Potocari
Encyclopedia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, 6 km north-west of the town of Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
. In the 1991 census it had 4,338 inhabitants, of whom 93% were Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
and 7% were others, mainly Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
.
War period
During the war in Bosnia the village was in the Srebrenica enclave. Along with all other places in the enclave its population swelled as it hosted refugees from neighboring parts of Bosnia.When Serb forces overran the enclave in July 1995 they carried out the Srebrenica genocide here.
Post war period
The main Srebrenica Genocide MemorialSrebrenica Genocide Memorial
The Srebrenica Genocide Memorial, officially known as the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery for the Victims of the 1995 Genocide, is the memorial-cemetery complex in Srebrenica set up to honour the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide....
and cemetery are located here. The biggest donation for the funding of the memorial and cemetery was made by the US government, and the memorial was dedicated by former president Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 2003; during the 10th anniversary commemoration another 619 of the victims were buried. Today there are 2,000+ people buried here. As more of the 8,200 massacre victims are exhumed from mass graves and identified, it is likely they will be interred here.