial were both made more difficult by the fact that community leaders and organizers had also survived the war, the genocide, and were among those trying to adjust to life afterwards amongst the chaos and the trauma. Because of the initiative of the Mothers of Srebrenica, the international community established the Srebrenica Memorial Center whose initial focus was on burials of victims and commemorating the genocide.
As time passed, some 25 years later, it was time for the Memorial to grow into a major center for exhibitions related to the genocide, other educational presentations, and as a place for local and international research and academic conferences.
Recently, it has become a site for visitors from around the world to come to learn about the Srebrenica genocide and to pay their respects. My vision for the Memorial included a focus on survivor voices in the form of narratives told by those who lived through the war and genocide, and who could speak for their loved ones who had not survived. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) focused on the facts and the perpetrators of war crimes and genocide. The Memorial needed a formal Oral History project where the focus would be on the voices and narratives of the survivors to preserve their stories and to fight against denial and historical revisionism. The Oral History project needed to have a rigorous design including a professional process of consent, be research­ based, technologically sound, culturally­ sensitive to the Bosniak population, and be developed with a trauma­ informed approach. This protocol that you are reading has all of these necessary aspects, was designed with international cooperation, and is the first of its kind in the former Yugoslavia. It was reviewed by academics from within Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the international community.

The audio and video personal narratives that are preserved through this Oral History Project will be made available through a formal process for teaching purposes, to academics and researchers, and to others who wish to learn more about their own family history. This Oral History project serves many purposes, including honoring the voices and experiences of those who survived and those who did not.